NEW YORK — The changes to the kickoff have revolutionized the NFL, bringing the return back to professional football. Even with all the radical changes coming to the kickoff, one part of the kickoff is fading into irrelevance.
“One thing I don’t like about it is that we’re trying to take away the onside kick,” CBS Sports The NFL Today analyst Bill Cowher told CBS Sports last month. “As a guy who used an onside kick in the Super Bowl, it made me very sad when I saw that happen.
“I still think that’s an exciting play.”
Per the new kickoff rules, the onside kick cannot be used the first three quarters of the game. Once the fourth quarter begins, only the team trailing has the opportunity to declare an onside kick to the officials. The surprise onside kick is no more, with the receiving team knowing it’s coming at a certain point in the game.
Only 5.2% of onside kicks were recovered in 2023, and there were just two surprise onside kicks due to run-ups being banned by the league.
“I understand the numbers are low. But on an onside kick the numbers should be low,” Cowher said. “It’s a unique play. It’s a hard play. It’s a strategical part of the game. It slows down the front line.
“I’ve done it a lot as a special teams coach. It’s a fun play and a strategical play. That’s why I always fought for the onside kick as part of the competition committee when I was on it. If anybody thought of taking it away, I brought up my play in the Super Bowl, but unfortunately I’m not in the league anymore so I didn’t get the chance this time.”
Cowher is one of the few coaches that converted a successful onside kick in the Super Bowl. Trailing by 10 points with 11:20 left in Super Bowl XXX, Cowher called a surprise onside kick with Norm Johnson kicking and Deon Figures recovering, leading to a Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown to cut the deficit to three points midway through the fourth quarter.
The Steelers ended up losing Super Bowl XXX to the Dallas Cowboys, but Cowher’s onside kick was the reason Pittsburgh got back into that game. The onside kick still exists in the fourth quarter, but the element of surprise is gone.
The strategy of the onside kick is nonexistent.
“It’s the surprise onsides kick to me,” Cowher said. “To be able to do this in the third quarter, the front line starts to get back and loosen up a little bit. Or you can put one in that little dead area and it hits the ground. Those are the things that are exciting.
“Is it gonna be successful? Probably not? That’s the risk and reward. Sometimes you don’t have to be successful to make a point. Don’t leave early because we’re gonna try it.”
The fourth-and-15 rule
If the onside kick does go to pasture, the onside kick alternative may be a welcome change to the NFL. Teams would have the option to convert a fourth-and-15 from their own 25-yard line. The rule was popular enough in the NFL that it was proposed on multiple occasions.
“If you get behind, the biggest thing is I can use the clock to my advantage,” Cowher said. “All of a sudden now teams are thinking, ‘We scored. We’re trying to get the ball back on a 4th-and-15. Why not?’ I’m thinking as a coach if I give the ball back to you, I’m not gonna see it again. There’s something to an effect of giving you the option to get the ball back.
“Maybe 4th-and-15 or whatever it could be could be a higher rate of conversion than the onside kick does in today’s game. That option is something you should be able to do.”
The competition committee was in favor of this rule in the past, so it will be interesting to see where they stand if the onside kick fades into oblivion. The current onside kick has been almost impossible to recover since the NFL changed its kickoff rules in 2018.
Creativity would come back if the fourth-and-15 proposal ever gets passed.
“There are multiple things you can do. There are so many throwbacks and laterals you can do,” Cowher said. “We all have seen the average conversion of 3rd-and-15 and 4th-and-15 today, it’s converted. You have big receivers, you have a good quarterback. You have the imagination of being creative with some of your play selections, play designs. That’s what makes football great. There are so many different ways to do something.
“It goes back to risk vs. reward. It’s about risk taking. Let’s give us coaches options. There’s a lot of risk takers. And sometimes, I’d rather have risked and failed rather than not risk at all. I lived by that motto.”
