The kickoff likely continues to be on the endangered species list. And it may simply be a matter of time before it goes away.
As FOX rules analyst (and former NFL V.P. of officiating) Mike Pereira said on Friday’s PFT Live (imagine that, a football show willing to talk about football rules), kickoff returns likely will increase under the new kickoff configuration, which is aimed at making the kickoff more like a punt. The goal, as Chad Dukes of 106.7 The Fan in D.C. put it during a PFT visit to his show earlier this afternoon, could be to make the new kickoff play more like nicotine gum, with the league weaning itself from the kickoff return and, more importantly, preparing fans for the inevitable scrapping of the kickoff altogether.
The question becomes whether there will be a reduction in concussions. Packers CEO Mark Murphy (a dad who is threatening to turn the car around but actually means it when it comes to getting rid of the kickoff) has said that players are five times more likely to suffer a concussion during a kickoff. So what is the acceptable ratio to save the kickoff?
No one seems to know, and if they know they won’t say.
The punt isn’t a problem because players don’t have the same opportunity to collide at a high rate of speed and, in turn, with a high degree of momentum. That’s the play to which the new kickoff should be compared, when it comes to charting concussions.
So if the kickoff-sort-of-punt becomes as safe as the punt, the NFL can keep the kickoff-sort-of-punt. If not, the NFL can replace the kickoff with a 4th-and-15 play from the 30 or 35 of the kicking team, allowing the team to punt (simulating the kick) or go for it (simulating the onside kick).
Or the NFL, as Pereira puts it, can put the ball on the 25 in lieu of a kick/punt and give the kicking team the ball in a 4th-and-15 scenario for onside kicks. The only problem with this approach? It removes the ability to replicate on of the most memorable moments in Super Bowl history: The surprise onside kick to start the second half of Super Bowl XLIV.
