Harbaugh and Justin Tucker want the NFL to add new rule

[dbrown]

The NFL has done plenty of tinkering with kickoffs in recent years. In 2011, the league moved them up from the 30-yard line to the 35, making touchbacks much more common. This season, touchbacks were brought out to the 25-yard line instead of the 20.

Most of the changes have been met with plenty of criticism as kickoffs are on their way out of the NFL altogether, but John Harbaugh and Justin Tucker are advocating a way to save them: one point for kicking it through the uprights on kickoffs.

“I’m on record advocating that should be a point,” Harbaugh said via CSN Mid-Atlantic. “I’m serious now, kinda. Really, how exciting would that make it, for him to make these kickoff touchbacks so valuable? Let’s do it. Let’s go for it.”

The reason Harbaugh brought up the point is because Tucker drilled one through the uprights on a kickoff Sunday, which is an impressive boot to say the least. That rule change certainly would be interesting, particularly late in games with the score close.


Kickers would be putting everything they’ve got into kickoffs attempting to net their teams one point – as little as that might seem.

Harbaugh (half-heartedly) believes it’d be a good adjustment to the dying kickoffs, and Tucker obviously agrees.

“If we’re going to keep making the game harder for kickers, you gotta reward us in some way,” Tucker said. “The ownership, the Competition Committee, the NFL, they’re great at this give-take thing when (CBA) time comes around, maybe we can throw that one out there.

“Maybe you get a point for putting the ball through the uprights on a kickoff. I’d really appreciate that. Especially a day like today. You’re playing a close game, a division rival. Any points you can get, they’re hard to come by. If you can get ‘em like that, I’m all for it.”

Tucker has been the Ravens’ MVP this season, making 15 of 15 extra points and 27 of 27 field goals. He’s the only kicker in the NFL to make every single one of his kicks, which is an incredible feat.

On Sunday, he drilled three 50-yard field goals, making them from 52, 54 and 57 yards out – all before halftime. Now just imagine how many points he’d have if he were rewarded an extra one for making field goals on kickoffs.

John Harbaugh and Justin Tucker want the NFL to add this radical kickoff rule | FOX Sports (http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/baltimore-ravens-john-harbaugh-justin-ticker-kickoff-one-point-rule-112816)

[LCM1223]

http://www.blowoutcards.com/forums/football/1063131-john-harbaugh-justin-tucker-want-nfl-add-radical-kickoff-rule.html

[BostonNut]

The guy with the best kicker in the NFL wants a rule to benefit him?

Ya don't say....

[zonacats8]

It's actually pretty smart, I think the number that actually go through the uprights would be pretty minimal, there would be a lot just short or just wide.

But teams would go for it every time, this resulting in barely any kick off return attempts, which really is what the league wants to do.

That's why they added that 25 yard touchback rule, hoping teams would take more knees, but teams adjusted to kicking it high and short of the end zone.

Add this rule, go back to 20 yard touchbacks, and you'd rarely see a kickoff return attempted, which is their ultimate goal to increase player safety.

[IronMonkey415]

HE!!! That is a NEW Colts avatar.
What is happening?

[mikecamp99]

That, or instead of getting 1 point why not if it goes through the uprights the opposing team starts at like the 10 yards line instead of the 25? At least this way it isn't adding points but rather you play for field position.

[dbrown]

http://www.blowoutcards.com/forums/football/1063131-john-harbaugh-justin-tucker-want-nfl-add-radical-kickoff-rule.html

I'm on my phone, honestly didn't see it. thread must've started while my fat fingers were trying to copy and paste :)!

[cadillac540]

Stealing my threads. The #@#@#@#@.

[Ray27Ray52]

It's a dumb idea but in Harbaugh's defense he says alot of stupid crap like this in his pressers. He was obviously only half serious.

[BostonNut]

So do outdoor teams get two points? Negative 5 points if it happens in Denver?

How on earth would this work?

[BostonNut]

HE!!! That is a NEW Colts avatar.
What is happening?

Camoflauge

[dbrown]

Stealing my threads. The #@#@#@#@.

Me right now

https://camo.githubusercontent.com/916842e324dfef7350ecd092bd7db77331ed8ec6/687474703a2f2f7777772e72656372656174657765622e636f6d2e61752f77702d636f6e74656e742f75706c6f6164732f323031342f30322f686f6d65722d636f6d70757465722d646f682e6a7067

[cadillac540]

Me right now

https://camo.githubusercontent.com/916842e324dfef7350ecd092bd7db77331ed8ec6/687474703a2f2f7777772e72656372656174657765622e636f6d2e61752f77702d636f6e74656e742f75706c6f6164732f323031342f30322f686f6d65722d636f6d70757465722d646f682e6a7067

I kid I kid.

[Scottish Punk]

That, or instead of getting 1 point why not if it goes through the uprights the opposing team starts at like the 10 yards line instead of the 25? At least this way it isn't adding points but rather you play for field position.

I would like this a lot better than adding a point. I get the appeal of being down 9 - TD, 2-pt, Kickoff and you are tied. I would hate to be the team that loses a game on an end of regulation TD to tie and then lose on the kickoff.

[TheFrenzy]

A little history on extra points: They are a sports anachronism.

If you think about it, the extra point and two-point conversion seem......odd. The primary objective in football is to advance the ball across the goal line. That results in points and, in other sports, would be the end of scoring and/or possession. In baseball, one player across home plate scores one run and that's it. In basketball, there is no scoring follow up to putting the ball through the hoop. Same with hitting the back of the net in hockey or soccer.

But football adds an extra scoring play.

The reason for this is the game's roots in rugby, where crossing the goal line isn't the primary objective - putting the ball through the uprights is. Crossing the goal line is simply a means to an end which is getting a "try" at a free kick. It's why football originally awarded more points for kicks than touchdowns. However, that element of the game has long since faded away. Now the game centers around the skill, strength, and strategy of moving the ball down the field and, while the added suspense and strategy of field goals fit well within the game, the extra point sticks out.

Recent changes to the extra point have certainly added drama in some aspects, but have removed other elements such as the faked kick two-point conversion. Kickoffs also have lost most of their drama. (Overtimes are something else that need fixing, but that's another topic.)

So, how to adjust the rules to keep the focus, strategy, and essence of the game on advancing the ball to score points?

Possibly combine the extra-point and the kickoff into a single play. Teams could have the option of attempting an uncontested kick from midfield with the opposing team lining up no closer than the 35 yard line. Kicks that were short could be returned. Kicks that traveled the length of the field, whether made or missed, would be given to the opposing team at the 20 yard line. This play would also be an opportunity for the kicking team to attempt to maintain possession via an onside kick. So you would be playing for points or possession on a single play.

Just my thoughts.

[TheFrenzy]

(Side note: In my scenario above, it would also be easy to bring the college system of overtime to the pros since teams would not be able to kick extra points and would have to go for two after every touchdown.)

((I also do not think scores or stats should count in overtime. Every player gets 60 minutes to accumulate stats, overtime does not pad that except unofficially. When the teams score in my proposed overtime, they simple earn a "placeholder" score similar to other sports shootouts. Whether a team wins the overtime period by 2, 3, or 6 points, the final score only shows them with one additional point added to the tied score.))

[codered]

An added insight, in the CFL a team is rewarded a single point (called a rouge) for kicking a touchback. While teams kick from the 35 yard line, the field is ten yards longer so it's not always as easy to pin a team deep and it encourages running the ball out of the end zone. Also because the goal posts are at the front of the end zone when a team misses a field goal wide or short a single point will be rewarded if the ball is not returned out of the end zone. I'm by no way saying the CFL is better but I could see the NFL one day expanding the length of the field and possibly adapting some of the kicking rules from the CFL

[Prenticles]

An added insight, in the CFL a team is rewarded a single point (called a rouge) for kicking a touchback. While teams kick from the 35 yard line, the field is ten yards longer so it's not always as easy to pin a team deep and it encourages running the ball out of the end zone. Also because the goal posts are at the front of the end zone when a team misses a field goal wide or short a single point will be rewarded if the ball is not returned out of the end zone. I'm by no way saying the CFL is better but I could see the NFL one day expanding the length of the field and possibly adapting some of the kicking rules from the CFL

That is a not bad idea.

I say, if they kick a Touch Back, they start at the 10.

[nabzy28]

They should advocate for extra points being worth 3 points if one of the cheerleaders kicks it through. I mean, ratings are already horrid, why not go full XFL and get it over with, right?