New Onside Kick Rule, Good or Bad?
NFL owners will meet this week to vote on proposed rule changes. The most realistic rule change to come out of this is the alternative to the onside kick.
The proposed change would allow teams to run a "fourth-and-fifteen" play. Honestly, I'm all for it. Since they changed the kick-off rule to not give the kicking team a running start it has been nearly impossible for teams to recover an onside kick. In 2019, kicking teams have only recovered the ball 6% of the time. In 2017, when kicking teams had a running start they recovered the ball 21% of the time.
Why would they not make the change?
Do you know how much more ELECTRIC the game will be? Just imagine your team down by a touchdown, a minute left on the clock, and getting one shot to get the ball back by throwing a fifteen yard pass. I would much rather watch that than an onside kick. For the people who are against this let me change your mind.
I know a lot of people care about the tradition of the NFL and how it should remain the same forever, but that idea was thrown out by the league a long time ago. The end of 'tradition' was when they stopped letting defenders hit the quarterback and any pass play can be challenged for a pass interference. Also, fourth-and-fifteen isn't an easy play. I'm sure the percentage of recoveries will be higher than 6%, but that's the whole point of the rule change.
I can't think of many other reasons why people would be against this, but if I missed something hit me up on twitter to discuss @SkolBaby.
