wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member Topic Starter
2 months ago

Teams are already preparing to kick the ball out of the end zone.

One thing is becoming increasingly clear: The NFL’s new kickoff rules will have unintended consequences. While the rule changes were initially branded as a way for the kickoff to be an active play that avoids touchbacks, that’s not exactly how it’s actually going to play out when the season begins.

Back in May, we wrote this about the league’s new kickoff , after digging into the rules and talking to sources:

Here’s what I learned:

The XFL ’s kickoff return was returned for an average position of 29 yards. The NFL moved the kickoff back five yards (along with a few other rule changes), so the expectation going into the season is that the starting field position spot will be around the 34-yard-line. Here’s the problem: The NFL didn’t adjust the penalty for a touchback to go along with that five-yard change, so touchbacks out the back of the end zone have a starting field position at the 30-yard-line...which could lead to just as many touchbacks as before.

If kicking teams are electing to allow return teams to field the ball, the main strategy is going to be a sort of long squib attempt. If a ball bounces inside the 20 and goes out of the end zone, the touchback simply goes to the 20-yard-line. Under XFL  rules, there was a hangtime penalty that was enforced to prevent these “long squib” attempts, but the NFL didn’t adopt it.

So you’re going to see one of two plays with the NFL’s rules: A kick out of the back of the end zone or a long squib that could lead to teams actually using two returners on the field at the same time rather than just the single returner that we’re used to.

The more I learn about the NFL’s rule changes, the more I think the Packers  were correct in voting against the full-season implementation of the rules, which president Mark Murphy stated was because the club wanted to test out the rules for a preseason before going into a full season with the changes. The NFL should have adopted the XFL’s kickoff rules wholesale, rather than adjusting them to incentivize more touchbacks — the problem they already had with kickoffs.

On Friday, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio reported  much of the same information that we unearthed last month. Florio claims that one coach told him that teams “will choose to kick out of the end zone at the outset of the season, so that the play can be studied based on the teams that choose to be the guinea pigs for it.” Florio also noted that the original touchback spot was going to be the 35-yard-line, but it was changed to the 30-yard-line — which now incentivizes touchbacks — on the weekend before owners voted on the rule change. Per the writer, “it’s too late” to move the touchback spot to the 35-yard-line.

Because of how the rules are structured, you’re going to get one of two plays: 1) a long squib that will force returners to show off their fielding ability or 2) a simple touchback. That’s far from the bill of goods we were promised when the league originally made the rule changes.

Continue Reading @ Justis Mosqueda 

Justis Mosqueda wrote:



I am not a fan of the new kick off rules. I have a general disdain for most of the rules changes in the past 10 years.


UserPostedImage
beast
2 months ago

I am not a fan of the new kick off rules. I have a general disdain for most of the rules changes in the past 10 years.

Originally Posted by: wpr 


It feels like the NFL just over or under thinks all rules changes and usually go to the extremes with most rule changes while the NFL recent trend is also to make rules more vague, so they can claim the refs got the ruling right as the rules aren't clear... and then the Refs are forced to over correct and then they get the backlash and then the NFL tells the refs to chill out a bit.

Also, it's well known the NFL defuses to take rules from others, such as the college game, which writers say it based on Ego. Technically they are taking this rule from the NFL, but the XFL only adopted it after agreeing to be the test group for the NFL, so it was their testing. But College clearly has the better overtime rules, which the NFL refuse to adopt, while saying they want something fair to both sides but refuses to adopt the college rules.


Also, I still say the NFL only changed the touch back rule in the first place, but PR wise they were getting their asses publicly handed to them in the safety debate, as the NFL owners agreed to give the Soccer players grass fields, but refused to do the same for the NFL players, and grass fields is statistically safer.

So the NFL found some other safety rules, touch backs and used the shockingly high preseason injury rate, when players that are not going to make the 53 man rosters are doing extra stupid stuff to try to get extra looks and make a play, and guys on the 3rd string return units don't know how to block, lead to one preseason of a shockingly high injuries, in which the NFL could cha ge the rule and claim victory, as normally there aren't half that many injuries, so the lower normal of injuries would just be things returning to normal, not that the rule was more helpful.


UserPostedImage
Zero2Cool
2 months ago
I read the rules quick and figure I'll see what happens during preseason, haha. I'm guessing someone will skirt the rules a little bit and it'll get tweaked a few times.
UserPostedImage
bboystyle
2 months ago
This new kickoff rule is dumb and pointless. They already screwed over onside kicks,might as well eliminate kickoffs all together
beast
2 months ago

This new kickoff rule is dumb and pointless. They already screwed over onside kicks,might as well eliminate kickoffs all together

Originally Posted by: bboystyle 



If it's not a touchback (which they probably will be trying for), then returners have a much better chance of breaking a long return this year (which is why they're probably just going to take the touchbacks, at least if you have a kicker that can kick it out of the end zone).
UserPostedImage
wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member Topic Starter
a month ago
Here's an update from CBS  on the new kickoff rules.


NFL owners approve wild new kickoff rule for 2024: Here's everything you need to know about one-year trial run
The changes are meant to entice more returns


The NFL kickoff will be undergoing a dramatic change for the 2024 season.

CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones has reported that the NFL's 32 owners officially approved the new kickoff proposal at the Annual League Meeting in March. It looked like the owners were originally going to vote on the rule earlier, but several were apprehensive about making such a dramatic change to the NFL rule book. The NFL decided to hold off for 24 hours before voting on the kickoff rule and delaying the vote ended up working.

In the end, the rule passed 29-3 with only the Raiders, 49ers and Packers voting against it.

Jones has reported that the rule has been approved on a one-year trial basis only, which means the NFL can scrap it if the rule doesn't lead to more returns, which is what the league is hoping to see.

The new kickoff is nothing like the old kickoff. The proposal alone was 9.5 pages long, so it's a lot to digest.
With that in mind, we're going to take a look at what the new rule entails and what the kickoff look like going forward (You might want to bookmark this page in case you ever need an explainer on the new rule).

First, the formation will be quite different from anything you've ever seen before on a kickoff in an NFL game.

Of the 22 players on the field for the play, 21 of them will be in the receiving team's territory. That number will break down like this for the kicking team:

Kicker will be by himself. The kicker will set up the ball at his own 35-yard line and after kicking it, he won't be able to cross midfield until the ball is in play. The ball will be considered in play if the returner catches it or if the ball hits the ground in the landing zone or if the ball gets to the end zone.

Coverage team will be lined up together. The other 10 players on the kicking team will be lining up at the receiving team's 40-yard line. Each player has to have at least one foot on the 40 before the play can start. Also, the kicking team has to have five players on each side of ball, so they won't be able to load up to one side.

As for the receiving team, their setup will be slightly different.

Most of the receiving team will be at the 35-yard line. The receiving team has a 5-yard setup zone that runs from its own 30 to its 35-yard line. Seven players from the receiving team must have their foot on the 35-yard line. The receiving team can also have two more players who are in the setup zone, but who aren't touching the 35-yard line. Those two players will be lined up outside the hashes.

Receiving team can have two returners. The receiving team can put one or two returners back to field the football, but if they decide to utilize just one returner, then the extra player will have to line up in the set-up zone between the 30- and 35-yard line.
If you are someone who learns better with visualization, you can see below what the setup will look like.



For a kickoff after a safety, the formations above will stay the same, The only thing that will change will be where the kicker lines up. After a safety, the kicker will be required to kick off from his own 20. If a ball goes out of bounds on this kick, the receiving team will get the ball at the kicking team's 45-yard line.

If there are any penalties on the kickoff, the kicker will be the only one who moves, everyone else will line up in their same spot.

Now that we have the kickoff and return formations out of the way, let's get to the next part of the rule: The landing zone.

What is the landing zone? This is the part of the field that's between the receiving team's goal line and the receiving team's 20-yard line. The kickoff coverage team and the blockers on the receiving team CAN'T MOVE until the football has either been fielded by a returner or touches the ground in the landing zone.

Fair catches will likely be non-existent. Players will have the option of making a fair-catch, but there's no incentive to do it. Under last year's rule, a fair-catch by a returner that came anywhere inside the 25-yard line meant that his team would get the ball at the 25-yard line. Under the new rule, if a player calls for a fair-catch, his team will get the ball at the spot where the fair-catch was called, according to an NFL spokesman. This means that if a player calls for a fair-catch at his 11-yard line, then his team will take over at the 11-yard line.

The new rule will also add three different types of touchbacks and this is where things get kind of confusing, so you're definitely going to want to pay attention here.

Touchback at the 40-yard line. If the kickoff doesn't make it past the return team's 20-yard line, then the ball is considered out of bounds and the return team will get possession at its own 40-yard line (or 25 yards from the spot of the kick). If the ball is kicked out of bounds, the receiving team will get the ball at its own 40 or the spot where the ball went out of bounds.

Touchback at the 30-yard line. If the ball is kicked into the end zone on the fly, then the receiving team gets a touchback at its own 30-yard line. This touchback also applies if the ball is kicked out of the back of the end zone. When the rule was originally proposed, this touchback was supposed to be at the 35, but it was tweaked over the weekend to make it the 30, according to NFL.com.

Touchback at the 20-yard line. If a ball hits the ground in the landing zone and then rolls into the end zone -- and doesn't get returned -- then the touchback will only go out to the 20.

These new touchback rules are in place to encourage more returns. The rule is essentially incentivizing kickers to kick a returnable ball. If they have a ball go in the end zone on the fly, the receiving team gets a touchback at the 30, which wouldn't be ideal for the kicking team.

With the new kickoff rule passing, that means the NFL will also be getting a new onside kick. Since the kickoff HAS to make it to the receiving team's 20-yard line to be considered in play, that means the NFL's previous onside kick rule can't be used.

So how do you fix that? Under the new rule, onside kicks will only be allowed in the fourth quarter, and only if a team is trailing. Also, the team that wants to attempt the onside kick will have to "declare" that it's trying it. This will eliminate the surprise onside kick.

Finally, if you're still confused about any of this, you can check out this video that the NFL put together on the new rule.



Now that this rule has officially been approved that means will see it on the field as soon as August when the NFL preseason kicks off with the Hall of Fame Game between the Bears and Texans. Special teams coaches around the NFL are going to have a busy offseason because every single one of them will be looking for ways to best take advantage of the league's wild new kickoff rule.


UserPostedImage
bboystyle
a month ago
Might as well just eliminate the kickoff and have teams starting at the 20 yard line. So dumb how the NFL wants to manipulate the game for more scoring. They already soften defenses for high scoring. By 2030, football wont even look the same at this rate
wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member Topic Starter
a month ago

Might as well just eliminate the kickoff and have teams starting at the 20 yard line. So dumb how the NFL wants to manipulate the game for more scoring. They already soften defenses for high scoring. By 2030, football wont even look the same at this rate

Originally Posted by: bboystyle 



The game already doesn't look like the game of my youth. Then again neither does MLB or NBA. I'm pretty sure the NHL has had major changes as well but I don't follow it close enough to know.
UserPostedImage
Fan Shout
Zero2Cool (4h) : Rams won’t have Cooper Kupp or Puka Nacua when they host the Packers in Week 5.
Mucky Tundra (6h) : Or is that the Rusty Red Rifle because of his age?
Mucky Tundra (6h) : The Red Rifle Returns!
Zero2Cool (8h) : Panthers are benching former No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young and starting veteran Andy Dalton beginning this week.
Mucky Tundra (22h) : bears still have slim chance here
Mucky Tundra (23h) : and there's another one!
Mucky Tundra (16-Sep) : oh crap macbob has the Texans K and he keeps hitting these long FGs
Mucky Tundra (15-Sep) : Hope the Texans beat the brakes off the Bears
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : LaFleur: “I asked Malik why he didn’t throw it on that third down and he told me Josh threw up on the ball.”
Mucky Tundra (15-Sep) : i was wondering why it was just you, me, beast and macbob by the end
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : Yeah it was weird today for some reason
Mucky Tundra (15-Sep) : Oh my, marvin harrison jr might be as good as he was billed out to be
Mucky Tundra (15-Sep) : and none of the chats on my phone are showing up on the desktop chat
Mucky Tundra (15-Sep) : weird, i was on my phone for chat during the game but now on my desktop I look at chat and there's tons of chats i didn't see on my phone
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : Oh yeah, for sure. That's just not fair thoguh.
Mucky Tundra (15-Sep) : Zero, what I meant was that surely a tech and IT genius such as yourself would find a way to change the pick
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : Well, I mean, I know I did, but might not have waited for it to register and went into Chat. Oh well
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : Or so I thought I did. lol
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : I had Colts for few days to throw everyone off. At 11am or so, I changed it to Packers.
Mucky Tundra (15-Sep) : You know if you didn't say anything you probably could have changed it and no one would have noticed ;)
Mucky Tundra (15-Sep) : Vikings over the 49ers, Bucs over the Lions
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : lol awesome. my pick for Packers didn't go through. sweet
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : Packers defense has 6 Takeaways in two games.
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : nah
Martha Careful (15-Sep) : I think I've been booted out of the chat room
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : Jordan Love has his left leg wrapped in a sleeve as he stands on the sidelines during National Anthem.
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : Jaire Alexander, Eric Wilson and Elgton Jenkins are the Packers’ team captains today against the Colts.
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : Looks like Sean Rhyan will start at right guard, based on the early warm-ups.
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : No surprise, Love inactive
Zero2Cool (15-Sep) : Inactives: 10 QB Jordan Love 27 S Kitan Oladapo 57 DL Brenton Cox Jr. 73 T Andre Dillard 79 T Travis Glover 96 DL Colby Wooden
Martha Careful (14-Sep) : Wisconsin football stinks. OL good, Pauling good. all else MEH
Zero2Cool (14-Sep) : Jordan Love downgraded to doubtful for tomorrow's game
Zero2Cool (14-Sep) : Sean Clifford just got called up. No Love tomorrow. No shock either.
Mucky Tundra (13-Sep) : I know it's probably to mess with the Colts but I'm just huffing copium honestly
Mucky Tundra (13-Sep) : So you're saying there's *a chance*?
Zero2Cool (13-Sep) : Packers officially listed QB Jordan Love (knee) as questionable for Sunday's game vs. the \Colts.
Mucky Tundra (13-Sep) : Confirmed concussion for Tua
Mucky Tundra (13-Sep) : Yikes, possibly another concussion for Tua
Zero2Cool (13-Sep) : Who did you try dumping Cooks off onto?
dhazer (13-Sep) : glad my other trade was rejected Cook has 28 at halftime lol
Zero2Cool (12-Sep) : Muwahahahah
Zero2Cool (12-Sep) : I'll ride Jordan Love > Brock Purdy all day!
Zero2Cool (12-Sep) : Packers TE that you all say is being phased out lol
Zero2Cool (12-Sep) : Upper tier QB???
dhazer (12-Sep) : backup RB
dhazer (12-Sep) : and he rejects it because I rejected his trade of the 49ers backup B for Mcaffery lol
dhazer (12-Sep) : I try helping out Kevin and trading him an upper teir QB so he has a starter and even gave him a Packer TE for a backup TE Purdy for Love
Zero2Cool (12-Sep) : MLF says “Love’s injury is more day to day than anything”
Zero2Cool (11-Sep) : Like that Eli was "known" not to study or something
Zero2Cool (11-Sep) : AH, ok. i got that one quick, but thought maybe there's something more
Please sign in to use Fan Shout
2024 Packers Schedule
Friday, Sep 6 @ 7:15 PM
Eagles
Sunday, Sep 15 @ 12:00 PM
COLTS
Sunday, Sep 22 @ 12:00 PM
Titans
Sunday, Sep 29 @ 12:00 PM
VIKINGS
Sunday, Oct 6 @ 3:25 PM
Rams
Sunday, Oct 13 @ 12:00 PM
CARDINALS
Sunday, Oct 20 @ 12:00 PM
TEXANS
Sunday, Oct 27 @ 12:00 PM
Jaguars
Sunday, Nov 3 @ 3:25 PM
LIONS
Sunday, Nov 17 @ 12:00 PM
Bears
Sunday, Nov 24 @ 3:25 PM
49ERS
Thursday, Nov 28 @ 7:20 PM
DOLPHINS
Thursday, Dec 5 @ 7:15 PM
Lions
Sunday, Dec 15 @ 7:20 PM
Seahawks
Monday, Dec 23 @ 7:15 PM
SAINTS
Sunday, Dec 29 @ 12:00 PM
Vikings
Saturday, Jan 4 @ 11:00 PM
BEARS
Recent Topics
10m / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

4h / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

6h / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

11h / Fantasy Sports Talk / Zero2Cool

13h / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

16-Sep / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

15-Sep / Around The NFL / Martha Careful

14-Sep / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

12-Sep / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

10-Sep / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

9-Sep / Green Bay Packers Talk / Mucky Tundra

9-Sep / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

8-Sep / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

7-Sep / GameDay Threads / wpr

7-Sep / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

Headlines
Copyright © 2006 - 2024 PackersHome.com™. All Rights Reserved.