Ari Bear
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Whatever Devin Hester hasnt been worth a shit this year so remove it..
I fucking hate Goodell. This guy is going to be worse for the NFL than Stern was for the NBA, and that's pretty bad. He's going to completely ruin football.
OT, but how was Stern bad for the NBA? When he took over as commissioner, the NBA Finals were broadcast on tape delay, because no one wanted to carry them live in prime time. Now the league is surpassed only by soccer in international popularity. That's a job well done to me.
When the NFL changed the line of scrimmage for kickoffs to increase touchbacks, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick derisively said that it was only a matter of time before the NFL eliminated kickoffs entirely. He believed that's what the NFL wanted to do.
Belichick might wind up being proven right.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that he's taken it under consideration6
"It's an off-the-wall idea. It's different and makes you think differently. It did me," Goodell told TIME in a cover story for the Dec. 17 issue.
Even more intriguing is an alternative concept promoted by Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano. Goodell met with the NFL competition committee chairman about the concept.
"After a touchdown or field goal, instead of kicking off, a team would get the ball on its own 30-yard line, where it's fourth and 15," TIME's Sean Gregory writes. "The options are either to go for it and try to retain possession or punt. If you go for it and fall short, of course, the opposing team would take over with good field position. In essence, a punt replaces the kickoffs."
It's an interesting idea. We haven't seen the numbers that punts are that much safer than kickoffs, but the NFL must have the data to support the notion if they were considering it.
The implications for strategy are even more intriguing. If a team is trailing by more than one score very late in the fourth quarter, they likely would to try to go for it on fourth-and-15 instead of punting. That's not an easy situation to convert, but the concept would still make it easier to make a comeback without ever giving the ball back to an opponent.
I always wondered if there was double reasoning behind this. Not just safety, but economics also.
If the NFL is serious about possibly removing aspects of special teams, this could counter-balance the idea of increasing roster sizes for teams. I wonder if there are even owners who like the idea of doing away with special teams entirely, eliminating the need for back-ups to be proficient in these areas.
Roster sizes could potentially even be reduced.
I'll bet that at least 95% of these new punts end up being fair catches.After my initial knee-jerk revulsion at the idea of no kick offs, I took some time to think about it, and I'm starting to think this might actually be better for teams like ours more so than the current rules for kickoffs.
Currently something like 80% or so of kickoffs are touchbacks thanks to them moving up the kicking line. With kickers seemingly getting stronger legs this may make that percentage higher in the future. And even if it is not a touchback, or a short kick, you take a risk that bringing it out won't even get you back to the 20.
If you were to go with the proposed punting scenario this is much less likely to result in a touchback. This gives an advantage to those teams with good ST. To add to that since you no longer have to practice kickoff formations the ST unit can concentrate on perfecting the punt formation.
While I would prefer to go back to the old rules (or maybe a modified college rule), this could actually work in our favor (for once).
OT, but how was Stern bad for the NBA? When he took over as commissioner, the NBA Finals were broadcast on tape delay, because no one wanted to carry them live in prime time. Now the league is surpassed only by soccer in international popularity. That's a job well done to me.
This is all just another attempt by Goodell to quash all debate as to .....worst NFL commissioner of all time!