Posted on 01/30/2019 2:05:05 PM PST by a little elbow grease
Remembering Ollie Matson, Bobby Mitchell, Gale Sayers, and so many others.
Just sayin’, we’re missing a lot of great football without the exciting kickoff returns.
What professional sports league would purposefully destroy their most exciting plays? Who would do this? Is this just a function of the wussified society in which we live?
Here in the year 2019, this is what kickoffs look like most of the time: special teams amble onto the field. The kicker kicks the ball out of or through the end zone. The returner turns his head …. observes the ball … the special teams amble off the field. Then …….. COMMERCIALS .
“On rare occasions, the kicker fails to kick the ball beyond the end zone and the returner catches the ball and runs with it, but there always seems to be a penalty for holding or an illegal block in the back. Without the wedge, kickoffs no longer are about power. They’re about speed, and the field is wide open. It’s hard to keep a return game clean when the field is wide open because someone tends to get out of position and that leads to penalties, and penalties make the play frustrating.”
Even when the kick returner catches the ball, his best decision usually is to take a knee in the end zone so his team’s offense can start at its 25.
Kickoffs have become mostly a meaningless and boring ritual. Some people in the NFL want to get rid of the kickoff entirely and replace it with a punt, a less-dangerous play.
The league has done a good job of changing some of the rules on the kickoff in order to eliminate some of the violent collisions and injuries.
But there is nothing the NFL can do to make kickoffs or football in general completely safe ….. and they should not try to.
Injury is inherent to football. It’s a sport with collisions. People hit each other.
So in today’s 2019 ticklish society kickoff returns are controversial.
Imagine starting the games by just lining up at the 25-yard line. That may be next.
Imagine missing this kickoff return. The Cal-Stanford game …….
"The band is out on the field!"...... lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bhbuEDYHho
Imagine missing this kickoff return. The Cal-Stanford game …….
“The band is out on the field!”......
Or just outlaw football entirely.
The commies wrecked everything. I won’t watch football even if you paid me.
The new Alliance of American Football isn’t even going to have kickoffs. Win the coin flip and take the ball on your own 25.
Yawn.
NFL poised to explore possible elimination of kickoffs
“If you don’t make changes to make it safer, we’re going to do away with it. It’s that serious,” Murphy said of what the message to the collection of coaches and coordinators would be. “It’s by far The most dangerous play in the game, The Kickoff Return, is also often the most exciting.” ——
— In 2019 NFL football there hardly ever is a decent kickoff return. What a shameful loss.
Get rid of punts and kickoffs. You get the ball on the 20. If you have 4th and 15, sorry, you have to go for it. Would create more offense and scoring.
Funny, I’ve been going on YouTube and there are a lot of videos of complete games back from the 1970s.
It really makes you realize just how much the SJWs have messed up the game.
It’s a loss of you think the purpose of NFL football is to play football. For the last X years it seems like the purpose is to provide a break between commercials first, and a money tree to the social justice programs second. With an alternative career path for illiterate ghetto kids along the way.
Kind of like newspapers existed to provide a delivery mechanism for advertisers.
All these guys know how to do is take a knee....
Yawn.
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Yawn is right.
A field goal or touchdown is scored, they go to commercials. They come back and kickoff .... the ball goes flying into and out of the end zone or it is downed in the end zone. They go to commercial again ..... lots of beer breaks anyhow.
If they’re going to get rid of kickoffs, I say go all the way and get rid of all kicking: Field Goals, Extra Points, Punting.
If you don’t get a first down in four tries, tough noogies!
It would be real interesting to see Football without the Foot.
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At least there seem to be fewer "knees" as inane political statements.
Hmmm ....
I’d also have in “Footless Football”, the option if you score a touchdown, to go for 2 from the two-yard line. Or you can go for 3 from the 10-yard-line. And if you convert from the 10, not only do you get the 2-points, you get the ball back, so it’s like an onside kick.
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I heard someone suggest something like that before.
Pretty bold ..... with just a few more people in the unemployment lines.
;-)
Oops meant 2 points from the 10-yard line, not 3.
If only Alex Karass could have lived to see that, he always said that the worst thing about football was having to take showers with kickers.
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I hear you. I've been in Pittsburgh since 1947 and have been a Steeler fan. Check out some of those Steeler games in the mid 70's. That was football.
unless the NFL lengthens & widens the field or changes kick off rules (ie. allowing fewer players on each side for special teams plays), we’ll likely never see another Super Bowl game opening kick-off returned for a TD.
Super Bowl 41 - Eagles vs. Bears (Miami FL)
Devin Hester (CHI) becomes only NFL player to return an opening kick in a Super Bowl for a TD:
https://bit.ly/1OYKcF3
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Wow ..... that's one way to look at it.
How about ALSO .. a delivery system for propaganda?
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