I think the Commish wants to get fired, he wants to eliminate kickoffs.

[ggp]

Just a bunch of lip service. The NFL has to make the public (and the courts) believe that they are a proactive organization that does all it can to protect its players. Personally, I don't give a crap about kickoffs, but it is a tradition that will be kept.

To me, the tradition that needs to be altered, for the sake of more intrigue, is to back the extra point to the 35-yard line. This nonsense of awarding a point for a chip shot is stupid and boring. Back up the extra point and we will see more attempts for two points. That would make the games more interesting.

If the NFL were truly serious about reducing catastrophic injuries, they would slow the game down. How do you do that? You simply return to the more traditional rules of the game:

1. Allow for more sustained contact between the CB's and WR's.
This would encourage much more man-to-man coverages. The devastating collisions in the secondary occur mostly because of zone defenses. The DB's must cover a territory and consequently behave like missiles after completions. These collisions are extremely dangerous and were once a rarity in the NFL. Man-to-man coverage puts the DB's in closer range of the WR and reduces the acceleration towards their targets.

2. Allow OL's to grab DL's more.
If you are going to allow DB's more contact, QB's will need a little more time to find the open receiver. Giving OL's more freedom to detain the new generation of DE's would go a long way to protecting vulnerable QB's.

3. Penalize hits to the head with the traditional yardage, and penalty box time.
Viscious hits by defenders that aim for the head should be punished by a specified time off of the field. Believe me, hits to the head would vanish over night. We would see the return to the wrap up tackling techniqes of old.

I know that a lot of people would see these changes as a watering down of football. Afterall, the old school guys, like Butkus, would never have played like that. The fact of the matter is that players are much bigger, stronger and faster today. The forces at impact have sky rocketed ( F = Mass X Velocity ). We have reached a patho-physiological limit to the human body. Guys are suffering catastrophic, long-term injuries. Something must be done about it. The impact of injuries are felt all the way down to the Pop Warner leagues.

If the league does not step up its efforts, the game may be brought to its knees in the courts....nobody wants to see that.