Some of the news making the rounds this week is Greg Schiano's idea that kickoffs could be scrapped in the name of player safety.
Rutgers player Eric LeGrand suffered a catastrophic injury last season and Schiano makes the point:
"...17 to 18 percent of the catastrophic injuries in football happen on kickoffs, yet kickoffs are only about 2.5 percent of the plays in the game. … That’s a pretty big spread."
I guess what must be determined is what % of kickoffs in toto result in catastrophic injury and whether or not that ratio an acceptable one for an inherently violent and dangerous game.
Schiano was on the radio discussing his plan (from Sports Radio Interviews).
Schiano outlines his plan to get rid of kickoffs and instead give the team that would have kicked off a 4th-and-15 situation where the team could either go for it — with perhaps the same risk/reward involved with an onside kick — or punt it away. I think it would certainly take a lot of getting used to and seems a bit far-fetched, but it’s hard to argue with anyone wanting to make the game safer.
Kickoffs are such a huge part of the game in so many ways. I can't see this ever getting much traction.
What do you guys think?