I’m probably in a minority of one on this point, but I’m alright with removing kickoffs. Here’s my reasoning:
All in all, I’d rather see kickoffs tinkered with rather than banned. Close the initial distance between teams, perhaps, or replace kickoffs with punts. But I’m also OK with outright banning kickoffs if they would make the game significantly safer for our players.
- Concussions are an existential threat to the game. The problems of brain injury in football are not a liberal media conspiracy. They are a statistical and scientific fact. To protect our beloved sport (and to protect the players whom we claim to love) we must allow it to evolve. I would rather see people inside the sport implement incremental, sensible safety changes NOW than to have an outside body come in and make drastic changes later.
- Kickoffs contribute to way more concussions than other plays. Take a look at this chart, taken from 10 years of data in the NFL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3438866/table/table4-1941738110383963/. It shows that concussions on kickoffs are 4 times more likely to occur than on passing plays from scrimmage. (It also shows that kickoffs are far more dangerous than punts.)
- The saying that “special teams are one-third of the game” is just a maxim. It’s true that special teams account for roughly one-third of all points scored … but that’s mostly extra points and field goals. The expected value of field position due to kickoffs is pretty small. (See this Expected Points per 1st Down Field Position chart).
- Kickoffs are generally boring. This point is (obviously) a matter of opinion. We all remember Kenyon Drake’s return and amazing plays like Stanford-Cal. But those are exceptions to the rule. In reality, only 0.7 percent of kickoffs result in a returned touchdown. And, in my opinion, a touchback is the most boring play result in football.
- Kickoffs are an excuse for TV commercials. Not all TV networks do this, but I HATE when networks have a commercial set, show a kickoff (often just a touchback), then break away for yet more commercials. It really breaks the flow of the game.
All in all, I’d rather see kickoffs tinkered with rather than banned. Close the initial distance between teams, perhaps, or replace kickoffs with punts. But I’m also OK with outright banning kickoffs if they would make the game significantly safer for our players.