Steelers special teams coach Danny Smith, like his colleagues around the NFL, believes that he wasn’t listened to when the league adopted its new rule to promote fair catches on kickoffs.
“I’m for making the game safer. It’s just that special teams is an easy place to attack for some reason. They’ll move on,” Smith said, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “You say your piece and hope it’s heard.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pushed for the new rule that puts the ball on the 25-yard line after fair catches on kickoffs because the league believes the kickoff is the sport’s most dangerous play. Smith believes the ability to kick off and return a kick off is fundamental to the sport of football and shouldn’t be legislated out of the game.
“People diminish that until you’re in a critical game in the AFC North, in the weather and the ball is in play,” Smith said. “Early in the season, not so much. In indoor games, they might give you one [to return]. . . . But in the division we play in, in the weather we play in, you’re going to have to return some balls. Your job is to get field position for the offense, so you better have one.”
Smith believes that the owners ultimately felt like they had to make a show of doing something for player safety.
“If you footed the bill for concussions, would you make a change to show that you’ve made a change?” Smith said. “It doesn’t surprise me.”
