NFL owners say they're making football safer. Browns return man Joshua Cribbs says they're corrupting it.
Owners voted to modify kickoff rules Tuesday during their annual meeting. Kickoffs will take place at the 35-yard line instead of the 30, meaning touchbacks are expected to become more frequent and returns will probably decrease. Players covering kickoffs will also be limited to a 5-yard running start instead of a 10- to-15-yard start.
The changes will take effect in the 2011 season, if games are played despite the league's labor dispute. Cribbs is frustrated, to say the least.
''The more they change it, the more that it almost corrupts the game of football,'' Cribbs said in a phone interview after the changes were announced. ''You'll hear the old [players] say, 'This is not the football I went through.' . . . They're already on our backs about how soft the game has gotten, and I'm gonna be on the NFL's back about how they're making the game soft now. We worked our tails off to get to this point, to play this gladiator sport in front of the world, and I feel like it's just changing too drastically.''
The 1993 season was the last one in which teams kicked off from the 35. There were four kickoff returns for touchdowns and 57 of 40 yards more, according to NFL.com. With kickoffs starting at the 30 last season, there were 23 returns for touchdowns and 113 of 40 yards or more.
Limiting returns should limit injuries. But Cribbs believes owners passed the rule changes to gain leverage in their push toward an 18-game regular season.
''The more we change this great game of football, it's only gonna be a downward spiral,'' Cribbs said. ''Injuries happen in football. If you look at the underlying effect and underlying cause of all these rule changes to supposedly make the game safe, it all stems back to extending our [regular] season [from 16 games] to 18 games. Yes, they're trying to make us safe, but only to add more games.''
In 2010, several teams avoided kicking to Cribbs during the first half of the season, then others capitalized when he was hobbled by dislocated toes. It was the first season in his professional career in which he failed to return a kickoff for a touchdown.
Still, moving kickoffs could hurt the Browns more than other teams because of their success on special teams in recent years. The Browns, whose special teams finished first in 2009 and third in 2010 in the Dallas Morning News' rankings, were reportedly one of six teams that voted against the changes.
''I just disagree with the rule changes because it affects me tremendously and other guys tremendously,'' said Cribbs, the NFL's career leader in kickoff returns for touchdowns with eight. ''I count on [Chicago Bears return man] Devin Hester breaking records and everything, so I can chase him. They count on me breaking records, so they can chase me and vice versa. But without the opportunity, it takes us out of the game sometimes.''
Beacon Journal sports writer
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