TdotFalcon Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I was pissed when hearing about the new kickoff rule. Not because I am a Falcon fan, not because Weems had one of the better averages in returns. It was because I am a fan of football. I like contact. I think starting thinking about our team, and how this new rule affected us. Here is what I came up with.Our strength: Offense. We are ball hogs. We want to keep our offense on the field, and other off the field.Our weakness: Defense. We just give up too many points. Hey I am as big of a fan as everyone else. But you and I both know we are weaker on defense. So on a level playing field with the other team who will also be affected by this rule, it means worse field position. OK, so that helps our defense. Also, it will allow us to hold onto the ball longer. Longer drive=more time for our offense to eat clock. We were the BEST in the league at this and I think this rule change actually helps us more then any other team because of this. Or perhaps the correct wording is, this rule change hurts us the LEAST out of all the teams. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunningThePiszOuttaTheBall Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Hey, good point. I think you might be right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SugarNips Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 They should just do away with kickoffs all together. There are going to be so many touchbacks or kickers will just boot it out of the endzone. If there are any returns they will probably just be negated by a block in the back or holding penalty anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TdotFalcon Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 Remember, back before 1994 the 35 is where they kicked off from. It was in 94 when they moved at back the 5 yards to the 30. The difference being back then you could wedge.Teams are going to be rostering more CB's, LB's and RB's to field these kickoffs. If you look at the stats, pre 94' nobody averaged 24 yards per return. After they moved it back to the 30 it became normal. So instead of starting at the average of 27 yard line, teams will be on the 20, give or take a couple yards if they bring it out. Koenon will get more touchbacks, forcing long drives, and we will end up getting more long drives too, which we are good at.Remember longer drives = less scoring = less kickoffs. It is a downward spiral. So these guys should be practicing punt returns when they get back to camp!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opensource010 Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 They should just do away with kickoffs all together. There are going to be so many touchbacks or kickers will just boot it out of the endzone. If there are any returns they will probably just be negated by a block in the back or holding penalty anyways.Yeah, but that would mean one less commercial break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatehall Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I was pissed when hearing about the new kickoff rule. Not because I am a Falcon fan, not because Weems had one of the better averages in returns. It was because I am a fan of football. I like contact. I think starting thinking about our team, and how this new rule affected us. Here is what I came up with.Our strength: Offense. We are ball hogs. We want to keep our offense on the field, and other off the field.Our weakness: Defense. We just give up too many points. Hey I am as big of a fan as everyone else. But you and I both know we are weaker on defense. So on a level playing field with the other team who will also be affected by this rule, it means worse field position. OK, so that helps our defense. Also, it will allow us to hold onto the ball longer. Longer drive=more time for our offense to eat clock. We were the BEST in the league at this and I think this rule change actually helps us more then any other team because of this. Or perhaps the correct wording is, this rule change hurts us the LEAST out of all the teams. Thoughts?If you look at last season the new rule could hurt the Falcons. Against the Packers in the regular season and against Tampa Bay on the road kick returns helped the Falcons win those games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TdotFalcon Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 If you look at last season the new rule could hurt the Falcons. Against the Packers in the regular season and against Tampa Bay on the road kick returns helped the Falcons win those games.Our kick returns will still be better then other teams, just every-bodies gets worse. We will be on the upper echelon of the teams still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyWordII Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Two games last year were won by the Falcons either directly or largely due to kickoff returns (Weems TD against TB & Weems facemask against GB that put us in a favorable position to kick FG).While those may be considered isolated incidents, I don't think this helps or hurts any specific team really. There was a piece on ESPN that of the 27 kick-offs from the 35 yard line in 2010, 37% were touchbacks. But the touchback % from the 30 yard line was 16.1% in 2010. Since 2001, that % was 31.7%. So essentially 1 more out of every 5 kick-offs will result in a touchback.I think overall, this issue is being blown out of proportion on both sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou_Dog Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 ALthough im sure the KR average will go down, I kind of wonder if the amount of TDs will go up. Think about it, teams will be use to seeing the opponent call faircatch after faircatch and wont be expecting it whenever we decide to let Weems lose. Plus, the special teams will have so little game experience that it may be a little easier for Weems to find wholes to run through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatehall Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Two games last year were won by the Falcons either directly or largely due to kickoff returns (Weems TD against TB & Weems facemask against GB that put us in a favorable position to kick FG).While those may be considered isolated incidents, I don't think this helps or hurts any specific team really. There was a piece on ESPN that of the 27 kick-offs from the 35 yard line in 2010, 37% were touchbacks. But the touchback % from the 30 yard line was 16.1% in 2010. Since 2001, that % was 31.7%. So essentially 1 more out of every 5 kick-offs will result in a touchback.I think overall, this issue is being blown out of proportion on both sides.I think your math is a little of. 37% is closer to 2 in 5. It also depends on the the new start since players are only getting a 5yard head start. To me the league should use the preseason to examine potential rule changes and then implement. This way they have a sampling data of how the rules affect the games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou_Dog Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I think your math is a little of. 37% is closer to 2 in 5. It also depends on the the new start since players are only getting a 5yard head start. To me the league should use the preseason to examine potential rule changes and then implement. This way they have a sampling data of how the rules affect the games.Yes but it is going up from 16.1 to 37 so it is rising 20.9 so it is going up about 1 every 5 as he stated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyWordII Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I think your math is a little of. 37% is closer to 2 in 5. It also depends on the the new start since players are only getting a 5yard head start. To me the league should use the preseason to examine potential rule changes and then implement. This way they have a sampling data of how the rules affect the games.The delta is 1 in 5 from what the current state is now. Also, teams will be less inclined to use kick-off specialists and waste a roster spot, so I could see that number coming down even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dem Birds Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 It doesn't help us much if at all, we also had one of the highest if not the highest average starting field position for our opponents. Our coverages units are typically great. I think it's a double negative for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Falcon Jedi Knight Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 I dont like the way our offense runs. I dont like using 3 or 4 downs to get a 1st down. That works fine when you score first and have established a lead, but if you fall behind by 10 points or more it doesnt work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wook21 Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 It helps Norwood if we resign him cause he wont get hurt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dem Birds Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 It helps Norwood if we resign him cause he wont get hurtAfter Weems' performance last year I doubt Norwood would sniff kickoff's if resigned anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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