Thursday 28 May 2020 17:46, UK
As the NFL prepares to vote on changes to the onside kick restart, Jeff Reinebold believes they offer a credible alternative 'to make a play.'
Thursday's owners' meeting will take a different look to previous years, with the NFL, like the rest of the world, adapting to the changes that have come about following the coronavirus pandemic.
The meeting will take place virtually and NFL owners will vote on a number of proposals, the most prominent of which surrounds the restart. All proposals must be approved by 75 per cent of the 32 owners to be adopted.
It is not the first time it has come up for discussion, but given the decline in recovering onside kicks, and the increased safety concerns around it, the chance to throw the ball is an intriguiging prospect.
"This is one of the rules with the NFL kind of tested with the old AAF, the spring league," Reinebold told the latest episode of Inside the Huddle.
"The rule was actually brought up by the Broncos a year or two ago, it got voted down but then they instituted it in the spring league to give it a field test and they liked it.
"I'm a traditionalist, I'm going to say that right off the top, so I'm not a big fan of changing the rules but I think this one does make some sense. The problem with the onside kick, as it's grown, is that it becomes a very dangerous situation.
"You've got the ball kicked, it's live after 10 yards and you've got guys running down to try and recover the ball, guys are coming to try and block and there are collisions.
"It takes a lot of courage with big bodies careering down on you. I think it's, again I'm not a big fan of it because I think the kick-off is a great opportunity to make a big play. Both as a return team and as with a surprise on kick where you bounce it off of the front line of the return team if they're not paying attention.
After a couple of tweaks to the language of the proposal, they will be voting on a rule that would permit teams to attempt a fourth-and-15 untimed play from their own 25-yard line twice per game in regulation.
The updated language also clarifies placement of the ball in the case of a penalty on the scoring play preceding the untimed down. A penalty on the scoring team would place the ball at the 40 instead of the 25. A defensive penalty on the preceding play puts the ball at the 13 1/2-yard line.
A team can also call timeout before the snap of the ball on the untimed down and change its decision to execute a kick-off.
If Patrick Mahomes has the ball down by four with 10 seconds left and you’ve got a chance for him to get it back, keep it and throw a hail Mary then I don’t mind that. I didn’t want the kick-off, and I hope this is not a pre-cursor to the kick-off going away
Reinbold is keen to see how things would play out, recognising it might not bring about huge change but does offer an opportunity if teams can make it work to their advantage.
"Is it going to be a big factor? There's a lot of things that go with this," Reinebold added.
"The ball is going to be placed at the 25 and your success rate is about the same as it is on an onside kick. So, if you're trailing you really have to be judicious in how you use this because if you don't pick up fourth [the opposition] get possession and in in-field goal range.
"They've done a good job in the last 24 hours of taking away some of the loopholes, coaches are like lawyers, they'll find them.
"The one question was, would this be a timed play? Say you've got six seconds left to go in the game and rather than kick off, you can run a play and just run around for six seconds and the other team never gets a chance to possess the ball. They've taken that loophole out by saying that it's a non-timed play.
"I think that the league is working hard to make this a plausible thing and something that the owners will swallow when they get together and vote on it."
