New/modified rules for this season?

What do you guys think of the new touchback rule? Bringing the ball out to the 25 instead of the 20?

I like it. They wanted to figure out a way to reduce kickoffs, and this is an incentive-based way of doing that, which is much preferable to eliminating the kickoff entirely as they had considered.

I just wish that all those wannabe KRs for the Cowboys had been smart and strategic enough to use the new rule, instead of trying to take every kickoff to the house, but after Lucky Whitehead opened the game with a 101-yard TD return they were all trying to get in on the action. Presumably, once these guys are all back at home watching football on TV this fall like the rest of us, Lucky won't feel the need to screw up the starting field position every time.

That makes sense. One thing I read, too, was that "average" starting field position was around the 22 or 23 yard line (or maybe that was the average return -- something like that), so the Rules Committee figured they'd just give teams the extra 2 or 3 yards.

Of course, some coaches have said it's going to backfire, and they'll have their kickers practice kicking the ball inside the 5, instead of shooting for the touchback, to force returns.

Well, they can do that if they want, but if the average return is 22-23 yards that will actually backfire because it will put starting fp around the 30.

That might also force the NFL's hand to seriously consider eliminating the kickoff entirely, because the bottom line on this experiment is going to be the number of injuries.  If the number is unchanged--or, worse, gets higher because you're going to have a return on every kick--then they'll tinker with it some more.

Between that and the possibility of narrowing the goal posts, you're going to either end the kicking game entirely or accurate kickers like Dan Bailey are going to start being paid like QBs.  Not sure that's what the league really wants, but you pay what the market will bear.

That's true. Law of unintended consequences, and whatnot. But as someone who's done some kicking in my day, I think the kicking game is an integral part of football. I'd hate to see it go away entirely.

Me too, which is why the coaches need to be careful not to blow it. We'll see how it shakes out. I suppose the next step after this would be to move the kickoff back to the 40 or something to make it that much more difficult to put a kick in the field of play. But I have no doubt that the league is serious about reducing injuries in this part of the game, so they'll keep tinkering as they feel they need to.

What I've seen some high school teams do to prevent returns is a sort of "lob" kick. If their kicker can't get it into the end zone, or maybe inside the 5, they'll have the kicker "lob" the ball toward the sideline and around the 23 or 24 yard line, to kind of "force" a fair catch. Occasionally, you'll see the returner drop one.

I wonder if they could try something like that, too.

But I think for the most part, coaches are just gonna have their kicker boot it into the end zone, and not really worry about it.

Me too. It's just going to have to be an adjustment they make.

You know, I don't see the Canadians worrying about this. In fact, the rule relating to the Rouge is designed entirely to induce a team to return a ball out of the end zone (a rule, btw, that I always thought the NFL should have adopted). I wonder if they have the same issues with long-term head trauma as the NFL?

Ok, I had to look up what rouge was, as it relates to Canadian football.

So let me see if I understand this correctly:

Team A kicks the ball into the end zone, where a Team B player catches it, and then kneels for a touchback. Team A is awarded 1 point, and Team B would then get the ball at the 25 (instead of the 35, since the Canadian field is much bigger).

Do I have that right?

That's actually intriguing...it would definitely make a tied game late more of a chess game than it already is.

Yes, exactly. That works for all kicks: kickoff, punt, and missed FG (in the CFL, the goal posts are still on the goal line, so there are 20 yards behind it to defend, which brings up the unique situation of a team missing a FG and still scoring 1 point).

I thought that it only worked for a returnable ball, but it also seems to work on punts and missed FGs travel through the end zone or land in the end zone and bounce out of bounds, which strikes me as a little unfair, since the opposing team doesn't have a chance to return it.

In any case, it certainly would change strategy late in a close game, and I always thought it would be an exciting element to add to the NFL game. Of course, NFL head coaches are risk-averse so I can see why this rule never made it south of the border, but in the CFL you get 126-yard returns for TDs like this one over the weekend:

http://www.foxsports.com/buzzer/story/cfl-brandon-banks-126-yard-return-touchdown-081416

From today's DMN, Stephen Jones (with Mike Florio) on the kickoff rule:

Mike Florio: As a member of the competition committee how closely will you be paying attention to whether the new touchback rule this year results in fewer kick returns or more kick returns?

Stephen Jones:  Big time. At the end of the day, Mike, it's all about player safety. We all know the kickoff rules are a function of player safety. We want to make the game as safe as we can for our players. It's our No. 1 priority. We gotta keep an eye on this rule and see if it reduces the number of kick returns and makes the game safer. We'll see what the injuries are and look at every stat and see if it's something that we ought to stick with or something that needs even more attention as we move forward. At the end of the day the player safety is the No. 1 priority when we meet as a committee every year and it'll continue to be that way.

Mike Florio: How tempting is it for you as part of ownership and a member of the committee to go to coach Jason Garrett and say, 'I know you may be tempted to kick the ball short and try to pin them inside the 25 but this rule isn't about more returns it's about fewer returns. I want to see that ball in the end zone.'

Stephen Jones: I think you certainly have that conversation. There's no question. Jason's aware of why the rule is there. There's a lot of consequences. I know the Rams tried to kick it short on us the other night and Lucky [Whitehead] went to the house. Those things are the risk that you take when you try to do the mortar kick there into the corner. There's a chance it goes out of bounds. Sometimes if you ask these defensive coordinators starting there at the 20-yard line having the offense start there knowing you hadn't given up anything is not such a bad thing. It'll be interesting to see where that goes this year.