Generally, I've at least understood some of the past rules changes. In fact, I've been okay with everything except for the rules involving the elimination of the quarterback as a football player (which with all the "safety" talk, I'm surprised there wasn't another condition under which defenders would be even more limited in their ability to do their job).
When the league banned players from using props or going to the ground during celebrations I rolled my eyes but didn't get mad. Yeah they're getting rid of some of the fun, but it was essentially unnecessary taunting and losing it didn't change the essence of the game.
When they eliminated wedges on kickoffs I scoffed, but understood that it was purely for the safety of players basically standing in one spot before getting slammed by a guy with a thirty yard head start.
But this time the owners went too far.
Under the guise of player safety, kickoffs will now take place at the 35 yard line instead of the 30. Why? What good does that do?
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| Say goodbye to saying goodbye. |
That excitement is now all but banished from the game. To what end?
All it does is drastically increase the number of touchbacks. Players will still get hurt on touchbacks. Just because the ball is bouncing in the aisles doesn't mean that during the five previous seconds, there aren't still twenty guys busting heads.
You know what it really does? It just makes those unfortunate injuries happen for no reason.
If a guy is going to snap his neck trying to block or break a block, he's going to do it in the first couple of seconds. Not at the end. Not after the returner catches the ball.
By the time Devon Hester catches a kickoff, there's usually at least two guys on the ground, five battles between blockers and potential tacklers as well as ten more guys about hit something really hard.
They have a job to do and that doesn't change until the whistle blows. On touchbacks, that whistle still won't blow until it's too late.
I know your argument already. "But Tony, the attackers only get a five yard head start instead of fifteen!"
I don't care. These athletes have perfected the art to get maximum speed in minimal time. Hitting someone with 1000 psi instead of 1200 doesn't make a vertebra less vulnerable to snapping. It doesn't make the ACL withstand an awkward hit.
These players will still get hurt.
They'll still get hurt when the guy in the third row drops his hot dog to catch a souvenir. They'll still get hurt when we hear the "Thwung!" of the ball hitting the goal post.
They just won't get hurt when guys like Hester or Josh Cribbs or Leon Washington make highlight reels. There won't be highlight reels.
Just touchbacks.
It's times like these that I really like how the NHL does rule changes. They propose new rule changes and then test them out through exhibition games to see how they work and then vote on whether or not to adopt them. And why do the owners have so much power in the NFL? And I really hope McCaskey wasn't in favor of this rule change, but the owners don't like to open anything to the public, so we'll probably never know.
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