fmlizard
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2012
- Messages
- 5,891
- Reaction score
- 6,545
- Points
- 113
So this new AAF league starting tonight has no kickoffs. Teams just take the ball at the 25. I think we can all imagine a world where this eventually happens in college and/or pro football.
My first reaction was that sounds fine, we'll adapt. A lot of the time they come back from commercial, we watch it get kicked for a touchback (or increasingly in NCAA, fair caught), then there's another stoppage while things get set up, etc.
Then I considered what would be lost, and it's a biggie. If there were no kickoffs, then there would be no onside kicks. Thus, a whole lot of theoretically close games in the 4th quarter (relying on one or more onside kicks) would no longer be close. That could cause 4th quarters to be a lot less interesting, and the margin "cut line" for a game people keep watching would get moved up by quite a bit.
The AAF apparently thought of this, though. They are going to give a team a 4th-and-10 from their own 35 in lieu of an onside kick. Make it, take it. I like it.
My first reaction was that sounds fine, we'll adapt. A lot of the time they come back from commercial, we watch it get kicked for a touchback (or increasingly in NCAA, fair caught), then there's another stoppage while things get set up, etc.
Then I considered what would be lost, and it's a biggie. If there were no kickoffs, then there would be no onside kicks. Thus, a whole lot of theoretically close games in the 4th quarter (relying on one or more onside kicks) would no longer be close. That could cause 4th quarters to be a lot less interesting, and the margin "cut line" for a game people keep watching would get moved up by quite a bit.
The AAF apparently thought of this, though. They are going to give a team a 4th-and-10 from their own 35 in lieu of an onside kick. Make it, take it. I like it.