Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Kickoff Return – Vanishing and Near Gone
freerepublic.com ^ | 1/30/19 | self

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: adumbassvanity; anotherstupidvanity; blmsignaling; chat; exciting; football; kickoffs; nfl; notforlong; notnews
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-58 last
To: foreverfree; CaliforniaCraftBeer
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:--- SB41 was *Colts* vs. Bears. Indy went on from that start to win big in the rain.

___________

That Super Bowl 41 reference was from post # 19.

Smoke someone else .... if it feels good.

41 posted on 01/30/2019 3:49:01 PM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: a little elbow grease
What would Lombardi say?


42 posted on 01/30/2019 3:50:17 PM PST by JonPreston
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: a little elbow grease

Tim Dwight returned a (non-opening) KO for TD 20 years ago for the Falcons, against the Broncos, in XXXIII. I presume there have been others of those.


43 posted on 01/30/2019 3:51:42 PM PST by JohnBovenmyer (Waiting for the tweets to hatch!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: JonPreston
"What would Lombardi say?"

________

LOL ..... different times.

Personally I miss the kickoff returns. Why don't they move the ball back again?

Maybe it's time for Tom Brady to rule over the kickoff balls --- DEFLATE 5%.

;-) ***

Wiki -- "The official rules of the National Football League require footballs to be inflated to a gauge pressure between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch (psi) or 86 to 93 kPa, when measured by the referees."

44 posted on 01/30/2019 3:57:44 PM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: a little elbow grease
Personally I miss the kickoff returns.

Me too and the new rules will cost some excellent special teams players their careers.

45 posted on 01/30/2019 4:00:42 PM PST by JonPreston
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: JohnBovenmyer
"Tim Dwight returned a (non-opening) KO for TD 20 years ago for the Falcons, against the Broncos, in XXXIII. I presume there have been others of those."

__________

Gotta wonder what odds Las Vegas is giving on a kickoff return for a touchdown this weekend.

46 posted on 01/30/2019 4:02:21 PM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: JonPreston
"and the new rules will cost some excellent special teams players their careers"

____________

That's for sure.

47 posted on 01/30/2019 4:05:07 PM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: a little elbow grease

Sorry, grease. I was correcting CCB and messed up. BTW I’m a non smoker.


48 posted on 01/30/2019 4:23:32 PM PST by foreverfree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: foreverfree

tx for the correction.


49 posted on 01/30/2019 5:35:05 PM PST by CaliforniaCraftBeer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: a little elbow grease

Today’s kickoff rules have not only done away with returns, but made a successful onside kick nearly impossible


50 posted on 01/30/2019 8:12:12 PM PST by Figment
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: foreverfree
BTW I’m a non smoker.----

______________

Congrats. I'm trying to get someone to quit.

;-)

51 posted on 01/30/2019 8:20:39 PM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: longhorn too

Another rule I found that used to exist, is that if it is fourth down and you threw an incomplete pass into the end zone, it was a touchback, with the other team getting the ball on the 20, instead of from the spot of the fourth down...Weird.


52 posted on 01/30/2019 8:23:15 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
"Another rule I found that used to exist, is that if it is fourth down and you threw an incomplete pass into the end zone, it was a touchback, with the other team getting the ball on the 20, instead of from the spot of the fourth down...Weird."

_______________

What is the rule currently? Is it currently that after throwing an incomplete pass on 4th down in the end zone, is it currently that the ball is turned over to the other team at the line of scrimmage?

If the team with the ball is at the one yard line, and on 4th down throws an incomplete pass in the end zone, does the ball go over to the defensive team on the one yard line?

53 posted on 01/31/2019 12:52:52 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: All

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbzmH7sVa-U

Greatest Kick Returns in Football

-— many are relatively recent


54 posted on 01/31/2019 3:44:57 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CaliforniaCraftBeer
You're welcome.

ff

55 posted on 01/31/2019 4:44:27 AM PST by foreverfree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog; EQAndyBuzz; foreverfree; Bernard; Rastus; CaliforniaCraftBeer; Peter W. Kessler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbzmH7sVa-U

Tempting ......
These are great to see .......
Greatest Kick Returns in Football
I miss them .......


56 posted on 02/01/2019 4:09:35 PM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: a little elbow grease

Kinda seemed that way, to me, as far back as the 70’s. And the 25? I thought it was the 20?. Most returns I ever saw made (which is a lowish number, I’ll admit) ended at about the 20, give or take. Why bother to run it back and waste the time if your team can simply start at the 25 by taking a knee in the end zone?


57 posted on 02/02/2019 7:17:48 AM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BradyLS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbzmH7sVa-U

These are great to see .......
Some Great Kick Returns in Football
I miss them .......


58 posted on 02/02/2019 9:14:27 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-58 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson