Make Football Safer And Better

Andy Staples explains a great idea from Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano. Schiano would get rid of the kickoff and replace it with a 4th-and-long. The idea is that kickoffs are dangerous because collisions occur between players running in opposite directions with full heads of steam. I think kickoffs are more dangerous, though I have searched for injury statistics and can't find them. I think if it's true then the tendency to put less-experienced players on special teams might also have something to do with greater injury rates. But probably more important is the very nature of the play, as Schiano claims. The stories of Eric LeGrand and Kevin Everett illustrate what the proposed change is designed to avoid.

We can split hairs about the details. Schiano admits it may need fine tuning. My sense is 4th-and-20 from the 35 would be better than 4th-and-15 from the 30 in that it would give results closer to what we now get from kickoffs and retain the added safety. But any troglodyte who complains that these types of changes mollycoddle players can go and get a couple of vertebrae cracked.