The NFL just adopted a rule from college that allows players to fair catch anything inside the twenty-five-yard line on kickoffs and receive a touchback as a result. This means we are going to see even fewer kick returns than ever. The NFL has already been making it illegal to hit quarterbacks and some receivers, and now they are trying to take away the chance of seeing one of the most electric plays in the sport.
In situations like this, you can always find where to stand on the argument by looking at the reactions of the certified football guys around the league. You can tell a guy is a true football guy if he’s been around the league forever, or is Dan Campbell. Campbell, Andy Reid, John Harbaugh are all official football guys who spoke out and trashed the new rule. Andy Reid came out and said that he thinks this rule is another step in the direction of playing flag football. Harbaugh basically said it’s going to cause more injuries, and Campbell bit his tongue a bit and called it, “highly frustrating.” I trust all three of these guys to keep the greatest game in the world violent and pure.
If the NFL wanted to admit that college football has the better version of many of their rules, they should’ve just started with overtime. They have gone back and forth for years trying to decide how to make their overtime more even, but they quite literally haven’t given it the old college try. No one ever complains about college overtime because it is exciting, fair, and includes all three aspects of the game. But no, Roger Goodell’s ego is standing in the way of some excellent football moments.
Imagine if Milton Hershey didn’t like ripping off the ideas of his workers, like Dan Reeses for example. We’d be stuck with regular chocolate bars instead of the variety you see when you walk into a seven-eleven after making your friends Nissan Altima smell like a skunk died in the back. Maybe that’s not exactly how the chocolate evolution came about, but I think it proves my point that Roger Goodell is a loser, and possibly a virgin.
