The NFL’s new kickoff formation has made the base play better. The onside kick continues to be bad.
The success rate is low. Too low. The element of a potential surprise onside kick is off the table. And there’s another quirk that became relevant during the game of the first season under the new rules.
Beyond the fact that all onside kicks must now be declared in advance by a team that is trailing, no onside kicks are permitted before the fourth quarter. It wasn’t an issue in any of the previous 284 regular- and postseason games in 2024. It became an issue on Sunday.
Down 34-0, the Chiefs drove toward what became their first touchdown. The Chiefs scored with 43 seconds left in the third quarter. They couldn’t attempt an onside kick, even if they wanted to. If the score had come 43 seconds later, they could have.
The league preserved the onside kick because it gives a team trailing by multiple scores a chance (even if it’s wafer thin) to come back. If a team is down, as the Chiefs were, by five scores, why not let them try an onside kick, if they want?
The easy fix is to allow onside kicks at any time in the second half. The better fix could be to dump the onside kick and replace it with a fourth-and-15 or fourth-and-20 play.
With the new kickoff formation apparently here to stay (despite the fact that one person in attendance at Super Bowl LIX is not a fan of the play), the NFL needs to have a better way to give the team that’s trailing a fair chance. Or, as the case may be for a team down by five scores in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, any chance at all.
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