News & Views

News: The National Football League tables a possible solution to the onside kick problem.

Views: Now that it has defanged the onside kick by making it almost impossible to successfully convert one, the league has gone to great lengths to make a mockery of the game with a nonsensical proposal.

Onside kicks caused too many injuries, a league study found, so the rules were changed (in 2018) to the point where the success rate of converting this seldom-used tactical maneuver was reduced to roughly 10%. Took the drama right out of it.

League owners were then presented with a solution, a rule giving a losing team the option of converting a fourth-and-15 from its 25-yard line instead, rewarding success with control of the football. Fail and you turn the ball over.

Fortunately, the owners saw how ludicrous it was and tabled it for the second year in a row. Thankfully.

The NFL’s competition committee, which forwards crazy thoughts like these to the owners, appears to have taken leave of its senses in bringing this one up for a vote. It is nothing more than a gimmick and an embarrassing one at that. The NFL does not need gimmicks to improve its game.

The rules of football have changed over the years, mostly for the good. But every once in a while, common sense takes a holiday in the interest of bettering the game.

This is one of those times.

This is the result of reducing the possibility of recovering an onside kick to the point where desperate measures called for desperate actions. The only other possible solution would be to eliminate the maneuver entirely. The onside kick used to be an exciting staple of the game. It is just a few steps from becoming a football dinosaur.

Here’s a suggestion: Don’t try to ram it through a third time because a solution to the problem is so perplexing, it will never get solved. Leave it alone as is and learn to live with it. Stop trying to gimmick the game. It’s beneath the dignity of the league.

News: The league is also taking under consideration the appointment of an eighth game official, a sky judge located in the press box area to be the backup in the event of an egregious error by an on-field official. 

Views: This one has more potential to become a reality, although it is off to a rough start. Once it is eventually installed, it will make the product better. It will be a strong effort to conform to the notion the most import thing is to get the call right.

Through the widespread use of replay, that’s what this has all come down to. It’s okay for players to make mistakes. Game officials are held to a much, much higher standard. And that’s where another set of eyes comes into play. Give the fans  (bettors, too) as close to a perfect game as possible.

It never used to be that way. Up until about 25 years ago, football was arguably the best officiated sport – at least on the professional level – of all the major sports. Multitudinous rules changes in that time have made it almost impossible to operate as efficiently as in the old days.

Veteran Philadelphia sportswriter Les Bowen many years ago noted, “The real problem here isn’t with (referee) Tony Corrente or any other zebra. The bigger problem is either out of concern over concussions or just wanting to codify every little nuance of the game, the NFL has passed so many rules, the game has become impossible to officiate consistently.”

It has become even more difficult since then. To make it somewhat easier to officiate on the field, the side judge became the seventh man of the crew in the NFL in 1978..

The owners never placed the latest proposal on the table because it was not expected to pass. Speculation was they did not favor the addition of an eighth official because it would not justify the added expense. In other words, it would be cost prohibitive.

Imagine that. A multi-gazillion dollar enterprise worrying about doling out what would amount to chump change to add 17 more employees to the payroll, not to mention improve the product.

Additional speculation suggests the league eventually will try it experimentally, perhaps during the exhibition season. That would be a gigantic step forward. It worked in the defunct AAF and XFL. Why not the NFL?

Stay tuned on that one. The fourth-and-15 in place of an onside kick, on the other hand, should perish in peace and never be revisited.