NFL Considers Adopting AAF's Kickless Onside Kick

Once in a blue moon, an upstart league's innovation lasts longer than the upstart league itself.

One of the most notable is the NBA's three-point arc. It was one of the attractions of the old American Basketball Association, proving so popular that it came to the NBA along with four ABA teams as part of their merger.

Every sport unilaterally updates its rules every now and then, and the NFL does it more than most.

While some become disasters, every once in a while, The Shield takes note of something outside its realm and gives pause.

 

Now, it appears the NFL is picking over the bones of that deader-than-dead Alliance of American Football.

For the most part, the AAF went vanilla on its version of the game, as opposed to XFL 2.0 putting some serious thought in some very well taken rules improvements.

However, there was one subtle exception: replacing the onside kick with something more dramatic.

 

After scoring a touchdone, if a team so chose:

• The ball would be placed on its own 28-yard line, and
• It got one play to gaining 12 yards;
• If it did so, it was in a decent position to score again, which is the raison d'être for onside kicks in the first place; but
• If it didn't, the opposing team had the short field.

 

Hey, on occasion, it worked.

In some cases, in spectacular fashion.

 

Last season, the NFL changed its onside kick rule so players couldn't move until the ball was put into play. It reduced the success rate of a recovery to 8%, as in 8-for-63. Boring.

The AAF's successful Once-&-12 rate was something like 16%, in line with what NFL onside kicks used to produce.

Adding more fuel to the concept was the NFL's own stats on 4th-&15 or more: 2-for-7. Small sample size, maybe, but a 28.6% success rate nonetheless.

 

This rule change isn't a done deal yet, but there's hope. Anything to eliminate another dead patch of futility disguised as action

Besides, it's the perfect sorta opportunity for a slinger like thrill-seeking Tom Brady and his faithful companion Gronk to add to their legend. A few Once-&-15s, and they'll have those playoff-starved Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans letting them break quarantine anywhere they choose.

Brady just needs to take care of a sanitation issue first:

 

No wonder dude's a cinch for the Hall of Fame.

 

Can't have wet footballs, no matter what the source. Surely, Gronk and the other ball handlers appreciate this, too.

All that remains is for the NFL to do the right thing.