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Furthermore, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reported that:
“the injury rate on the new kickoff was the same as on other plays from scrimmage. Historically the injury rates on kickoffs has been 2-4 times that of all other plays. Concussion rate on kickoffs dropped 43%, per NFL’s Jeff Miller”
Right, so let’s say, for the sake of the exercise, that the injury rate on all NFL plays, kickoff included, is 3%. Let’s just make that our arbitrary number. And we’ll say that one season you have 1,000 kickoff returns, now incentivized, which increases to 1,250. Under the 2024 rules, 3% of 1,000 kickoffs is 30 injuries. Now it’s 3% of 1,250 kickoffs, or 37.5 injuries. The rate is unchanged, but you’ve increased the likelihood of injury by creating a situation where touchbacks are swapped for returns.
So here’s the thing – for the NFL, it’s obviously about reaching an acceptable threshold of injury, not eliminating it entirely. Because you can’t. It’s football. Players will get hurt and sometimes they’ll do it without contact, maybe an ACL tear while trying to cut on the Sod Father’s Super Bowl field. But you can’t spin one narrative about the tush push and preach preventative health and safety, then turn around and tweak the kickoff rule one year after it did what it was intended to do, which was reduce injuries. That’s hypocrisy. Mixed messaging. If you want to cut down on injuries, cut down on injuries. What they’ve essentially done here is said, “we lowered the injury rate on returns, now we feel comfortable seeing more of them.” That’s antithetical to the original goal.
The post You Can’t Preach Tush Push “Health and Safety” While Changing the Rules to Incentivize More Kickoff Returns appeared first on Crossing Broad.
