SAVE THE ONSIDE KICK!

It was the year 1921 that changed the fate of football forever. In a game between the Vanderbilt Commodores and University of Georgia Athenians (they were not named the Bulldogs, yet, and personally Athenians sounds cooler than the generic high school football team name of “Bulldogs.”) the Commodores, down by a touchdown, attempted and recovered a 25-yard onside kick for a touchdown to tie the game. That was the first written documentation of an onside kick in football history. It would be hard to believe that the onside kick would die in everything but in name 97 years later.

In recent NFL football history, there have been two monumental, game changing, onside kicks and both would be ruled illegal by today’s NFL rules. The first, which could arguably be the play that changed the game, occurred in Super Bowl XLIV in which the New Orleans Saints, who were down 10-6 at the opening kickoff of the third quarter, surprised the Indianapolis Colts by attempting and recovering an onside kick. The Saints would not only make history in winning their first Super Bowl but would also be the first onside kick to be attempted before the fourth quarter in Super Bowl history. The Saints referred to this play as “Ambush.” The second notable onside kick also occurred in the NFL postseason. During the 2015 NFC Championship Game in which late in the fourth quarter, with the Seattle Seahawks trailing the Green Bay Packers 19-14, the Seahawks opted to attempt an onside kick. Steven Hauschka’s, kicker for Seattle, kick would bounce off the facemask of Packer’s tight end Brand Bostick and into the arms of a Seattle player. The Seahawks would go on to score a touchdown and eventually win the NFC Championship and head to the Super Bowl. If the Seahawks would have failed to recover the onside kick, it is almost certain that Green Bay would have represented the NFC in the Super Bowl.

These were exciting and game changing moments that must be discussed when sports historians go back to recap each respective game. However, both plays can never be replicated again due to NFL kickoff rule changes which took effect in 2018. So, for instance, the onside kick used by the Saints would be illegal because the players on the kickoff team had a running start before the kick. Seattle’s onside kick would also be deemed illegal for both the kickoff team having a running start before the kick and the fact that players were not distributed evenly on either side of the kicker. There were four players to Hauschka’s left, while six to his right.

Over the past decade the amount of onside kick attempts was steadily increasing and reaching its climax in 2015, but then steadily declined and has continued to do so at a rapid pace through the current 2019 season. Surprisingly the amount of onside kick recoveries has steadily hovered around eight until, as expected with the rule changes, in 2018 in which the recoveries dropped to 4 (out of 53 attempts a whopping 8% recovery rate) and, so far, zero recoveries through week 6 of the 2019 NFL season.

The NFL’s reasoning for changing the rules of kickoffs is to limit the amount of serious injuries that result from kickoffs. This, to everyone but Donald J. Trump, makes a lot of sense. Having full grown ogres of men rushing at high speeds into each other can likely cause serious injuries. Ironically, the NFL did not get rid of the kickoff entirely because of, not in spite of, the need to preserve the onside kick. However, and as the graph has shown, the rule changes have caused the chances of recovering an onside kick to disappear. Realistically the only way that a kicking team could conceivably recover an onside kick is to hope that a player on the receiving team fails to catch the ball and in turn, the kicking team recovers. This is essentially what happened in the 2015 NFC Championship game. Also, the rules eliminate an element of surprise that the Saints took advantage of when they ran their “Ambush” play.

Ladies and gentlemen The Cornercube has deemed the onside kick to be officially listed on the “NFL Extinct Play Watch List!” This play is on life support if not already brain dead. The onside kick is not nearly as extinct as the “wedge block” (which is outlawed for safety reasons that everyone can understand but Donald J. Trump) but more extinct than the fullback position. So, just like the World Wildlife Fund wants to save the Iberian Lynx, The Cornercube wants to save the onside kick. The most obvious solution is to maintain the current kickoff rules, but only require the ball to travel 5 yards instead of ten before the kicking team is permitted to touch the ball. This would allow the kicking team to get closer to the ball sooner, and also maintain the safety rules that were instated in 2018. A similar, but slightly different idea was introduced by Deadspin’s writer, Drew Magary, who suggested move the receiving team back five yards. In the end both suggestions maintain what the NFL had substantially before, while not compromising the safety initiatives or the excitement that comes about with the onside kick. Magary best summarizes what these onside kick revisions would accomplish: “I want what I had. I want nervous hands teams. I want kickers going into the laboratory and experimenting with the Rabona, conspiring with special teams coaches to get the maximum amount of both bounce and chaos from drubbing a ball off the turf.”

Both solutions maintain the onside kick play, and in turn preserve a piece of football lore. However, if the kickoff is on the decline and the fear of injuries is causing hesitancy in altering the kickoff rules, should the onside kick be replaced with an all or nothing “fourth down play?” This has been discussed before and has even been thrown out there by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Essentially to maintain possession of the ball, when a kickoff would have occurred, the “kicking team” (in this case the offense) would have to convert a 4^th and 15 play or fourth and 20 from their own 25-yard line. If the offense makes this all or nothing down, they get to maintain their drive, but if they fail the “receiving team” (defense) would assume possession. This idea was tried in the now defunct Alliance of American Football (“AAF”). Mike Florio, from NBC’s Pro Football Talk, summarized what the AFF attempted, “if a team trails by 17 or more points or if the team that just scored trails by any amount with fewer than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, that team can choose to try to convert a fourth-and-12 play from its own 28. If the team gains 12 or more yards in that one play, it keeps possession. If it doesn’t, the other team takes possession.”

There is only one guarantee and that is the NFL must do something to fix the onside kick. It’s not too late to save it! Do it for the Athenians!

NFL Kicking Has Never Been Better

“Double doink!” were the words uttered by NBC Football announcer’s, Cris Collinsworth’s nasally, Southern accent, as Codey Parkey, the former place-kicker of the Chicago Bears, missed a 2018 game winning NFC wild-card playoff game field goal. Just as Collinsworth so eloquently described, it wasn’t just a missed field goal, it was the fact the ball bounced off both the goal post’s left upright and its crossbar. Parkey isn’t the only kicker in recent memory to have misfortune when toe meets leather. Blair Walsh, the former Minnesota Viking place-kicker, failed to make a game winning 27-yard field goal against the Seattle Seahawks in the 2016 NFC wild-card game. Walsh was a first-team All-Pro in 2012, and prior to the missed game winning field goal, he was three for three in that playoff game. Parkey was named to the 2015 NFL Pro Bowl (albeit as a replacement for Stephen Gostkowski, legendary place-kicker for the New England Patriots, who was involved with the Super Bowl and so could not attend the Pro Bowl).

The quote, “life turns on a dime” couldn’t be more appropriate for the shelf life of an NFL kicker. That is why The Cornercube has decided to dive into an investigative journalism piece to determine if NFL field kicking (not extra point kicking. We have only so many people on the investigative journalism team), has become worse over the years. The answer is that it has not, and we have the stats to prove it!

 

You might be thinking, “When did The Cornercube afford Excel?”  The short answer is we finally ponied up and pirated a version of Microsoft Office! Enough of our gloating, it’s time to get back to the analytics.

As one can see the data shows that the percentage of field goals being made has steadily increased, even as the number of attempts has doubled since the 1960’s average. In the 2010 decade, which is not fully complete, there is a record completion percentage of nearly 85%.  In other words, people, The Cornercube has declared the NFL to be in an era of field goal dominance! In the NFL there have only been 20 field goals made from at least 60 yards and 13 of those 20 were made in the 2010 decade. This includes the longest field goal made in NFL history when in 2013 Matt Prater, then the place-kicker of the Denver Broncos, bombed a 63 yarder through the uprights.

So what has caused this glorious era to ignite, when in the 1960’s just over half of all field goals were made? There are two reasons. The first is technique and the second is football obsession.

In the 1960’s Pete Gogolak, a Hungarian-born place-kicker (please do not get upset I stated his nationality because it will come in handy later) revolutionized the way the oblong shaped ball was kicked. Prior to Gogolak, all place-kickers approached the ball straight on, but with Pete’s European soccer background he decided that by kicking the ball at an angle could cover more distance than the traditional style of place-kicking. In 1964 Pete played for the Buffalo Bills and the “soccer-style” place- kick was adopted by the NFL. By the late 1970’s the soccer-style kick was used around the entire NFL. So with the place-kicker’s field goal range extended due to a technique change, the place-kickers were able to attempt more kicks and therefore make more kicks.

However, the most recent change to why place-kicking has vastly improved over time is because America has slowly become a nation that eats, sleeps, and breathes football. In a 2014 New York Times article by Joe Lemire, he stated, “[w]hile there have been changes in technique . . . the primary impetus for improvement has been more dynamic training and specialization, often at a younger age.” Lemire goes on to describe how in 1995 only about a dozen kickers and punters had college football scholarships, but now nearly all Division I college football programs offer scholarships to specialists. There are even websites, such as ProKicker.com, in which a person can find the nearest kicking, punting, or even long snapping camp by state (Tennessee has 8 kicking camps scheduled from 2019-2020. That’s more than football crazy Texas or Ohio). There are even areas in which a person can find, by state, private instruction on how to kick, punt, or long snap a football (I guess they assume you’re an idiot, if you need private lessons on how to be a holder).

So, if America is in the glory days of place kicking, why are people claiming that there seems to be more issues than usual with kickers? There are two reasons for such a mentality. First, with the advancement of the internet, more people having access to television and various streaming devices, it causes more eyeballs to be able to watch more games. Therefore, when a person misses a game winning kick, more people are able to see the miss and, in turn, reprimand that kicker. The second reason is that Americans have gotten comfortable with the 85% field goal make percentage. Hence, there is even less room for error. In other words, imagine if the average was just over half, like in the ‘60s or even ‘70s.  A missed field goal wouldn’t be unusual, and a below average kicker would be considered to be one who missed more than half of his field goals.

Place-kickers have “placed” themselves in a paradox. Every time they get better, and their attempt percentage goes up, their room for error decreases. In a weird sense it would incentivize all current kickers to teach kids how to kick incorrectly so the efficiency decreases and the room for error increases. In other words, place-kickers who lose their jobs should just blame the old Hungarian – Pete Gogolak!

2019 Browns Chronicles: Week 3 & 4

It comes with great pain that The Cornercube must report that it has received, after over a year of being an active and thriving publication, its first “hate mail.” As The Cornercube prides itself on full transparency and disclosure to its loyal readers, we have printed the editorial comments so that the readers, themselves, can be the judges of journalistic truth.

“It is not the critic who counts…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” – Teedie, Manhattan, New York, New York.

This letter should be dissected piece by piece and actually, believe it or not, the editorial compliments this week’s installment of the 2019 Browns’ Chronicles!

This publication is bathed in factual analysis but was birthed and derived out of fandom for the Cleveland Browns. Fans, short for “fanatics”, are what create sports, any sport, entertainment. It could be argued that without fans there isn’t sport, but rather just a “game.” In professional sports, and major college athletics (division I football and men’s basketball) the coaches are paid by their market value and that is derived strictly by level of fandom that that sport is able to raise. So, in a way, Teedie, the fan actually puts the most risk into any sport and has the potential to lose the most, yet gain the least.

According to TicketCity and CBS Sports the average ticket to Super Bowl LI (i.e.– Super Bowl 51) was $4,744. So, although the fan saw his Patriots win the Super Bowl, it was at a personal loss of nearly $5,000. In 2019 the Patriots, the victors in the last Super Bowl, each walked away with $118,000 (before taxes), while the losing Rams each walked away with $59,000 (before taxes) just for appearing. In 2017 (Super Bowl LI) the fan’s $5,000 loss excludes additional costs for food, lodging and travel. That fan is arguably willing to trade $10,000 just to see his team win the Super Bowl and enjoy temporary bragging rights. At least the Patriot fans in attendance walked away with bragging rights while on the other hand the Atlanta Falcons’ fans walked away with nothing except short a few thousand dollars and witnessed their team be the victim of the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. It seems that many would consider a fan willing to lose $10,000 for something that isn’t guaranteed as “actually in the arena.”

The Browns Sunday night game against the Los Angeles Rams was, as the readers know, a loss. It was brutal because it was as though the game was played in slow motion. The offense looked anemic, again, while the defense played quite well especially with a completely injured backside defense.  The offensive line looked just as horrible, if not worse, than in its previous two games. Freddie Kitchens’ play calling, surprisingly, reached to new heights of stupidity. In the Rams’ RedZone, knocking on the goal line, with all three of their timeouts and the Browns chose to throw it on all four downs. On fourth down, with the field shrinking, Brown’s QB Baker Mayfield threw a pick. Why Kitchens elected not to give the ball to his best player the whole game, running back Nick Chubb, is inexcusable, especially having time outs to burn. Perhaps if this example doesn’t make all Browns’ fans throw their arms up in disgust, then possibly Kitchens electing to run vertical passing routes, instead of running or throwing quick routes when the offense is within its own five-yard line, would.

As reported in the last installment, Freddie Kitchen’s recipe for a successful offense is quick passes and a steady run diet. Due to the lack of consistent offensive line pass protection, it makes no sense in trying to develop deep passes only to have Baker Mayfield fleeing for his life and either getting hit, throwing a pick, or taking a sack. Even Cris Collinsworth, who was commentating during the game, kept stating that the Browns have luck on offense when Baker throws his pass within two seconds from the snap of the ball.

Teedie, the Browns faithful criticize these mistakes and miscues because although our bodies may not be lathered in sweaty spandex, stinky jock straps, orange Gatorade and our brains aren’t pumped full of pain killers, our faces too are “marred by dust and sweat and blood.” It’s just that our dust, sweat and blood come in the form of screams of agony, buckets of fried food, the steady smell of Miller Lite laden breath, and the occasional bar stool fart (It happens. Don’t sit there like you haven’t experienced it.). Sure, the fan has the option of not watching the game, but then that wouldn’t be a Browns’ fan.  It would be a Cincinnati Bengals’ fan.

Each Sunday, the Browns’ fans place their vulnerability on the line. They are willing to have that vulnerability in the form of hope, pride, and faith be trampled, massacred, embarrassed, in ways some people couldn’t even think possible – The Fumble, The Drive, The Move, The Defeated Season, Hugh Jackson, Johnny Manziel, and the list goes on. The Browns fans know what it is like to fail and we fail “while daring greatly” because that’s what it takes to be a Browns fan.

To be a Browns fan one must be able to unequivocally, without hesitation step into the “arena,” for the chances that your face will be bloodied, covered in dust and eventually fail is extremely likely. Nevertheless, it is on those occasions, like this past Sunday, when those barstool farts, Miller Lite drinking Sundays pay off; when the Browns take revenge on the team which caused much of their heartache – the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens were out manned, out gunned, and out played in their own stadium. The short passes worked, the run game held, the defense did what they have always done, and the Browns, players, fans, coaches, covered in blood, marred in dust came out victorious.

The CornerCube is not a publication that seeks to demean or constantly complain about players, coaches, or front office personnel of the Cleveland Browns (although with the Browns, it is quite easy to find mounds of material). The CornerCube is to speak for the greatest, yet least thought of warrior in the arena – the faithful, fans who make the Cleveland Browns, the Cleveland Browns.

 

Onto San Francisco!