Posted on 12/06/2012 3:51:42 PM PST by InvisibleChurch
Commissioner Roger Goodell recently discussed a proposal to eliminate kickoffs with Rich McKay, the head of the league's competition committee, Time magazine reported.
More telling than the NFL's PR hocus-pocus of health and safety ads are the numbers on weight, the injuries and the PED suspensions, writes Howard Bryant.
Goodell and McKay discussed an idea brought up by Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano in which a team, instead of kicking off, would get the ball at its own 30-yard line in a fourth-and-15 situation. The team then would punt the ball away or, to replace an onside kick, could go for it and, if it failed to get a first down, the opposing squad would start with great field position.
"The fact is, it's a much different end of the play," Goodell said during the meeting, according to Time...
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
Yes, please. Let’s see if we can screw the sport up even more.
Oh Baloney. Why do they want to screw around with this much loved sport? I hate the Baltimore Ravens but give them a big hand for complaining about how the NFL wants to turn the game into a patty cake game for whusses and sissies.
I’ll stop watching it if they go this route.
One chance not to change it, that’s all, leave it alone.
Robots............or better yet make it one big video game. Next we will see baseball using sponge balls and ice hockey sticks made of foam rubber and pucks out of a laser light
GREAT idea. Eliminate one of the potentially most exciting plays in the game, and one that can flip a game on it’s head in a matter of mere seconds.
Stay smart, NFL......
Wouldn't punting the ball be like kicking off? Is it the downfield plays they are afraid of? If so, how does punting differ?
Sounds like some of the rules we made up playing half-field touch on NYC streets back in the ‘50s.
Personally, I don’t see why the NFL just doesn’t prevent defenders from defending against the pass. It’s more than halfway there, already.
Regardless of one's opinion of soccer, it should rightfully be entitled to the name "football."
how would you be able to compare stats before and after with a straight face?
Bill Simpson, who is pretty much a self taught genius and has done much of the invention on racing safety equipment, has come out with a helmet that should help a lot:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/will_carroll/08/29/simpson-ganassi-helmet/index.html
Lets just jump right to Sarcastaball - with the tin foil hats and bras when playing the new game.
F#@cking ridiculous!!!!!
Lets just end Pro Football and get it over with!
What’s their plan? Rather than kickoffs, just hand the ball to the ‘receiving team’ on the 30 yard line, and call First Down? STUPID!!!!
If the NFL goes totally over the deep end with this, I can see alternate leagues taking hold and growing rapidly. Perhaps something like that is needed anyway.....
And in "soccer" no one "socs" the ball with their hands - its a serious penalty for all but the tenders. Ha!
NFL/WWE
Maybe the umpire should bounce up the ball at midfield between the teams like a jump ball.
(Oh, wait...)
The Philadelphia Eagles have already adopted this rule.
Didn’t they already change the kick-off by moving the ball closer to the opposition end zone with the intent that more balls would go out through the end zone than would be run back, thus potentially allowing for more player injuries?
==
Maybe they could wrap players in bubble-wrap to protect them. Except that some might get lose and smother a few players. So, they would have to outlaw bubble-wrap.
Maybe they should ban tackling. Just let them play touch football.
[/s]
How about stopping the steroids?
Enough of this sissy stuff! Let’s release 3 bulls on the field as well during the kickoffs to really mix things up and see who gets the ball and where. ;-)
This is what happens when liberals take over an American institution. Negros, Felons, and Liberals, no one else invited.
You can add a fifth situation: the free kick after a safety is scored. They line up like a kick off, except the kicker kicks it like a punt and it's not snapped to the kicker - he puts the ball in play directly.
-PJ
Dave Casper used the term well.
“Let’s release 3 bulls on the field as well during the kickoffs to really mix things up “
That’s an awesome idea. They should also look at adding an open, water filled pit in the middle of field; occupied by enormous hungry crocodiles.
And having Helen Thomas stand there as a cheerleader in a skimpy dress.
Just for clarification, the word "soccer" is derived from the term "association football" and thus has nothing to do with socking anything.
And in real football as played with the feet, the player is called a goalkeeper.
If Schiano cared about safety he would stop rushing quarterbacks when they are taking a knee.
My only question is: Do the Hobbits run onto the field before or after the 4th & 15 play?
just wondering...
“And having Helen Thomas stand there as a cheerleader in a skimpy dress.”
To which stadium Jumbotron screen will instantly shatter.
Tackling is the real problem with football. There’s just too much tackling going on these days. If it doesn’t stop, somebody’s going to get hurt. You heard it here first.
Hey now, that is cruel and unusual punishment right there! You got to draw the line somewhere. :-)
What a jerk this Goodell idiot is. I just hope the sport survives his tenure.
Soccer already has an appropriate name.
Kickball.
“Wouldn’t punting the ball be like kicking off? Is it the downfield plays they are afraid of? If so, how does punting differ?”
The difference is that on kickoffs, players are running directly at each other from far apart and there are high speed collisions. On punts, the players begin much closer to each other and there are fewer high speed collisions and, thus, less likelihood of injury.
I’m obviously in the minority, but this doesn’t strike me as a bad idea. It seems like a pretty good balance between offensive and defense and reduces the chance of injury. I would not be surprised if the NFL goes to something like this.
“What a jerk this Goodell idiot is. I just hope the sport survives his tenure.”
Get real. As it stands right now, the league is going to have serious problems with the head injury lawsuits. If it doesn’t change to become safer, the league will not exist due to lawsuits and legislation.
If the NFL continues to woosiefy the game, perhaps a Rollerball league can succeed... (that’s a ref. to the old James Caan movie “Rollerball”)
Dumbest idea yet.
If they are going to eliminate kickoffs they should just give 'em the ball on the 20. Call it the "Mattel football rule."
Rollerball can’t be done. The writer wouln’t sell the rights to it even with plenty of people ready to finance it. Author said it was too violent.
The movie company did a Rollerball exhibition with their stunt men at the time they were shooting in Germany. Almost twice the capacity of the venue came to see it.
“Wouldn’t punting the ball be like kicking off? Is it the downfield plays they are afraid of? If so, how does punting differ?”
What about interceptions of a long “bomb”?
Good Grief, people (and Charlie Brown), if you want to make the game safer, dress all the players like the Michelin Man or the Pillsbury Doughboy. Why not limit players to those who weight under 110 pounds and run the 40 in over 10 seconds. That would result in “low impact” tackles!
I guess Flag Football is the next NFL option.
Wait I’ve got the answer. Put them all in those giant foam rubber Suma suits and leave the rules alone.
Wait I’ve got the answer. Put them all in those giant foam rubber Suma suits and leave the rules alone.
Shoot let’s do the Hunger Games- May the odds be always in your favor!
Soon, football will install a huge vibrating device under the field and play the game with cutouts of the players on plastic stands that move with the vibrations...
This is being pushed by new NFL head coach Greg Schiano for the safety of the players but this is the same guy who goes against a time honored tradition as he intructs his DL to go after the QB’s kneecaps during kneel downs. What do you expect from a guy from Jersey? What a POS.
There have been changes in both pro and college kickoffs, and I don’t follow all that closely, so I may be mistaken. I believe, though, that one of the rules this year is that only the kicker can be more than 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Perhaps all of the return team could be REQUIRED to be 10 yards from the line of scrimmage, with the exception of one (maybe two) kick returners. This would reduce the high speed collisions to some extent. Probably would also result in longer kick returns...
Teams run out to the field, touch the 50 yard line and yell, "Not it!" First team to have 4 players do this are then the winners of the game.... (I was going to try to incorporate the term 'shotgun' but that's not PC, yaknow)..... a great big /s
The problem with the helmets is that they are too good.
Modern helmets (and steroids) have enabled increased velocity collisions, because they hurt less on impact. Unfortunately, the force of such collisions has increased to the point that they are not safer, but more dangerous.
Back to leather helmets. Either the death rate would increase greatly, or the velocity of head/neck collisions would decrease.
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