[Huck]

They could just eliminate the kickoff and start on the 20, but then they’d lose a commercial break.

[Impy]

This is lame.

Cloaked in overly stern and self-important preachy talk of “player safety” it’s imo a combination of

A)The owners trying to show the players how much there care about safety (with a meaningless gesture that will have little injury impact).

and maybe I’m paranoid but

B)A conspiracy by the majority of teams which lack an elite return game to blunt the advantage of the minority of teams that do

[wastedyears]

Another reason I still prefer hockey.

[TomasUSMC]

wimpy er wimpy er. They should just change to flag football, let the cheerleaders play and be done with it.

[biff]

I thought football involved defensive tackling? Am I missing something or has the game changed?

[bill1952]

Why not just move it to the 50 and be done with it.
“If they are worried about injuries, they could wear skirts.” (thanks for the quote to Jack Lambert)

[04-Bravo]

What a strange decision. Kickoffs used to be from the 40-yd line, but soccer-style kickers began creating too many touchbacks. So the NFL moved it to the 35, and later to the 30-yd line, to get kick returns back into the game.

Now they want to take kick returns out of the game. What a crock.

[KoRn]

More touchbacks = stupid. That 5 yards may not sound like much on kickoffs, but I believe this will have consequences.

This will hurt overall scoring. Gives the offense a longer field which will mean more field goals and less touchdowns.

Hell, if the wind is right with a great kicker, we might see a couple of instances of putting a kickoff through the goal posts. (would that count as a field goal?) lol

[Professional]

Dude, seriously, ask yossef this question...

Why are you “cheering”?

[BuckeyeTexan]

Nearly double the touchback rate? Well, hell. Why not just let the kick returner play rock, paper, scissors beforehand to determine if it’s a fair catch?

Stupid new rule. Bunch of socialists. We have to make kick returns fair and accessible to all.

[dfwgator]

The NFL should implement the “Rouge”, 1-point for touchbacks.

[McCloud-Strife]

Rush commented on this on Tuesday. As per usual, I think he was right on. The under lying reason is to be able to add more commercials. More touchbacks, instant replays after each touchdown. It will increase revenue and downtime, in my opinion more boring.
As a Broncos fan, I say it also helps to take away a big advantage we have at home, thin air and little time to catch your breath. If these rules were in place last year, I wonder if they would have won any games this season, heh.

[JohnKinAK]

Reducing big plays and lowering points scored................seems contradictory to maintaining high TV ratings.

[wrcase]

I can understand the Bear’s coach not approving of this rule. The Bears have the most dangerous kickoff return man in the NFL with Devin Hester.

[taxesareforever]

I hear they are also passing a rule that players legs will be connected by a two foot piece of line in order to prevent injuries from high speed tackles.

[VeniVidiVici]

The league implemented the rule because it found a higher incidence of collision injuries, specifically concussions, on kickoffs.

I think that's just due to the normal fighting slaves do amongst themselves.

[Right Wing Assault]

Replace the kickoff with a punt from the 40. Allow fair catches. This would still be fun but not have the two teams running into each other full speed. More turnovers. On a kickoff if you bobble the ball, you’re OK. On a punt, you’re in trouble.

[chopperman]

I call this the ‘Jeff Reid’ rule. He just had a career extension.

[newzjunkey]

Touchbacks are a drag on game momentum. They’re better off doing away with the kickoff.

[newzjunkey]

Touchbacks are a drag on game momentum. They’re better off doing away with the kickoff.