of NFL's new kickoff rules This is one of the most significant changes to the NFL rulebook to date. One effect of the XFL-style kickoff was the elimination of surprise onside kicks.
Teams must declare when attempting an onside kick. They can only get it twice per game, and neither can come before the fourth quarter.
“With this formation, there's no such thing as a surprise onside kick, because a kick that falls short of the landing zone is a no-kick and the ball goes to number 40,” Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay said. Ta. “That ship has sailed. There are certainly great games, but let's get back to the Super Bowl. [XLIV when the Saints’ surprise] The onside kick played a big role. But if you look at the numbers, he had two attempts all year last year. So this is not really a play in our game.
“What we kept is that in the current format, same lineup, same rules, same everything, you can get an onside kick and use it in the fourth quarter, and you can use it twice. If you're behind and you say, “I want to take a traditional onside kick,'' that's your right under this rule.''
At the start of the second half of Super Bowl 44, the Saints led the Colts 10-6, using an onside kick known as an “ambush” that ultimately won the game. But over the past five years, only two out of 15 teams have recovered a surprise onside kick.
“There was a little bit of a rebound to get it out of the way,” Saints special teams coach Darren Rizzi said. “The other one is something we always use, the kickoff at the end of the first half and the end of the game, there’s a bit of a strategic part to it, where you might have to kill time with skiv kicks and kicks.” Something like that. That element of the game is also gone. ”
Owners voted against Monday's Eagles onside kick replacement game.
Under the Eagles' proposal, a team that scores a touchdown or field goal could follow up with the ball at its own 20-yard line, facing fourth-and-20. If the scoring team scores his 4th and his 20th, they keep the ball and go from there.
“That might have been a little too much at this point,” McKay said. “So we adopted a traditional onside kick and a brand new hybrid kickoff. Do you think we might see some changes to the onside kick in the future? Because I think we took the runoff right away on the kickoff. . . . It became very difficult to recover onside kicks.”
