Add New England Patriots cornerback Jason McCourty among the people who do not like the NFL onside kick proposal.
The latest proposal offers a fourth-and-15 conversion attempt from scoring team’s 25 yard line in place of an onside kick. This proposed change will be voted on this week by the owners.
The whole point behind this proposal is to improve play. Onside kicks have not been used on a large scale recently.
So far, this proposal has undergone several modifications. Perhaps the biggest addition to the proposal is that the clock would not run on fourth-and-15 attempts. The onside kicks would count as untimed down.
“From a competitive side, especially as a defensive back, you don’t mind that pressure — fourth-and-15 or whatever the down and distance is,” McCourty said in a video call with reporters. “All right, we have to show up to win the game.
But if I’m a team and I’ve earned the right to be up, we’ve made the plays necessary to be winning in the fourth quarter or whatever it might be, I have a chance to go seal the game by just catching an onside kick versus be out there for a fourth-and-15 — from that standpoint, I don’t really understand it. We’re now basically rewarding you for being behind.”
It will be interesting to see if this proposal passes. It could make the game more exciting. Eliminating onside kicks would certainly be an intriguing change in a league that is always looking to improve the pace and quality of the game.
