On it's face, I can't accept any of this. It is so over the top with bad analogies that it's not worth anything.
For 100 years the Kick Off has been part of the game, it's strategy, it's excitement, and it's tradition. Suddenly it's dumb, boring and stupid? Not a chance.
That said I do understand that perhaps there are ways of making it safer, while keeping it meaningful.
Here is one change, however, that I think might help.
Any kick off that reaches the goal line can NOT be run out. It is a Touchback. Ball placed at the 25. If the kick off is a Touchback, any penalty for holding or block in the back is negated. Therefore other than for off sides, or a personal foul, the receiving team WILL get the ball at the 25.
Why a Touchback? Because it places the strategy in the hands of the kicking team. Do you WANT the other team to return the ball? Or would you rather just let them have it at the 25?
Why the 25? Because the team kicking the ball should not be terribly rewarded by merely doing what any NFL kicker can do: kick it into the end zone. And the team receiving the ball should not be terribly penalized by the kicking team not wanting to give them a chance to return it.
By kicking the ball short of the goal line, the kicking team believes it can hold the other team away from the 25 yard line. But it also gives the receiving team a chance (albeit not a terribly big chance) to get even better field position. Let's face it, there ARE returners who regularly beat the odds.
Does this cut down on injuries? Probably assuming that most of the time the kicking team doesn't want the other team to get a chance for a big return. And because there will be fewer returns (it's common for a ball kicked a yard or two into the End Zone to be run out....but no more).
I absolutely HATE the Schiano solution. It so contrived and convoluted. Get the ball at the 30 but it is 4th and 15? 99% of the time the receiving team will just punt the ball right back to the kicking team. I understand about Schiano and the devastating injury one of his players received. However the odds of a player being paralyzed by returning a kick off has to be somewhat less than the odds of being struck by lightening (I'm sure someone has done the actual stat work).
