Wussification Committee Goes After Kickoffs

[HoosierCat]

From PFT:

Falcons President and Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay revealed on a conference call with the media today that the Competition Committee is proposing a major modification of kickoffs, moving the kickoff back to the 35-yard line instead of the 30, and giving the receiving team the ball at the 25-yard line, instead of the 20, if there’s a touchback.

The Competition Committee is also proposing the elimination of all forms of the wedge block, including the two-man wedge, and requiring players on the kickoff team to line up between the 30-yard line and the 35-yard line.

Shoot, why not just eliminate kickoffs all together? To start the game, half or after a score teams get the ball at the 25.

[jjakq27]

From PFT:

Falcons President and Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay revealed on a conference call with the media today that the Competition Committee is proposing a major modification of kickoffs, moving the kickoff back to the 35-yard line instead of the 30, and giving the receiving team the ball at the 25-yard line, instead of the 20, if there's a touchback.

The Competition Committee is also proposing the elimination of all forms of the wedge block, including the two-man wedge, and requiring players on the kickoff team to line up between the 30-yard line and the 35-yard line.

Shoot, why not just eliminate kickoffs all together? To start the game, half or after a score teams get the ball at the 25.

I agree. It's like when they stop doing jump balls after a tie-up in basketball. Stupid rules.

[Kazkal]

Moving the ball ahead 5 yards what ever,Dislike touchbacks @ the 25 though.

[HoosierCat]

Per some comments by Marvin yesterday, it appears that touchbacks will stay at the 20 and the two-man wedge will still be allowed. Apparently NFL coaches hate hate hate the proposal so it's getting modified. Good.

[HoosierCat]

Here's the official word on changes:

/>http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6247029

Although the vote wasn't immediately revealed, the NFL owners voted for the kickoff change. With the input of coaches, though, the committee decided to allow return teams to have a two-man wedge. The committee proposal suggested the elimination of the two-man wedge, but coaches argued that would make it harder to have quality returns.

The other tradeoff by the committee to get the vote passed was not changing the spotting of a touchback. Touchbacks will still be spotted at the 20-yard line. The committee had suggested moving touchbacks to the 25.

The final element of the change in the kickoff rule was adjusting the running starts for the coverage teams before the kickoff. Before, coverage players could get a 10- to 15-yard start before the kicker makes contact with the ball. Under the new rule, coverage players will only get a 5-yard running start. That was what the competition committee had recommended.

They also tweaked replay rules:

The other major change involved instant replay. The booth replay official will now have to confirm all scoring plays, saving coaches from using challenges on plays in the end zone. To pass that proposal, the committee altered its suggestion by not changing the number of challenges for coaches. Now, coaches can make two challenges a game, but if they are correct on both, they would have access to a third challenge. The committee wanted to eliminate the third challenge.