The new rules on kickoffs -- moving the kickoff to the 35 and limiting coverage teams to a 5-yard head start -- made headlines during Week 1 of the preseason. Do you think the changes ultimately will help or hurt the game?
The rules are an attempt at safety, but it really isn't going to make the game safer. It will limit the excitement on kickoff returns. Last year, we had 23 kick return touchdowns and 100 returns of 40-plus yards. I've been to 12 NFL camps over the past two weeks and there's no doubt that teams will be kicking a few yards into the end zone and daring teams to bring the ball out. With a limited running start by the coverage unit there's a chance to get past the 20-yard line, but big returns are a thing of the past.
The new rule was described by one coach as a silly mistake by the competition committee with an eye on getting rid of the kickoff all together. Another coach said that we're a few years away from an opening game kickoff and a kickoff to start the second half.
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</table> I think one week of preseason action is an awful small sample size with which to draw sweeping conclusions. Let's give it a little time before calling a 5-yard shift the end of special teams as we know it.
This is a league of adjustments. The truly elite return men, and special teams coaches, will still run some out. It's not a lost cause. Fatigue and injuries will sap the kicker market some as the season goes on, as it always does. Josh Cribbs, Devin Hester and Leon Washington will still break off some big returns.
There are tradeoffs to everything and the balance of injury concern vs. a spike in touchbacks is certainly where this pivot swings. But in our instant-analysis society let's wait to see a few regular-season games before making declarations.
It could hurt the overall excitement on kick returns but, for the most part, we're not going to see a radical change.
Return men like Josh Cribbs, Brad Smith, Eric Weems, DeSean Jackson and Percy Harvin will still make the big play. In fact, instead of kickoffs being angled to pin return men along the sideline, which helped coverage teams, more kickers will simply boot the ball deep in the end zone -- more centered -- in hopes of a touchback. The great returners are going to bring it out of the end zone and the 105-yard return will be even more thrilling than the 92-yarder.
Offenses like Green Bay, New England, Houston, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Atlanta will be able to march the ball 80 yards after a touchback just as easily as they can go 50.
Thanks to the new rules, we'll be probably see fewer highlights of Josh Cribbs and Devin Hester scoring 98-yard touchdowns this season. Too bad, but it's a worthwhile concession if it means fewer players getting bruised brains and all the nasty problems that come along with them.
You remember those scenes in the (overrated) Oscar winner "Gladiator", when thousands of CGI-generated fans cheered lustily as a guy got his guts ripped out on the floor of the Coliseum? Well, like it or not, that's us. While we might get a visceral rush from the cartoonish violence on the gridiron, now that we know beyond doubt about the devastating long-term effects of concussions, the only answer to Maximus' question, "Are you not entertained?" is no.
