NFL 2018 Season Thread

[Ming]

Injuries, Injuries, Injuries... as more big name players go down.
And I love the suggestion (in jest) that NE should make a phone call to Payton

[rah]

Minny's coach was saying, he may miss a game. HE WISHES.

[-Jrabbit]

From Adam Schefter of ESPN:

The NFL has fined the Seahawks $400,000 and stripped them of a 2017 fifth-round pick for "excessive off-season workouts."
The violation occurred at OTAs on June 6 when the Seahawks used "excessive on-field contact," which is against the NFL and NFLPA's collective bargaining agreement. Coach Pete Carroll has also been hit with a $200,000 fine while the Seahawks will forfeit a week of OTAs (three practices) next offseason. The Seahawks obviously didn't learn their lesson after essentially committing the same violation two years ago.

[Demonbinder]

Minny's coach was saying, he may miss a game. HE WISHES.

Torn meniscus - I doubt he will play for a few weeks.

[Zopperoni]

Does anybody actually understand why they changed the kick-off touchback rule (allowing the offense to start at the 25 rather than the 20-yard line)?

To me, you'd just kick it shallow every time to force the return, which would go against the "player safety" argument. As long as you tackled the return guy before the 25-yard line, you'd win on field position and this is "easier" with the kick-off now being on the 35-yard line. Essentially, the coverage team only needs to run 40-50 yards down the field... I find it baffling.

[SlowwHand]

That would go against the spirit of the rule and the rule would be amended.

[-Jrabbit]

They're trying to get coaches to tell their returners to take a knee, and there does seem to be more of that happening this year. But as Zopper notes, kicking it sky-high inside the 5 would get around that.

Over the past several years, NFL actions suggest the league just has a real problem with teams built on defense and special teams having a chance. They want offense. And as a side note, they just can't figure out how to deal with how strong most kickers' legs are these days.

The player safety issue is a convenient, PR-friendly ruse IMHO.

But as a big special teams fan who is still a bit bitter at how rule changes destroyed Devin Hester's career, I may be a bit biased on this question.

[Demonbinder]

As soon as they announced the rule, I thought that coaches would just try to kick it inside the ten. That forces the returner to bring it back or get bad field position by fair catching it. Just seems like they didn't think it through, though JR might be right.

In Monday night football turnovers killed any chance the Bears had and Carson Wentz looks like the real deal.

[-Jrabbit]

Yeah, Bears really looked like crap tonight. Gonna be a long season.

[Zopperoni]

The player safety issue is a convenient, PR-friendly ruse IMHO.

As soon as they announced the rule, I thought that coaches would just try to kick it inside the ten. That forces the returner to bring it back or get bad field position by fair catching it. Just seems like they didn't think it through, though JR might be right.

Exactly, right? If player safety was an actual concern, they would have just abolished the kick-off and have the offense restart the game at the 20.

I'm willing to wait until the cold and windy months of Nov, Dec and Jan to see how this rule plays out when weather becomes more of a factor, but right now, it just seems to be in the advantage of the coverage team.

OTOH, Special Teams coaches might not have thought this through either. The Niners had an interesting return formation though with one guy just outside the end zone and one guy in the end zone. It seems to me that they have some kind of lateral play set up in case the front guy takes it.

But as a big special teams fan who is still a bit bitter at how rule changes destroyed Devin Hester's career, I may be a bit biased on this question.

It can be argued that Hester's career was also limited because he wasn't a very good receiver...

[rah]

Exactly, right? If player safety was an actual concern, they would have just abolished the kick-off and have the offense restart the game at the 20.

If it wasn't for the on-side kick, I'm sure they would have done this.

[Zopperoni]

If it wasn't for the on-side kick, I'm sure they would have done this.

An excellent point

It is fun to try and think of alternatives to the on-side kick, similar to how they changed the PAT. What if the alternative was one untimed down where you had to get the ball from your own 10-yard line to at least the 20-yard line? If you get it, you continue the drive as normal. If you don't get it, the opponent gets the ball inside your redzone.

Yeah, Bears really looked like crap tonight. Gonna be a long season.

From: https://twitter.com/NFL_Memes/status...359809/photo/1

[rah]

The problem with giving a similar percentage option is difficult because of the surprise aspect. While I don't have hard numbers, a quick peek at wiki said the percentage of successful anticipated on-side kicks is less than 20% but when on surprise it's close to 60%. So unless you're willing to remove that aspect from the game, it would be difficult to come up with an acceptable alternative.

If it's truly 60%, one would think it's not being done enough.

[Zopperoni]

The thing about a "surprise on-side kick" is that it shouldn't really be a surprise. The only times teams attempt the "surprise on-side kick" is when they see four or fewer upmen near the kicking line. This raises the odds for success.

Coaches and return units have learned from this. These days, you generally see a 6-4-1 / 6-3-2 / 5-4-2 formation on the return, which discourages the "surprise on-side kick".

[rah]

It may discourage but doesn't eliminate it. Even if you lessen the odds from 60 to 50, they payoff is good. And since they moved the kickoff up to get more kicks out of the endzone not that long ago, the downside is even less.

I'm just saying it is more complicated than just saying NO MORE KICKOFFs. The solution will either have to be quite creative or certain aspects of the game must be sacrificed.