Penalty on the ensuing kickoff (1 Viewer)

[monty]

I always thought this penalty never made sense once the NFL changed the kickoffs and moved the ball up 5 yards to help get the ball in the endzone for more touchbacks.
If there is a penalty on the defense, for example, using an offense lineman as leverage to attempt to block an extra point, then the ball is moved up 5 yards on the kickoff. The chances are the ball will go into the endzone anyway. I feel the penalty should be accessed on the opposing first down. If it is a touchback and the ball is placed on the 25 yard line then because of the 5 yard penalty would move the ball back to the 20 yard line. This would be a more effective penalty because it has more of a repucussion than just moving the ball up 5 yards so it can be kicked in the endzone.
Hopefully this post made since.

 

[BoNcHiE]

I've thought about that.

But do we really want an offensive drive to basically be killed before it starts over a leverage penalty on an XP?

 

[Craig Walker]

Leverage is an Unsportsmanlike conduct penalty = 15 yards. Not 5.

Your scenario wouldn't make sense, because there's the chance a KO could be returned for a TD. What then?

Saints should have hit a popup kick and tried to trap them at say the 10.

 

[BoNcHiE]

^

That's what you do. When you get to kickoff from the 45 yard line, your gunners get a huge head start. So the right thing to do is to kick it to the 5 yard line. Then you'll likely tackle them before the 15.

If a team chooses to still kick it into the endzone, that's their own fault.

 

[FullMonte]

What I've never understood was...

After the 15 yard penalty on the kickoff, you are kicking off from the 50....why not try an onside kick? If you don't recover, the other team gets the ball between the 35-40.

Compared to getting it on the 25 for the almost certain touchback...seems like it's worth the risk.

 

[Craig Walker]

^ Yes, totally would be worth the risk/reward.

 

[livefromDC]

I thought that was a great opportunity to do a "long onside kick" try. Kick it to about the 15 and try to get under it yourself. But I don't know how legal or easy that would be to pull off.

 

[superchuck500]

Hopefully this post made since.

Everything about your post made sense except this.

 

[someone]

Both options mentioned above are good ones. I was shocked we didn't try one of those.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[jmalon3]

onside kick would also be more appealing if 15 yards were to be assessed onto a kickoff. It puts the ball at the 50. Typically onside kicks go 10-15 yards. This puts the ball at the 40 or 35 of the other teams side. Giving up 10 yards, but having the option to recover the onside kick sounds good to me.

 

[Craig Walker]

It puts the ball at the 50.

Correct. That's where we kicked from.