In reply to: NFL going to vote on proposals to change the kickoff posted by jt
were almost identical to 1983's. That's 40 years ago. Scoring has been steadily declining since a peak in 2020. We've been seeing more and more shell coverage to take away the deep shots and quick scores. Rule changes will always favor the offenses because defenses always catch up.
Everyone likes to think that the NFL has become such a "passing league," as if the concept of passing the football is only a product of these modern, enlightened times. Indeed, this year teams averaged 33.7 pass attempts per game, which seems like a lot. But in 1953, back in the Stone Age of 70 years ago, teams averaged 29.6 pass attempts per game, a mere four fewer than in 2023. Of course, they completed less than 50% of those attempts, so total passing yards were significantly fewer. But still, it wasn't as if the Neanderthals were afraid to fling it.
You may also note that the league scoring average was only 0.3 pts/game less than in 2023 (21.5 vs 21.8).
already on the books. Offensive holding is out of control in the NFL (not as bad as in college). The Super Bowl was ridiculous, really for both teams. Meanwhile, defensive holding is called with impunity. It's made it hard to take serious. They need to enforce that rule and it needs to be consistent crew to crew.
The biggest problem with kickoffs is that it's just so dangerous and a very high percentage of injuries occur on the play. The juice isn't worth the squeeze for kicking teams to try and let them return the ball, either, as they may gain a few yards but realistically they're just setting up their guys for potential injury without much payoff. Hence, teams just get good kickers who can put the ball out of the end zone and it's become a non-play. Unlike other rules changes which (as you note) either make it way too easy for the offense or (more importantly for the owners) make the teams more money by adding in commercial breaks, I can respect them trying to adjust this play. Let's see how it ends up.