Last off-season, the NFL took the Competition Committee's recommendation and changed the kickoff point from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line. The change resulted in more touchbacks and fewer concussions without affecting the scoreboard. The success of last year's rule change could one day lead to the elimination of kickoffs altogether, New York Giants owner and Competition Committee member John Mara told Giants.com. "We had a lot of discussions about whether we should eliminate it and if we did what we could do in its place," Mara said of the Competition Committee meetings. "There’s no consensus on it right now, but I could see the day in the future where that play could be taken out of the game. You see it evolving toward that. Nobody would go that far now, but we talk about different blocks that we can outlaw. The problem is that the concussions come from everywhere, from the wedge, from the crossing blocks where a guy goes from one side of the field to another, from a full speed collision between a return guy and a tackler. So there’s no one thing that you can do. It’s something that we’ll continue to watch as closely as possible." Source: Mac's Football Blog
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Roger Goodell needs to die or become the victim of a huge scandal before this game is ruined beyond recognition.
That would be severely "goobered" and I don't like using that word, but that's what it would be...eliminating one of the most important and most exciting parts of the game?!? I still have yet to see any study where it shows that all these concussions are coming from kickoffs...
That is just insane. That's honestly one of the more exiting parts of the game. 49ers n Lakers 4 life
They can rod around with where to kick off from/eliminating wedges/etc. but they'll never get rid of kickoffs IMO. Fans would revolt & they know it...
um, other than completely eliminating a crucial aspect of the game with kickoff returns, wouldn't we also lose the ability to have on-side kicks when teams are trying to come back? Teams would then have NO chance to make miraculous comebacks late in games ..............
Nah...you could roll dice and if you get "snake eyes," you get the ball...or you could defer the roll and make the other team roll for you with the same results. Worst that could happen is a sprained wrist maybe...beats concussions.
Just the thought of eliminating kickoffs is so dumb...possibly the dumbest thing ever spoken about in the world of the NFL...lol.