One of the annual conversations we seem to have is what latest effort the NFL is making to try to make the game safer or otherwise better—frequently in ways that the consumer finds to be less interesting or simply flat-out worse.
The league has been chipping away at special teams plays, particularly the kickoff return, with new rules added every so often that are designed to either make the play safer or less frequent. It took a major, though as of now temporary, step in that direction this offseason in adopting the college rule in which any kickoff downed inside the 25-yard line yields a touchback at the 25.
While Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is on the competition committee and involved in all of these decisions, he’s generally not one looking to change the game. Neither is former Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, who recently offered his thoughts on the one-year trial rule and what it might mean for the future.
“As a traditionalist, you worry about what it may do to the great game, but as a realist we understand that to keep our game great, we have to make it as safe as possible”, he said during an interview on the Armstrong Neighborhood’s YouTube channel. “It’s really their duty to try to do that without damaging our great game”.
Still, he didn’t appear to find himself overly worried about the unintended consequences, or even what many assume are the intended consequences—such as the belief many hold that the league’s endgame is eventually to take away the kickoff and perhaps all live kicks altogether.
“I don’t think that it’ll ever get to that extent”, Colbert said, mentioning how they’ve managed to preserve the onside kick despite modifications. “I’m confident they’ll find a happy medium. I don’t think we’ll ever be at a point where we eliminate punts and kickoffs from what’s part of a great game”.
More importantly, he keeps a global perspective with the understanding that the game is one of a series of adjustments. Whoever adjusts the fastest gives themselves the best odds of succeeding in the new environment. And there’s only so much you can change about football.
“It’s a game of contact, it’s a game of physical play. Of course there’s going to be injuries involved and everybody understands that”, Colbert said. “Coaches will adjust. They’ll try to find ways to keep the ball in play if it’s an advantage for them to try to win the game”.
At the end of the day, everybody is playing under the same rules. Teams that have good return men will be more likely to return kicks that might otherwise be safely downed to start their next possession at the 25. Other teams will make an extra effort to get that 25. It’s where most drives through traditional touchbacks end up starting out after a kickoff anyway. What it does is present teams with another aspect of the game around which to strategize and innovate—that is assuming the rule even sticks beyond 2023.
