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The official NFL thread

Pwner said:
This is a HUGE change, hopefully it will make the games more exciting...

www.espn.com

NFL owners approve massive revamp to kickoff

NFL owners approved a massive revamp of the kickoff play Tuesday, opting for a format that originated in the XFL.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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I never watched an XFL game so I don't understand how this kick-off scheme works. Seems to me the simplest solution is to have kickers kick off from their own 20 yard line so that touchbacks become virtually impossible and instead of a fair catch rule simply adopt the CFL no-yards rule. Force returning teams to do something with the ball other than call for fair catches and force kicking teams to keep balls in play rather than allowing them to kick it through the endzone.
 
I will miss the extra time touchbacks afforded me to make my paninis. I hope the quality of my sammies does not suffer
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
I never watched an XFL game so I don't understand how this kick-off scheme works. Seems to me the simplest solution is to have kickers kick off from their own 20 yard line so that touchbacks become virtually impossible and instead of a fair catch rule simply adopt the CFL no-yards rule. Force returning teams to do something with the ball other than call for fair catches and force kicking teams to keep balls in play rather than allowing them to kick it through the endzone.
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Ok, so you didn't read the article or pay any attention at all in the last 15 or so years.

But I will break it down for you:

The reason for the change is clear. In its efforts to reduce concussions on kickoffs, the NFL over the past 15 seasons has implemented rule changes designed to reduce returns. It moved the kickoff from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line, outlawed wedge and double-team blocks, and in 2023 created a rule that allowed a fair catch to be spotted at the 25-yard line.
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They don't want huge, fast and muscular human beings running at top speed, crashing into each other from distance. Think of car crashes at intersections .

Touchback rates dramatically increased over that period, and the return rate fell to a league-record 21.7% in 2023. The number of concussions dropped as well, but only in parallel with the decrease in returns. The rate of concussions per kickoff, according to league officials, has remained relatively constant.
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So moving the ball back without changing anything will lead to more concussions, more CTE and more lawsuits and obliviously more injuries.

1711474441108.jpeg

So you can see how it should limit high speed collisions.
 
Pwner said:
Ok, so you didn't read the article or pay any attention at all in the last 15 or so years.

But I will break it down for you:



They don't want huge, fast and muscular human beings running at top speed, crashing into each other from distance. Think of car crashes at intersections .



So moving the ball back without changing anything will lead to more concussions, more CTE and more lawsuits and obliviously more injuries.

View attachment 19941

So you can see how it should limit high speed collisions.
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The NFL doesn't give a shit about concussions. They only ever do things for one reason: mo money. If they cared about concussions they wouldn't change a thing since 95% of all current kickoffs wind up as either fair catches or touch backs.
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
The NFL doesn't give a shit about concussions. They only ever do things for one reason: mo money. If they cared about concussions they wouldn't change a thing since 95% of all current kickoffs wind up as either fair catches or touch backs.
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With all due respect ... This is complete and utter horseshit. What Pwner posted above is absolutely correct.
 
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axlsalinger said:
With all due respect ... This is complete and utter horseshit. What Pwner posted above is absolutely correct.
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22%

That is the current percentage of NFL kick-off's which result in some sort of return. That's it. The other 78% result in no action, either a touchback or a fair catch. Anyone who watches NFL football on Sundays knows this. It's not about concussions. It's never about concussions. The NFL barely acknowledges that concussions are an actual thing, like tobacco executives who claim that there has never been a "proven link" between cancer and smoking.

And as I also said, the solution can be found in the CFL with the no yards rule. That solves the body contact a split second after catching the kick issue and also gets rid of the tedious fair catch. Moving the ball placement on kickoffs back far enough so that fewer kicks reach the endzone and fewer kicks for distance have the requisite hang time to allow for coverage teams to get there in time to smoke a kick returner solves the rest of the problem.

The only good rule that the XFL ever had was letting Rod Smart put "HE HATE ME" on the back of his jersey.
 
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WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
22%

That is the current percentage of NFL kick-off's which result in some sort of return. That's it. The other 78% result in no action, either a touchback or a fair catch. Anyone who watches NFL football on Sundays knows this. It's not about concussions. It's never about concussions. The NFL barely acknowledges that concussions are an actual thing, like tobacco executives who claim that there has never been a "proven link" between cancer and smoking.

And as I also said, the solution can be found in the CFL with the no yards rule. That solves the body contact a split second after catching the kick issue and also gets rid of the tedious fair catch. Moving the ball placement on kickoffs back far enough so that fewer kicks reach the endzone and fewer kicks for distance have the requisite hang time to allow for coverage teams to get there in time to smoke a kick returner solves the rest of the problem.

The only good rule that the XFL ever had was letting Rod Smart put "HE HATE ME" on the back of his jersey.
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I am going to say something that will totally blow your mind, are you ready?

It is not just about the returner.

I know, shocking....

It is about the guys setting up the blocks, hence "no wedge blocks". It is about a guys "blowing up" a block. And also your solution is only good for when the returner catches the ball, normally the big collisions happen 5-10 yards after the catch.

They want to get ride of the High Speed Collisions, so moving the kick back will help with more high speed collisions, not less (more room to get up to top speed and fly down the field.

And I don't think I need to say this, but I will: The NFL field is smaller than the CFL field. In Length and Width. So 11 Men flying down a smaller field at top flight, doesn't sound super safe.
 
Pwner said:
I am going to say something that will totally blow your mind, are you ready?

It is not just about the returner.

I know, shocking....

It is about the guys setting up the blocks, hence "no wedge blocks". It is about a guys "blowing up" a block. And also your solution is only good for when the returner catches the ball, normally the big collisions happen 5-10 yards after the catch.

They want to get ride of the High Speed Collisions, so moving the kick back will help with more high speed collisions, not less (more room to get up to top speed and fly down the field.

And I don't think I need to say this, but I will: The NFL field is smaller than the CFL field. In Length and Width. So 11 Men flying down a smaller field at top flight, doesn't sound super safe.
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Football isn't supposed to be safe. No one would want to watch it if it was. The danger and the violence is what makes the NFL as popular as it is. And if you're a fan with zero personal stake in the health or wellbeing of an NFL player, you'd happily vote to see a return to 70's era football when quarterbacks were fair game, hat on hat contact was not only permitted but encouraged, and where clothesline tackles were legal. Football is not and has never been a so-called "contact sport". Ballroom dancing is a contact sport. Football is a collision sport and the object of the game is to arrive at the point of collision with your opponent in very bad humor. The popularity of the sport is derived from the degree of malice aforethought to which it is played.

The safer they make anything, the less entertaining it becomes. Cars are safer today than a half century ago, but only a soy eatin' yoga enthusiast would rather drive a Tesla than a 66 Mustang or a 64 Lincoln Continental with suicide doors. Football doesn't necessarily need to be Rollerball, but it shouldn't be soccer either. Everyone signs a waiver, everyone acknowledges their informed consent and then it's game on.
 
Always going on and on about how the "NFL" doesn't care about concussions, and the "fans" don't care about concussions, when the actual only person who doesn't give a goddamn fuck about the health of the players is the person typing this nonsensical drivel.
 
axlsalinger said:
Always going on and on about how the "NFL" doesn't care about concussions, and the "fans" don't care about concussions, when the actual only person who doesn't give a goddamn fuck about the health of the players is the person typing this nonsensical drivel.
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How many years has the NFL (and the NHL, for that matter) been ignoring, refusing to acknowledge, or doing little more than paying lip service to the subject of concussions? How much money did the NFL have to pay their former players versus how much they managed to avoid paying? They do not care. They care about not having to pay lawsuits over concussions, but concussions themselves? They couldn't care less. They never have. And aside from Barry Sanders I've not seen many players walk away from the paycheque in order to preserve their grey matter from further injury. So yeah, no one cares.

The only way to make football safe from concussions is to not have football games.
 
Yup. We could reduce all car accident deaths to 0 if we just banned all auto transportation is a ridiculously silly pie-in-the-sky argument with no basis in reality.
 
Doesn’t this rule change just encourage more returns though? Doesn’t need to be 80 yard sprint high speed collision to cause head trauma.
 
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