Kickoff Rule to be Voted on Tuesday; Coaches Oppose It

I hope the owners listed to their head coaches on this one.

I'm referring to the proposed changes to kickoffs that will be voted upon Tuesday by the NFL owners. We mostly had unfavorable reactions to the proposal here at DBN, and I am glad to see that head coaches are speaking out adamantly against the rule.

"Oh, God, no,'' said one NFC head coach, when I asked him if he liked the changes. "And look, I should be for it, coaching in the same conference as Devin Hester. Anything that limits the damage he could do I should probably be in favor of. But I'm not. It's not a little change. It changes the game too much. It's not a tweak. It's a significant change.''

Bill Belichick also spoke out against the rule, sharing the same sentiments that I do:

"Pretty complicated proposal," Belichick said. "I don't like the idea of eliminating the kickoff from the game. I think it's one of the most exciting plays in football. It looks like the competition committee is trying to eliminate that play. I don't know that's really good for the game."

Whether owners listen to the concerns of their head coaches or choose to go with player safety is still up-in-the-air. The proposal would need the support of at least 24 owners though, so it is far from a slam dunk in terms of being passed. Don Banks reports that the official proposal might be tweaked before being voted on, but that it could ultimately not receive enough votes. The Lions' team president seems to indicate that the team would vote it down. Players have spoken out against the proposal as well, including the Bears' Devin Hester, for obvious reasons.

Honestly, if this rule gets passed, I could almost see it angering me more than the lockout situation.