Outside of the normal debates over who's going to win and who's the hottest freshman, Anyone thinking that this won't have a significant impact clearly doesn't understand the importance of special teams play. These five factors lead me to believe it's a fairly substantial change:
1) Scoring should increase by 3-4 points a game
2) Many teams won't hide their best player from kick off return injuries and place him in the return teams (i.e. DeSean Jackson who usually just returns punts). Those teams that possess a special athlete in the return game are worth bumping up a win. ST are that important.
3) More injuries. There will be more than double the amount of returns (prediction) which naturally will increase the damage on the most dangerous play in football.
4) Kicking recruiting will change. More emphasis on who can boot it well into the end zone.
5) Those teams that are undermanned in a lot of areas, but are top of their return games early in the season could pull off an upset.
I didn't see an overwhelming need to change this rule, but I can't ignore that it adds more excitement to the game. Do you agree with this rule change and do you think it'll have a big effect on gameplay?




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