Fair catches on kickoffs inside 25-yard line are now touchbacks

#1      

Dan

Admin
#3      

illini80

Forgottonia
Taking the strategy right out of the game. So much for the kicker than can kick the pop up to the 10 yard line.

Quit changing the game rules committee.
Clearly they want the ball to be placed at the 25 yard line. Just eliminate the kickoff.

Of course that would also eliminate the post kickoff commercial breaks, so that can't happen.
 
#4      

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL
Taking the strategy right out of the game. So much for the kicker than can kick the pop up to the 10 yard line.

Quit changing the game rules committee.

I guess the next step is to simply place the ball on the 25. I understand that kickoffs do cause more injuries than a regular play from scrimmage, and no one wants to see serious injuries, at the same time, need to figure out where this game is going.
 
#6      
Taking the strategy right out of the game. So much for the kicker than can kick the pop up to the 10 yard line.

It's only for a fair catch. Much of the time the kicking team downs it or the punter puts it out of bounds at the 10.
 
#8      

SampsonRelpenk

Edwardsville, IL
I disagree with this guy's assertion that kickoff return touchdowns are not really that interesting, given their rarity and the whiplash of erasing the touchdown that the kicking team just scored, but I am coming around to the kickoff's demise.

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#10      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
I need to figure out where this game is going.



Its progressing to one of two things
a. 7 on 7 tackle football but with little contact. No helmets . All athletes who are basically under 230 pounds


B. 11 on 11. no helmets. no tackles.


lawsuits regarding brain injuries are going to mandate changes the game in drastic ways the next 5 years.
 
#11      
Its progressing to one of two things
a. 7 on 7 tackle football but with little contact. No helmets . All athletes who are basically under 230 pounds


B. 11 on 11. no helmets. no tackles.


lawsuits regarding brain injuries are going to mandate changes the game in drastic ways the next 5 years.

I think I will disagree with you to a point. The overwhelming majority of college freshman students are 17-18, that means they are legally adults, and therefore was enter into legally binding agreements as it applies to their health. I would imagine what you might start to see would instead be colleges requiring "consent forms" prior to playing football, they will force some sort of video/course on the impact prior to playing any football. NFL will of course be even easier to prove consent. What I do think will start to be eliminated is 11-11 tackle football in HS and before. I think you are already starting to see that in wealthier areas. I personally went to a suburban better educated school district (Mahomet) with a relatively stellar 15-20 year run in football prior to the last couple of years (I would guess the average record between 2000 and 2010 was 7-2 or 8-1), and towards the early 2000s, probably well over 50+ kids went out for football each year. They are getting to the point now where fielding a full team with backups is getting harder and harder. I think that is where you will start to see it going away, with the kids, because parents will stop their kids from going out. But at least for now, there is too much money in CFB for it to go away. Just my $.02
 
#12      
How do you think college football will survive if high school football does not exist, per your example?

I don't disagree high school football will be impacted before college, but they are correlated.

Oh undoubtedly it will impacted, but I think you will still see in less educated communities, for poorer people, I think you will see people continue to do it, at least for a while... But eventually, I agree football as we know it will die.
 
#13      

South Farms

near Ogden & Rt 83
in some areas- which may be related to income or not , football may become unpopular with parents and youth , just as youth boxing did .


When that occurs, programs whither away and die.


in other areas, it may stay popular, but lawsuits related to brain injuries will force the IHSA (in Illinois) to stop sanctioning it. When that occurs, it will be up to amateur leagues to pop up and take over the roles high schools took on. That is going to force drastic changes in the game and the result will likely be these 7 on 7 leagues, where the game and rules will resemble the product we see in the indoor Arena League, only I envision it with no helmets as there will officially be "no contact" just like basketball.


Crazy as it seems, if you remove the helmets, you will remove the 99% of the brain injuries. They dont use them in rugby nor Aussie football.
 
#14      
Oh undoubtedly it will impacted, but I think you will still see in less educated communities, for poorer people, I think you will see people continue to do it, at least for a while... But eventually, I agree football as we know it will die.

Football is a spectacle. It is our version of the Roman gladiators in the Coliseum. There are eleventy bazillion people who watch and attend football and burn meat in the parking lots as an offering to the pigskin gods. No way all that money and popularity just fizzles. They don't have a Sta-Puft Marshmallow Bowl.
 
#16      

Illiini

In the land of the Nittany Lion
Wait until someone figures out that heading a soccer ball rattles the brain around in the skull. I don't know what the frequency of headers is--I never played and don't watch the game--but surely as much as the routine head contact in football. With football you can at least try to mitigate head injuries, but with soccer, like boxing, it's really part of the game. Boxing is obviously more severe than soccer, but I can see the same issues being raised.

This of course leads to a discussion of all sports. How dangerous, and how easy is it to mitigate, injuries in any sport. Snowboarding anyone?
 
#17      

Illiini

In the land of the Nittany Lion
But if football does truly go away, what do we do with stadia which in many cases dominate the skyline of college campuses.
 
#18      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
But if football does truly go away, what do we do with stadia which in many cases dominate the skyline of college campuses.

Soccer and LAX.

But it's not going away, no one is going to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, even if the goose gives everyone concussions.
 
#19      
Personally, I think we need to educate kids/parents on the almost certain risk of brain injuries. Like a lot more.

However I dont see how this is an issue if kids want to play. Isn't it everyones choice to do what they want, so long as they aren't hurting others. I'm not against safety improvements, and being honest kickoff's are one of the lamest parts of the game, but if we ever get to the point of not altering major aspects of the game, I think some line needs to be drawn.

I guess at that point you could argue guys like Hernandez might've not done what he did if his brain hadn't been damaged, but I'm not sure anyone will ever be able to prove such things. If those involved understand the risk and almost certain consequences, then who am I to say they shouldn't play?
 
#21      

mattcoldagelli

The Transfer Portal
Wait until someone figures out that heading a soccer ball rattles the brain around in the skull. I don't know what the frequency of headers is--I never played and don't watch the game--but surely as much as the routine head contact in football.

"I don't know" but "surely this much" eh?

It is nowhere close. Not even in the same universe when you consider that OL/DL and most RBs take violent impact pretty much every snap of the game.
 
#22      

KrushCow31

Former Krush Cow
Chicago, IL
I actually cannot remember the last time I saw an injury on the kick off. Almost always on other plays.
 
#23      
I actually cannot remember the last time I saw an injury on the kick off. Almost always on other plays.

Guy on the Chiefs had his Achilles rupture on an onside attempt (i think) (also believe it was non contact.) Johnny Knox was bent in half on what I think was a punt return fumble (again could be wrong). Guy I cant remember was paralyzed on a kick off (sorry for the ambiguity).

It absolutely happens. People, heck some of the fastest, biggest people, are coming full speed at each other with the sole goal of knocking the other down. It's on the same level as a defenseless receiver in my mind. That all said, I dont think changing the fundamentals of football is the solution, if one exists.
 
#24      

KrushCow31

Former Krush Cow
Chicago, IL
Guy on the Chiefs had his Achilles rupture on an onside attempt (i think) (also believe it was non contact.) Johnny Knox was bent in half on what I think was a punt return fumble (again could be wrong). Guy I cant remember was paralyzed on a kick off (sorry for the ambiguity).

It absolutely happens. People, heck some of the fastest, biggest people, are coming full speed at each other with the sole goal of knocking the other down. It's on the same level as a defenseless receiver in my mind. That all said, I dont think changing the fundamentals of football is the solution, if one exists.

Right. But I have also seen these injuries when a WR gets tackled, or a RB gets tackled, or a QB gets sacked, or that one kicker jumps up in the air to celebrate making a field goal. Johnny Knox got hurt diving to recover a fumble on a routine pass route play. I was there live. Williams on the Colts a few years ago got knocked out cold for a long time on a punt.

Is the frequency of injuries that much higher than any other event that this is necessary? The fact that you listed 3 injuries that are all NFL(bigger faster stronger) shouldn't be ignored, but I really cannot think of huge college injuries. Unless they are silent injuries that build up over time like concussions or head injuries.
 
#25      

Illiini

In the land of the Nittany Lion
"I don't know" but "surely this much" eh?

It is nowhere close. Not even in the same universe when you consider that OL/DL and most RBs take violent impact pretty much every snap of the game.

But repeated blows aren't nothing, are they? They are something, and that's all that matters.

I mean, when's the last time you saw a diving board at a neighborhood pool? And we used to start on blocks into three-foot deep water. Now pools won't let you dive off the side into nine-foot deep water.

How long until they start putting helmets on soccer players?

I'm the first to mitigate injuries whatever the sport. I've raced dirt bikes and have the X-rays to prove it. But where is the line where you say this and no more? Rugby? I've heard that takes leather balls.