No alternative to onside kick
Owners approve three other new rules in virtual meeting; table ‘gimmick’
NFL owners approved four rules changes Thursday, but the proposal that received the most discussion — giving teams an alternative to an onside kick — was tabled for future discussion.
The alternative, which would give a team the option of running a fourth-and-15 play from its 25, was not favored by the Steelers, who thought the idea was too much of a “gimmick.”
“We really weren’t in favor of this,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said after a virtual meeting with the league’s other 31 owners. “We’re open to thinking, is there something we can do with the kickoff in more of a traditional setting that might allow onside kicks a better chance of happening? But this one was too much of a gimmick. Coach [Mike Tomlin, a member of the league’s competition committee] and I didn’t like the idea.”
The proposal, which was made by the Philadelphia Eagles, would have allowed any team, whether trailing or leading, to use a fourth-and-15 play twice during a
regulation. If the team attempting the play was successful, it would keep possession. If the defense stopped the play, that team would get possession at the spot where the play was blown dead.
The alternative plan would not replace onside kicks, which would remain an option. But recent rule changes regarding alignments on onside kicks and run-ups for kicking-team players have turned the onside kick into an exercise of futility. In the past two years, less than 10% of onside kicks succeeded.
“I would say there’s interest in possibly looking at what we can do here, but there just wasn’t enough support for this particular proposal,” Rooney said. “The commissioner [Roger Goodell] left it open that we’re still open for ideas on what to do about this. I think everybody kind of agreed it would be good to have some form of onside kick available for teams trying to make a comeback. Under the current new rules it’s become an almost impossible play to make. I’m skeptical we will come up with something for the 2020 season.”
The idea is to virtually eliminate the onside kick, which is considered more dangerous than most other football plays. The proposal would offer an alternative that could be more exciting.
Rooney said the proposal was amended to make the alternative play an untimed down, preventing teams from “using it as a clockkiller.”
Rooney said the owners approved three new rules and one bylaw proposal, all of which the Steelers favored:
• The defenseless player rule, which typically was limited to wide receivers, now is in effect for returners, specifically punt returners. Rooney said it gives the league a rule similar to college football’s “halo rule” for returners.
• Teams can no longer take pre-snap penalties when trying to run out the clock, a tactic the Tennessee Titans used last season in a playoff victory against the New England Patriots.
• Extra points now can be reviewed by replay.
• The league will allow teams to designate three players to return from the injured reserve list instead of two. Rooney said an additional proposal regarding players designated for return was tabled.
In addition, Rooney said a proposal to add a so-called sky judge official was “strongly” favored by some coaches, but “it didn’t really have any real support.”
Not surprisingly, the owners let the controversial and ill-advised pass-interference rule die without any discussion after a one-year experiment.
“There really was no sentiment at any point this offseason that I’m aware of of bringing it back,” Rooney said. “Everybody concluded pretty soon after the season that it was an experiment that didn’t work.”