Owners approve a change to the onside kick rule

[Gregg]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25198150-nfl-reportedly-passes-onside-kick-rule-change-expands-opportunities-teams

 

Last year teams could only use it when trailing in the 4th quarter. Now they can use it anytime when trailing.

[transient]

Having to declare it before a trailing team uses it relegates it to nothing more than a desperation play, like a Hail Mary. They need to find a way of making it useable again without restriction, or eliminate it altogether. It used to be part of the game strategy, now it's a perfunctory thing to do in a 1 score game before the trailing team ultimately loses.

[boyst]

2 minutes ago, transient said:

Having to declare it before a trailing team uses it relegates it to nothing more than a desperation play, like a Hail Mary. They need to find a way of making it useable again without restriction, or eliminate it altogether. It used to be part of the game strategy, now it's a perfunctory thing to do in a 1 score game before the trailing team ultimately loses.

100% agree. And that the thought is that it's about safety when it is only about 5 or 6 plays a game is hog poop

[First Round Bust]

so 50 on-sides kicks last season with 3 recovered by the kicking team for 6 percent success rate.

 

Given that...I quite dont understand why the rule still requires these to be announced before the play..with the element of surprise being key and thus removed

Can't be  safety issue as the teams are lined-up close to each other and players are not running all that fast into each other ?

[Don Otreply]

Why would a team have to tell its opponent what play they are going to run? That’s just nonsense ,

[transient]

11 minutes ago, First Round Bust said:

so 50 on-sides kicks last season with 3 recovered by the kicking team for 6 percent success rate.

 

Given that...I quite dont understand why the rule still requires these to be announced before the play..with the element of surprise being key and thus removed

Can't be  safety issue as the teams are lined-up close to each other and players are not running all that fast into each other ?

It's probably because the alignment for the kicking team is now different between a standard KO and an onsides KO. For a standard KO the coverage team is now 25 yards in front of the kicker, and if the kick doesn't reach the "landing zone" it might as well have been kicked out of bounds, 'cuz the receiving team get's it at the 40, which is presumably where they'd be trying to land it for an onsides kick if they tried one in the standard KO alignment as a surprise. They've basically made an onsides kick untenable. Either they have to modify it to make it work, or do away with it. 

[Gugny]

1 hour ago, transient said:

Having to declare it before a trailing team uses it relegates it to nothing more than a desperation play, like a Hail Mary. They need to find a way of making it useable again without restriction, or eliminate it altogether. It used to be part of the game strategy, now it's a perfunctory thing to do in a 1 score game before the trailing team ultimately loses.

Kinda like when a team is winning with, say, 13 seconds left.  A squib kick is a 100% given.  

 

[Special K]

53 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

Why would a team have to tell its opponent what play they are going to run? That’s just nonsense ,

 

Yeah, onside kicks barely work in the first place, and now with the "surprise" element removed last season, they seem to work even less. 

 

Really dumb that you have to announce you are trying an onside kick.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

Everyone saying declaring it kills it…how many surprise onside kicks were there really? I bet It was once a month in the league at best. Just guessing but come on. Plus no matter how unlikely it is to be recovered. When it’s us on the receiving side, we all still get anxious. Good change. Let’s bring ST and kicking back into football. 

[The Red King]

If they cared about safety, why not use the 4th and 15 suggested variant?  Would be exciting, and no more dangerous then any other normal play.

[Doc Brown]

1 hour ago, First Round Bust said:

so 50 on-sides kicks last season with 3 recovered by the kicking team for 6 percent success rate.

 

Given that...I quite dont understand why the rule still requires these to be announced before the play..with the element of surprise being key and thus removed

Can't be  safety issue as the teams are lined-up close to each other and players are not running all that fast into each other ?

Look at this picture and tell me what you learned. 

 

[Brand J]

3 minutes ago, The Red King said:

If they cared about safety, why not use the 4th and 15 suggested variant?  Would be exciting, and no more dangerous then any other normal play.

Would love a down like that, but the conversion percentage should be around 10-15%, I think. How frequently are 4th and 15s converted? If it falls in that range, then yeah that’s the sweet spot. The biggest issue would be officiating. Let’s say the team fails to pick up the first down, but oh wait, a DB tugged on a WR’s jersey. 5 yards and an automatic first down. That would be nightmarish. 

[The Red King]

1 minute ago, Brand J said:

Would love a down like that, but the conversion percentage should be around 10-15%, I think. How frequently are 4th and 15s converted? If it falls in that range, then yeah that’s the sweet spot. The biggest issue would be officiating. Let’s say the team fails to pick up the first down, but oh wait, a DB tugged on a WR’s jersey. 5 yards and an automatic first down. That would be nightmarish. 

 

True.  Maybe make a defensive penalty a replay of down, unless it's a personal foul?

[Motorin']

15 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

Look at this picture and tell me what you learned. 

 

 

A surprise inside kick from this formation should result in the kicker recovering his own onside kick 100% of the time...

 

I say make it so the ball only has to go 5 yards before it's live, so both teams have 5 yards to go to get to where the ball is being kicked. 

[Doc Brown]

1 minute ago, Motorin' said:

 

A surprise inside kick from this formation should result in the kicker recovering his own onside kick 100% of the time...

 

I say make it so the ball only has to go 5 yards before it's live, so both teams have 5 yards to go to get to where the ball is being kicked. 

Yes.  That's why they have to declare it.  Lol.  I think they should just eliminate the kickoff completely and have the offense start at their own 20 yard line.

[First Round Bust]

41 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

Look at this picture and tell me what you learned. 

 

I see...so lets move the kicker to the LOS with the both lines digging-in and have a tush-push

[Doc Brown]

4 minutes ago, First Round Bust said:

I see...so lets move the kicker to the LOS with the both lines digging-in and have a tush-push

It's somewhat amusing that you didn't understand why they had to declare it.  Just rip the band-aid off and do away with the kickoff.  

Edited 3 hours ago by Doc Brown