@4browns said:

Wow, this is going to be exciting.

A team scores and you go to long commercial break.

Back to live action again, scoring team kicks off thru the back of the end zone, touchback. Go to another long commercial break.

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

You guys can correct me if im wrong but wasn't that the reason they moved it back 5yds to begin with? The game was slowing down, and back almost 20 years ago they were nearly kicking it out.

Some of the kickers these days have tree trunks for thighs how is this helping the game? They are taking special teams out of the game. Granted cribbs may have opportunities on punts but idk I don't like it.

Only benifit is to the owners, now the backups who are mostly on special teams are less likely to get banged up or pull a hammy. It seems to me its more about $$$ than player safety, they don't want to pay a guy to be on IR. As time goes on the coverage team wont even run down field, they will just jog towards the sideline.

NEW ORLEANS -- Josh Cribbs, in six seasons with the Cleveland Browns, has established himself as more than just a return man.

But he's also aware that, had it not been for his special-teams ability, the converted college quarterback likely wouldn't have survived two coaching changes and certainly wouldn't have been in position for the three-year, $20 million deal he received last March.

So excuse Cribbs if he's bothered by the changes to the kickoff rules that were approved Tuesday at the league's annual meeting. And understand if he's even a little offended.

"I totally disagree (with the rule change)," Cribbs said by telephone Tuesday. "I don't think they take special teams serious enough. You can say you're making it safer for players, but that's part of it, not taking special teams serious enough. That ticks me off, because we, the Cleveland Browns, win games on special teams."

The change, in fact, was more modest than originally proposed. The suggested placement of the ball at the 25-yard line, rather than the 20, on touchbacks was nixed, as was elimination of the two-man wedge.

But the line of scrimmage for the kickoff was moved from the 30 to the 35, and the pre-kick running start for the coverage team has been limited to 5 yards.

The moves by the NFL's competition committee were made to promote player safety.

"I was listening to (some) of the owners speak about how player safety trumps athletic, entertainment ability," Cribbs said in an interview with NFL Network. "But we have yet to see any proof or anything that says most of the injuries happen on kickoffs or kickoff returns, and this is why, so we need to move it up 5 yards and it will eliminate it. I just don't see the relevance in the 5-yard rule. All I see is the lack of opportunity that will occur because of that rule."

Cribbs later said he "appreciate(s) the concern. I really appreciate that. But the motives I question."

If it sounds like Cribbs is taking this a little personally, you might be on the right track.

Much as coaches tout the importance of special teams, those playing them often feel like the stepchild in the pecking order. They aren't paid or promoted like offensive or defensive players, and once they achieve prominence in other areas of the game, they normally are removed from the kick teams.

That's not to say there are good, solid reasons for that. But it does explain Cribbs' angst.

"They say they change it because of injuries, but I think that it's coaching," Cribbs said. "In a lot of cases, it's not being coached as well. And I think instead of rules changes, you could have enforced penalties and fines better, and fine the coaching staffs and organizations for coaching it a certain way.

"We're talking about people's careers here. They're making it so you can't play this great sport the way it supposed to be played. It's things like the kickoff return that makes this sport exciting, and now you're going to change the sport to nothing but touchbacks."

Cribbs' desire is to maintain a system where, as he puts it, "special teams can win games."

The way Cribbs sees it, there will be more of a premium on kickers who can put the ball through the back of the end zone and force touchbacks, a dynamic that prompted the move of the line from the 35 to 30 in 1993.

"This rule, I'm thinking they alrady kick it away from guys like myself and (Chicago's) Devin Hester," Cribbs told NFL Network. "But this rule trumps them all. ... They'll start to scout kickers just for touchbacks. Returners like myself will become obsolete. I've been on both specturms, so I'm talking as a guy who has played on kickoff coverage and return units."

And the trickle-down effect, in his mind, is that contracts like those he garnered, or Hester (four years, $30 million) received, will become things of the past.

"You're going to see teams franchising kickers for touchbacks," Cribbs said. "I really feel that (it'll be harder for returners), myself included, when I'd try to get a new contract. You need to be taken seriously on the field, and you won't get this type of athlete anymore. You make these rule changes, the kick returner becomes obsolete. You have no chance to succeed. And the special-teamer in coverage, then he becomes obsolete, too, and those are guys busting tail to stay in the league."

For so many players, special teams is a way to stay in the league and can be a gateway to bigger things.

Make kickoffs less frequent, and you cut down on the number of relevant plays those guys spend on the field, and it, in turn, becomes more difficult for lower-round guys to find their niche and stick on a roster. By Cribbs' reasoning, it's easier to get a kicker with a big leg than spend roster spots on the kind of kamikazes who cover kicks.

"My goal is always to put the offense in the best position," Cribbs said. "We have rules. If I'm 5 yards deep, I usually don't return it. That's (fine) with me, but the coaches do give me the leeway. Some other guys, if they're in the end zone, they're kneeling. For me, at 3-4 yards, it's, 'Do you?'; at 6-7, it's danger territory. At 8-9 yards, no way. There are lots of factors, but if kickers can put it through the end zone, then all that's gone.

"And I know they're trying to protect us. But we know what we signed up for. This is the NFL, not a rec league. This is the best of the best."

Without the kick return being such a big part of the game, it's hard to see where Cribbs would've been given the time to develop as he has.

And so it makes sense that this one hits home for him.

______________________________________________________

Edit: If you want to see his interview, click on the link at the top of the page.

Hillis-iz-Boss said:

The real problem here is that we have owner coming up with these stupid ass rules when most of them have never even played the game of football. Goodell has "experts" (who have also ironically never played the game of football) come in and tell the owners what is right and what is wrong and then most of them vote the way they are told. Why the hell is this allowed. This rich snobs don't know shit about football. The rules should be voted on by Coaches only, people who have some kind of idea what actually happens on a football field.

The coaches voted on the rule changes today..

@clevelandbigdawg said:

yeah, goodell can kick rocks for all i care.

BOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now hes a man with no natural position. gimmick QB? maybe...

@the-gipper said:

It is merely part of the league's PR effort to try to prove that they really are worried about player safety.

In one context though, this might add to the action. It might now tempt more teams to try more "pop-up" kickoffs in an attempt to pin teams down inside the 20 more than now.

These pop-up kickoffs actually seem to me to be more brutal than normal kickoffs.

The league has no evidence this will make a safer game. Could be a a concession to safety angle they will promote in their efforts to force a 18 game season on the players.

Why bother kickin off anymore? Give the offensive team the ball on their 20 and fuggetaboutit. wtfo

@slowburn said:

Kickoff returns are one of the most exciting parts of the game. What gives??!!

It is merely part of the league's PR effort to try to prove that they really are worried about player safety.

In one context though, this might add to the action. It might now tempt more teams to try more "pop-up" kickoffs in an attempt to pin teams down inside the 20 more than now.

These pop-up kickoffs actually seem to me to be more brutal than normal kickoffs.

Get Goodell out of here

A team scores and you go to long commercial break.

Back to live action again, scoring team kicks off thru the back of the end zone, touchback. Go to another long commercial break.

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

@gafreleets said:

does suck for teams who have put $$$ into the return position.

oh well, i've been saying for 2yrs now that cribbs should be traded. not a legit WR, not a legit RB, not a legit QB..............get rid of his overpriced behind.

I've been saying for months that we should purge all the idiot trolls from here for good.......... Get rid of their inbred behinds.

@clevelandfanforlife said:

Josh Cribbs just got less valuable.

They should just put dresses on them.

Well considering the updated "defenseless player" rule- they should just play Flag football for the qbs. Can't hit him in the act of throwing? get real.