On Sat, Oct 26, 2013 at 7:17 AM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Friday, October 25, 2013, Bob in Jersey wrote: > >> >> PGage, to moi: >> >>> The NFL is probably very close to doing away with kickoffs all together. >>> >> >> They tossed it to their competition committee as the 2012 reg. season >> ended... never heard about it since. >> > > The one suggestion I have heard in the last year or so that come closest > to hitting the sweet spot of removing kickoffs without the general idea of > a kickoff is that the kicking team would be given the ball on their 30 yard > line with one down and 15 yards to go to retain possession. This would > encourage punting (which is inherently safer than kickoffs) while retaining > the option of rolling the dice and trying to go for it. > Right - they did talk about it during the 2013 Winter Meetings, without a decision (yet). My point though was not about that so much about that specific agenda item as that it is all but inevitable that the NFL will explicitly or functionally eliminate the kick-off within the next few years. When they moved the kickoff line up 5 yards a few years ago the touchback rate went from from 16% to 44% (the league also claimed concussions were reduced 50%, which one must be suspicious of given their credibility, but does track with the fact that the kick-off is the most dangerous common play in the game). The touchback rate was 63% through the first three games of this season. Already, there will be no kickoff in the Pro Bowl this year. Within 3 to 5 years, either they will make other changes to the kickoff rules to make touchbacks the outcome on at least 90% of the kickoffs, or they will just replace them completely. The game is just too dangerous, and the financial liability to the league too high, to retain kickoffs when they are responsible for such a high percentage of the damage. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
