Pete Carroll Not a Fan of New Kickoff Rule, But Seahawks to Stay 'Very Aggressive'
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Since being ratified by NFL owners on May 23, players and coaches have been speaking out in masses against a controversial new kickoff rule allowing teams to advance the ball to the 25-yard line via fair catch.
Among those unhappy with the new rule geared towards improving safety on kickoffs and free kicks after safeties, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll spoke out against the legislative change following Thursday's OTA practice, hinting the league could have found a better solution without further compromising a key play on special teams that looks vastly different than it did 20 years ago.
“Yeah, I didn't like the change. Worrying about the game a little bit, but the other side of it is worrying about the rest of it too," Carroll said. "There's some numbers that maybe we can change and help some people not be injured. It's really hard to not look in that direction and support it. We’ve got to support our guys and take care of them. That's the way we voted."
With that said, though the majority of players and coaches may have been against the rule change, Carroll believes teams will still prefer returning kicks with the chance to obtain better starting field position rather than settling for frequent fair catches that render the play pointless. Based on his comments on Thursday, expect Seattle to be among those who opt to still execute returns whenever possible.
“We're going to compete with it. We're going to use it to our advantage. We're pretty good in those areas," Carroll said. "We like to think we're a good return team and we can make things happen. ... We'll compete with it, and see how we look, and see if our core group can continue to give us good work like we've always counted on. I'm not thinking we're taking a knee on everything now. We're going to be very aggressive about it.”
With concussions still a major problem and the NFL working to continue to find ways to limit head injuries in the sport, the league office and owners have initiated several rule changes on kickoffs over the past decade and change with hopes of better protecting players.
Starting in 2009, the NFL banned wedge blocks involving three or more players due to high injury rates resulting from multi-player collisions. Under terms of the rule change, having more than two blockers within two yards of each other on the same plane in front of a kickoff returner would be flagged for a 15-yard penalty, forcing coordinators to implement far different blocking schemes.
Then in 2011, in conjunction with a new collective bargaining agreement, the NFL moved kickoffs from the 30 to the 35-yard line hoping for less returns and more touchbacks. In addition, the league also enacted a rule change cutting down the running start for kick coverage players down to five yards.
Five years later in 2016, the NFL moved touchbacks up five yards from the 20 to the 25-yard line, creating another built-in incentive for teams to not attempt to return the football on kickoffs and limit injuries as a consequence.
Considering all of the changes that have been made, including adopting the fair catch rule that has been used in college football for the past five seasons, the kickoff has gone from once being one of the most exciting plays in football to slowly being on the verge of extinction. Removing the play has been discussed and debated on multiple occasions by the NFL's Competition Committee in the past and Carroll echoed the concerns of many within the league who don't want to see kickoffs removed entirely.
“That's part of the concern, like that part of the game. We have to make it safe is what we have to do," Carroll said. "That's really what we have to do. We don't have to change the rules and stop doing it. We need to make it safer. That has really been the focus, and I think that will continue to be the focus as we see how this year turns out.”
Interestingly, Carroll foresees this latest rule change having unintended consequences that counteract the NFL's goal for fewer returns. This wouldn't be a new phenomenon either, as spotting the ball at the 25-yard line instead of the 20 led to teams trying to kick the ball short of the end zone hoping to pin opponents deep in their own territory rather than a major increase in touchbacks as anticipated.
When asked if teams would consider utilizing squib kicks more often that cannot be fair caught, Carroll acknowledged that he expects several teams will do just that, including potentially the Seahawks themselves. Discussions are already being had in coaching offices around the league, but more information will be needed to determine if such strategies should be deployed.
"I think we'll check it out," Carroll said of Seattle's special teams unit. "Everybody will be checking that out to see how effective … There’s such an uncertainty about the squib kick. If guys knock that thing down early, they get it early. You get it ricocheted back at you too, so it isn’t obvious that that’s going to be the difference. But the special teams coaches went right to that thinking, ‘This is one of the modes that we’ll go to.’ We’ll see. There’s not good definitive numbers on the squib kicks right now, but there will be. I think we’ll get them.”
Ultimately, the NFL's decision to make another substantial tweak to the kickoff will create another intriguing wrinkle to monitor watching games this fall. If the new rule functions as desired, fewer concussions and injuries in general will happen due to diminished returns.
But if things unfold as Carroll hinted on Thursday with teams staying aggressive on kickoffs seeking better field position than the 25-yard line, this latest change will end up being a farce of little to no consequence. Such a development could lead to the rule being abandoned, other changes being pursued depending on injury rates, and of course, the continued plausibility of the game of football without kickoffs at all.
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