In this article, you will know what are onside kick rules?
An onside kick is a type of kick in American and Canadian football. It is a play in which a player from the offensive team tries to recover the ball after it has been kicked off the field of play by an opponent, usually by running towards the kicker. If the kicking team recovers the ball, it may advance to try to score a touchdown.
An onside kick can be a valuable weapon in a football game as it offers an opportunity to score a point or take the ball away from the other team. Moreover, it can also be used as a defensive strategy to clear the ball from the goal line. Teams that are good at executing onside kicks often find themselves in the advantage position.
To learn more about onside kick rules, it is recommended to read till the end.
ONSIDE KICK RULES: HOW DOES IT WORK?
In NFL, an onside kick is a kick in which a player from the offensive team tries to recover an untimed down ball by kicking it to a teammate behind the defensive line. The offensive team gains a first down if the teammate can catch the ball before it goes out of bounds.
Moreover, it’s an enriching play with high risk, and teams usually run it in the final stages of the game, i.e. in the last quarter, because they want to use all the available lifelines to win the match.
According to onside kick rules, if the receiving team successfully recovers the ball from the recovery spot, they get an automatic first down from the recovery position. However, they must fully control the ball to ensure the first down through the kickoff. If the receiving team fumbles the ball to the defensive team, the defensive team will have control of the ball and receive the first down.
CHANGES TO ONSIDE KICK RULES
Onside kicks have been part of football games for a long time; however, many changes have occurred. Some of the reasons that caused changes include that the more dominant teams had a monopoly on using onside kicks against opponents, but now they are balanced. According to stats, dominant teams’ success rate is 60% higher because of onside kicks.
Furthermore, in 2018 NFL changed onside kick rules to ensure players’ safety while performing them, where these changes are applied to both the teams.
WHAT CHANGES ARE MADE FOR ONSIDE KICK RULES?
Previously onside kicking teams could stack players on one side, whereas according to new rules, there will be five players on each side of the line. Furthermore, the kicking teams are not allowed to run prior to the kicking of their team play. This is to make sure fairness in the game.
These changes are primarily aimed toward the safety of the players because previously, the kicking team would stack players on one side. After kicking the ball, all players would start running toward the ball, which would ultimately cause injuries to them.
Apart from changing onside kick rules for the kicking team, these changes are also made for receiving team to maintain fairness in the game.
The new NFL rules require receiving team to spread 8 players in a 15-yard layout zone. These players will stay between their 40-yard line and kicking teams’ 45-yards zone. In addition, receiving teams must keep three players in the touchdown area. This is to ensure the safety of players.
IMPACT OF CHANGES TO ONSIDE KICK RULES
After looking at the statistics, it is crystal clear that the success rate has been decreased for good reason because prior to 2018 when changes were not made, dominant teams would easily win matches with the help of onside kicks where the inferior teams were negatively affected by losing matches due to these kicks.
The success rate decreased to 6%, which was 21% in 2017; furthermore, the average onside kicks came down to 5 kicks which were previously 9.4.
CONCLUSION
Onside kicks are an essential part of NFL matches. They can be the deciding factor in a close game; moreover, Coaches need to be aware of when and how to use them similarly, and players need to be able to execute them correctly. Finally, onside kicks can be the difference between winning and losing.
Thank you for reading!