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This may be a little off topic, but it's relevant nonetheless.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/st ... off-change

By making a small change to the kickoff the ivy league was able to lower concussions by about 80%. This is a potential major break through in making the game safer.

leopold wrote:This may be a little off topic, but it's relevant nonetheless.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/st ... off-change

By making a small change to the kickoff the ivy league was able to lower concussions by about 80%. This is a potential major break through in making the game safer.

Is the reason for the observed / reported difference in concussion rates between the Ivies and the NFL the bigger and faster players in the latter?

After kick offs what is the play during which players are most likely to suffer a concussion? Punts maybe?

Was there a discussion on this board a while back about eliminating kick offs altogether?

Oh,my!
And where does the concussion rate go if the game is eliminated -
and everyone stays indoors, safe and sound from all danger?

No Quarter wrote:
Is the reason for the observed / reported difference in concussion rates between the Ivies and the NFL the bigger and faster players in the latter?

After kick offs what is the play during which players are most likely to suffer a concussion? Punts maybe?

Was there a discussion on this board a while back about eliminating kick offs altogether?

Not sure, and those are good questions. I wouldn't be surprised to see the FBS and NFL take a hard look at these adjustments in an attempt to fix the issue, and if they can get rid of 80% of the risk by simply pushing the kickoff up 5 yards I don't see that play going away altogether.

mr. pony wrote:Oh,my!
And where does the concussion rate go if the game is eliminated -
and everyone stays indoors, safe and sound from all danger?

Ehhh, I don't really equate moving the kickoff 5 yards - something that has been done before for no other reason than to make the game more entertaining - to eliminating the game. It sounds a lot more like fixing the problem, to me.

if you move the kickoff to the 40 then 95% of kickoffs would be touchbacks-then you will find that kickoffs are actually quite unnecessary just as the jump ball in Basketball is completely unnecessary. 30% of kickoffs result in some sort of penalty anyway. Football has to change to survive whether people like it or not.

Meh, seems like FBS already has it right with the ability to call a fair catch if the ball is inside the 25.