Rethinking the Onside Kick
Rule changes within the NFL over the last few years have drastically reduced the success rate of the onside kick.
Three years ago in an effort to reduce dangerous collisions the league mandated that the kicking team needs to have five players lined up on each side of the kicker. The rules also require two players on each side to be between the numbers and the hashmarks. Additionally members of the kicking team are not allowed to get a running start.
Beyond this the receiving teams have figured out how to scheme an easy onside kick recovery.
Instead of a “good hands team” full of players who can catch a kick that comes near them, receiving teams now typically have a designated catcher. His job is to come down with the onside kick. The players around him have the job of blocking anybody who comes close to make the catch easy.
Back in the 2014 NFC Championship Game, Packers tight end Brandon Bostick made a blunder in the blocking role. He was supposed to block for designated catcher Jordy Nelson. Instead he went for the ball and was unable to catch it cleanly. The Seahawks recovered a critical onside kick and went on to score a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to take the lead. Seattle eventually won the game in overtime.
The rule changes and strategic innovations have led to the success rate for onside kick attempts to fall well south of 10%. This leaves me to wonder why teams don’t rethink their strategy. The current methods aren’t working.
This kickoff from last year made the Falcons the laughingstock of the league.
It was actually brilliant, though. The Cowboys knew that the Falcons players at the front of the formation were blockers. They were instructed to not field the ball. This hesitancy led to the recovery.
Here instead of trying to get a lucky bounce, the Colts just try to kick a line drive right at somebody. The ball is kicked so hard that it will never be caught. If it hits the guy, it will be a loose ball. The odds might not be great, but again the current method has a success rate hovering well under ten percent.
Another thing I’ve wondered for a while is why teams always kick their onside attempts to the most congested area on the field. If the receiving team is going to stack most of its players ten yards from the kickoff spot, why not kick it to a vacated area farther down the field?
It’s the kind of move that will totally catch the receiving team by surprise. It also increases the reward of recovering since you will be closer to the end zone.
I actually saw the Lions successfully do this during a Thanksgiving game twenty years ago.
Amazingly I haven’t seen it tried again.
When something isn’t working, NFL teams are sometimes slow to make changes. I am sure we will see plenty more kicks with high bounces that end up in the hands of the designated catcher for the rest of the season.
Maybe one day some team out there will find a new way to execute an onside kick, one that doesn’t kick the ball right into the strength of the returning team’s formation.