Welcome to our continuing coverage of the MACH 10 Eagles Draft challenge… and here’s your guest moderator, making his first appearance at the Eagles Eye Bar&Grill/Burlesque/Comedy Club, just in from the NovaBare Complex in Philly, the one and only, Dave Suddaro…
“On The Thin Side” with Dave Suddaro… fondly known as “Sudz” to his followers…
Things I know, and things I’m pretty sure I think I don’t know, about these here Eagles…
Welp, as usual I’m the clean-up guy for the unfortunate messes created by my Eagles associates at NovaBare…who do ya think had to mop up that Dallas Star in the 2009 loss to the Cowboys? Yep—it was me, good ole Sudz…
Anyhoo, here’s some real football talk for you’se…
WADDUP with the new NFL rules changes?
The NFL owners just voted to move kickoffs from the 30 to the 35 yard line next season, which means that teams like the Eagles might not have to cover a single kickoff this season thanks to the leg of David Akers… The original proposal did not go through entirely. Touchbacks will remain at the 20 yard line. If anything, this gives kickers even more incentive to blast it out of the end zone. (The two-man kickoff-return blocking wedge will still be allowed…)
But the new rule adds 5 yards extra advantage to all of Aker’s peers…the idea is to reduce the violence inherent in the kickoff return process, or, in effect, to greatly reduce the chance of car-crash collisions on returns by minimizing the number of actual returns. Suddenly, every kicker in the league is within range of Akers’ record-setting performance in 2010.
I get the idea…but has the NFL really thought this through?
Sure, the NFL has just taken away one of the most surefire, fan-pleasing aspects of the game’s modern appeal— the against-all-odds moments of kick returners running the gauntlet and establishing their offensive presence in a game. (Exhibit 1 = Josh Cribbs, Cleveland)…
Here are the rule changes. Notably, the NFL is deciding to leave touchbacks at the 20 yard line as opposed to bringing it out to the 25 as had been discussed…
-Kickoff moved from 30 to 35 yard line
-Touchbacks stay at the 20 yard line
-Two man wedges remain allowable
-Kickoff coverage units allowed 5 yard running start instead of 10-15 yards
The statistics indicate that, league-wide, the touchback percentage was already increasing. The National Football Post has a nice breakdown of statistics since 2004. Touchback percentage has almost doubled since 2004 as kickers’ legs have gotten stronger. It was 8.48% in 2004 and above 16% the last two seasons. In fact, Billy Cundiff of the Ravens had over half of his kicks result in touchbacks – 40 out of 79. What will that percentage rise to with 5 more yards to boot it out of the endzone? 70%? 80%? Estimates are that the league-wide touchback percentage may rise to over 30%. That means we’ll see the number of touchbacks at least double again.
Now, tell me, how many special teams coaches are going to urge returners to run back kicks from over halfway into the endzone? If there are any, they will be fired immediately. 17 kickers last year had average kickoffs of 65 or more yards – placing the average kickoff in the endzone. WIth coaches looking to take advantage of this rule, I would suspect we could see return specialists sacrificed on rosters for kickoff specialists. If that happens, the touchback percentage could climb above 50%. Does that sound appetizing to fans?
Now, this rule change from the 30 to the 35 wouldn’t be so outrageous if something was done about touchbacks. But no… touchbacks remain at the 20. Therefore, there is no risk/reward involved in booting it out of the endzone. The advantage lies completely with the kicker. There is simply no tradeoff here for the return team. The only caveat is the rule change regarding coverage units only getting a 5 yard run-up. Perhaps that allows more time for returners to get out of the endzone, but that does little good if balls are flying out of play. Again, the risk/reward of returning a kick from well back in the endzone lies with the kicking team. The field position edge that good kick return teams like Chicago (Devin Hester), Cleveland (Josh Cribbs), Seattle, and the Jets once had now disappears. This is a huge deal!
The importance that had been placed on exciting returners like Brad Smith, Devin Hester, and Leon Washington… will now be placed on guys like David Akers. Yippee!! One of the top special teams players in the league, Josh Cribbs, had this to say from NFL.com…
“‘This rule, I’m thinking they already kick it away from guys like myself and (Chicago’s) Devin Hester,” Cribbs told NFL Network. “But this rule trumps them all. … They’ll start to scout kickers just for touchbacks. Returners like myself will become obsolete. I’ve been on both spectrum’s, so I’m talking as a guy who has played on kickoff coverage and return units.”‘
‘”You’re going to see teams franchising kickers for touchbacks,” Cribbs said. “I really feel that (it’ll be harder for returners), myself included, when I try to get a new contract. You need to be taken seriously on the field, and you won’t get this type of athlete anymore. You make these rule changes, the kick returner becomes obsolete. You have no chance to succeed. And the special-teamer in coverage, then he becomes obsolete, too, and those are guys busting tail to stay in the league.”‘
Instead of seeing electrifying returns from men like Cribbs, Hester, and Smith… we’ll see kickers undramatically kick the ball into the endzone. Imagine the hype of the opening kick of the 2011 season… again, if we have games. Then imagine the letdown of seeing touchbacks all around the country. Imagine taking some of the most exciting plays out of the game. Imagine taking some of the most exciting players out of the game. That’s what this rule accomplishes. It’s a complete fail for football fans.
Well, here’s my personal Eagles Special Teams take on all this—-Get this—eventually you will have “pop-up” kickoff specialists, whose sole mission is to pooch the kickoff high and lazy so it settles down into the 10-yard line area…just in time for the kicking team’s gunners (WHO NOW ONLY HAVE TO RUN 10 LESS YARDS!) to swarm on the receiver—essentially a “jump ball” situation resulting in a massive increase in fumbles and loose balls similar to an on-sides kick scenario… Oh, what a well-thought rule change!—-
You can’t make dishes up!
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