May 20 2023

NFL Rumors: Kickoff Rule Change
Faces 'Strong Opposition' from
Coaches, Players [& most fans, I
suspect - fair catch on kickoffs
inside 25 yard line placed on 25
yard line? Ridiculous idea]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10076770-nfl-rumors-kickoff-rule-change-faces-strong-opposition-from-coaches-players

Anyone ever see a fair catch on a kickoff?

I haven't. Fair catches on punts, a ton of 'em,
but on kickoffs? I've never seen one.

The following rule change making fair
catches on kickoffs inside the 25 placed
at the 25 is controversial:
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10076770-nfl-rumors-kickoff-rule-change-faces-strong-opposition-from-coaches-players

What kickoff returner in his right mind would
choose to fair catch a kickoff that's short of
the goal-line. I'd surmise that 99.99% of kick-
off returners see a short kickoff as an oppor-
tunity for a long return, & unless their head
coach demanded they fair catch a short ...

.... kickoff, well, I just don't get it, why in the
world would the NFL want to encourage fair
catches on kickoffs? Sheesh, if the kicker
can't get the ball in the end zone, the return
team kickoff returners should delight in an
opportunity to return the kickoff & I suspect ...

.... that even with a new fair catch of kickoff
rule, 99.99% of kickoff returners would still
return the kickoff. Seems ridiculous to me,
the NFL so worried about kickoff return in-
juries that they'd add a kickoff return fair
catch inside the 25 places the ball on the
25 yard line rule.

I suppose the Cowboys have always had a
high rate of touchbacks since Maher is so
successful at kickoffs, I rarely see oppon-
ent kickoff returns. In fact, in 2022, Maher
& the Cowboys had the 4th-highest touch-
backs on kickoffs, 76.36%:
https://www.google.com/search?q=best+NFL+kicker+on+touchbacks
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/kickoff-touchback-pct

Touchbacks thanks to Brett Maher? He had
the most in 2022, 78:
https://www.footballdb.com/statistics/nfl/player-stats/kickoffs/2022?sort=kotb

Sidenote: With Maher's great record in long
field goals & long kickoffs, I find it alarming
the way the Cowboys seem to have overre-
acted to his struggling to make extra points
at the end of the season (having the yips).
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.sports.football.pro.dallas-cowboys/c/f7rDaQgBOOM/m/pdPfXNeFAAAJ

2022 stats:

https://www.google.com/search?q=percent+of+kickoffs+that+are+touchbacks+in+2022

Just under 60% of kickoffs during the regular
season resulted in a touchback, up slightly
from a 57.5% rate in 2021 but still down from
a 61.2% rate in 2020.

As a fan, most are eager for non-touchbacks
when Kavonte Turpin is returning a kickoff as
he's always a threat to go all the way. I sus-
pect most fans prefer kickoff returns to touch-
backs so a rule change trying to *increase*
fair catches on kickoffs, I can see why most
are opposed to that.

Kavonte Turpin, by the way, didn't do that well
on kickoff returns in 2022, his longest 63 yards,
no touchdowns, & 17th in kickoff return yard-
age.
https://www.footballdb.com/statistics/nfl/player-stats/kickoff-returns

Encouraging touchbacks, a bad idea, Kavonte
only had 21 kickoff returns in 17 games in
2022, an average of 1.235 per game.

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