Posted on 01/30/2019 2:05:05 PM PST by a little elbow grease
Remembering Ollie Matson, Bobby Mitchell, Gale Sayers, and so many others.
Just sayin’, we’re missing a lot of great football without the exciting kickoff returns.
What professional sports league would purposefully destroy their most exciting plays? Who would do this? Is this just a function of the wussified society in which we live?
Here in the year 2019, this is what kickoffs look like most of the time: special teams amble onto the field. The kicker kicks the ball out of or through the end zone. The returner turns his head …. observes the ball … the special teams amble off the field. Then …….. COMMERCIALS .
“On rare occasions, the kicker fails to kick the ball beyond the end zone and the returner catches the ball and runs with it, but there always seems to be a penalty for holding or an illegal block in the back. Without the wedge, kickoffs no longer are about power. They’re about speed, and the field is wide open. It’s hard to keep a return game clean when the field is wide open because someone tends to get out of position and that leads to penalties, and penalties make the play frustrating.”
Even when the kick returner catches the ball, his best decision usually is to take a knee in the end zone so his team’s offense can start at its 25.
Kickoffs have become mostly a meaningless and boring ritual. Some people in the NFL want to get rid of the kickoff entirely and replace it with a punt, a less-dangerous play.
The league has done a good job of changing some of the rules on the kickoff in order to eliminate some of the violent collisions and injuries.
But there is nothing the NFL can do to make kickoffs or football in general completely safe ….. and they should not try to.
Injury is inherent to football. It’s a sport with collisions. People hit each other.
So in today’s 2019 ticklish society kickoff returns are controversial.
Imagine starting the games by just lining up at the 25-yard line. That may be next.
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That Super Bowl 41 reference was from post # 19.
Smoke someone else .... if it feels good.
Tim Dwight returned a (non-opening) KO for TD 20 years ago for the Falcons, against the Broncos, in XXXIII. I presume there have been others of those.
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LOL ..... different times.
Personally I miss the kickoff returns. Why don't they move the ball back again?
Maybe it's time for Tom Brady to rule over the kickoff balls --- DEFLATE 5%.
;-) ***
Wiki -- "The official rules of the National Football League require footballs to be inflated to a gauge pressure between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch (psi) or 86 to 93 kPa, when measured by the referees."
Me too and the new rules will cost some excellent special teams players their careers.
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Gotta wonder what odds Las Vegas is giving on a kickoff return for a touchdown this weekend.
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That's for sure.
Sorry, grease. I was correcting CCB and messed up. BTW I’m a non smoker.
tx for the correction.
Today’s kickoff rules have not only done away with returns, but made a successful onside kick nearly impossible
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Congrats. I'm trying to get someone to quit.
;-)
Another rule I found that used to exist, is that if it is fourth down and you threw an incomplete pass into the end zone, it was a touchback, with the other team getting the ball on the 20, instead of from the spot of the fourth down...Weird.
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What is the rule currently? Is it currently that after throwing an incomplete pass on 4th down in the end zone, is it currently that the ball is turned over to the other team at the line of scrimmage?
If the team with the ball is at the one yard line, and on 4th down throws an incomplete pass in the end zone, does the ball go over to the defensive team on the one yard line?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbzmH7sVa-U
Greatest Kick Returns in Football
-— many are relatively recent
ff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbzmH7sVa-U
Tempting ......
These are great to see .......
Greatest Kick Returns in Football
I miss them .......
Kinda seemed that way, to me, as far back as the 70’s. And the 25? I thought it was the 20?. Most returns I ever saw made (which is a lowish number, I’ll admit) ended at about the 20, give or take. Why bother to run it back and waste the time if your team can simply start at the 25 by taking a knee in the end zone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbzmH7sVa-U
These are great to see .......
Some Great Kick Returns in Football
I miss them .......
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