The onsides kick

H

Horn89

1,000+ Posts
There just has to be a better way to onsides kick than the method that teams use now.

To my humble, untrained eyes, the current method flies in the face of logic. If the receiving team takes all its best "hands" guys and puts them in a tiny area of the field, why do you kick it RIGHT AT that grouping? It doesn't make sense to me. It would be like a defense lining up all its defenders outside of one hash, and then the offense runs a toss sweep in that direction.

The whole idea of "spreading the defense" should apply. If I were in an obvious onsides situation, like USC last night, I would line up just like USC did, but have the kicker try to pooch it just over the heads of the relatively few defenders on the other side of the field, who would have to turn their backs and run to field it. Seems like a much better chance for success.

I just don't like the philosophy of "hit it where they are, but hope for a funny bounce." Why not hope for the same funny bounce in a relatively undefended area of grass?
 
I tend to concur. How many times do we see a pooch kick almost recovered by the kicking team when they weren't even trying to onsides it.

One question I have is when the kick is in the air, does the kicking team have to give the recieving team a right to catch the ball before it hits the ground or can you pooch a kick really high and allow a kicking team member to get under it before it comes down. I'm thinking the recieving team can call a fair catch and you have to allow them to do so. The key would be pooching it to an open area where they wouldn't be able to have someone ready to catch it like you're referring to.
 
That's only gonna work if the other team isn't expecting it, not at the end of the game. Besides, the advantage of the typical onside kick is that the receiving team can't call fair catch and, at that short range, you can tee off on them.

There's just no way you could kick it to an area where guys aren't and recover it before they get there. Fumbles on pooch kicks are normally because guys are surprised, not used to returning it, etc. In this situation, they won't be trying to return - they just have to fall on it.
 
all they have to is call fair catch. thats the reason for hte ball being driven into the ground on the onside kick.
 
Can you fair catch a kickoff? I thought that was just on punts. On a kickoff, once the ball has traveled 10 yards it's anybody's ball regardless of whether it has been touched or not, right?
 
Yeah, I know you can fair catch a kickoff, but when I say "pooch it" over their heads, I'm talking about a weak line-drive that just barely gets over their heads, not a "sky" kick. A good kicker who is kicking off a tee could place it wherever he wanted.

The next time you watch an onsides, look at the entire field. Invariably, there are HUGE areas on the receiving side that are completely unattended. Why not punch it into one of those areas of wide-open grass and let it be a free-for-all, mad dash to a bouncing ball? Why hit it right at the only area of the field that has 7 (or more) defenders waiting there?
 
Wait, but isn't the fair catch not an option on an onside kick because the ball has already touched the ground? When the kicker strikes it, he kicks the top of the ball, down into the ground - it's the high ricochet bounce that they're actually fielding.
 
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