Owners approve a change to the onside kick rule

[Orlando Buffalo]

On 5/22/2025 at 3:37 PM, 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.

I was coming here to state this, Benford got hurt on a helmet to helmet to helmet shot, which is very common on the play. I assume a 4th and 15 will be about 10-12% success rate which makes it much more appealing. 

[Coffeesforclosers]

Replace the onside kick with a round of bare knuckle boxing.

 

The first team to draw blood or get a knockdown/KO gets possession.

 

Don King some how ends up with 25% of the ticket receipts.

 

 

[cba fan]

On 5/22/2025 at 12:57 PM, Don Otreply said:

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

sounds kinda Belicheck Bradesque doesn't it....lol

[Billy Claude]

Why have a rule at all about when you can do an offside kick?  With the present percentages, no team in the lead will ever do it, and even teams trailing would not do it until late in the 4th quarter.

[transient]

7 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

It became very low success rate when they changed the rule eliminating overloading one side. 

I'm fine with allowing it to be declared in the 3rd quarter. That won't change player safety.

I just don't see the need to make it a more successful play. It should be a desperation play with low success rate.

 

With all that said I hate the new kickoff rules anyways. I would go back to the way it was.  In that format you could do a surprise insides kick anytime you want. 

Ultimately, my gripe with it comes down to the fact the league can’t follow the “ain’t broke, don’t fix it” when it tinkers with its rules, I think. I don’t really care about increasing the likelihood of an onside kick working as an individual play at the end of a game… it was a low percentage play before the rule changes, and it’s a low percentage play now. And having to declare it doesn’t change the end of the game, everyone knows when a team has no choice but to do it.
 

However, it changes the strategy in a game like the Bills-Detroit game last season. Campbell, with a banged up defense that couldn’t stop a toddler, was right to go for one when he did to try to steal a possession, and in 2023 it may have worked. And if he was able to do it to open the second half, he probably would have. In 2024 there’s almost no chance of it working.
 

I dislike the impact of that rule change on those situations, and I feel like keeping it as part of the game as it is is kind of pointless, especially if the league cares about player safety as they claim to, which we know they don’t. 
 

I agree about the current kickoff rules. It gives a very minor league feel to the whole thing. It’s like the NHL ending a game with a shootout… all these seasons later it still leaves me flat and unsatisfied. 

[Doc Brown]

4 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Nah, have the kickoff from the ten, pretty much guaranteed an actual return…, 

Final score 146 to 122.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

16 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Cheerleaders between every play.

 

 

They should have a percussion section and every time an onside kick is attempted, there is a multi-instrument drum roll before the ball is put into play.

 

Let me guess...you're the one in a family meeting, or business meeting that after you make a suggestion, someone always says "you're not helping..." 😁

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Me too! 🤣