Welcome to the terrible take a daily segment telling Steelers nation what's on our mind. I'm Alex Kazora.

I apologize for not complaining about this already, but I promise I have not forgotten. I got a gripe about the NFL passing the fair catch kickoff rule for the 2023 season.

I know it's just one year they'll look at things again next season, but I hate hate the direction the league is going, though I can't say I'm surprised.

The league has slowly been chipping away at the value of kick returns for years.

On one level, I can understand it, the need to improve player safety and reduce the car crashes that happen on kickoffs.

But it is just whittling away at the literal start of the game, always a kickoff, on what seems to be the NFL's slow march towards

getting rid of it entirely. Fair catching the ball at your one to get it at the 25, that's simply not football.

If the league wanted to do anything, follow in the

XFL's footsteps of their modified approach. They reduce car crashes not by

reducing the number of kickoffs but by decreasing the space between the coverage and return teams.

Those split five yards apart and the return teams end and no one can move until the returner

fields the ball. I like that far more than what the NFL is

currently doing making this a non-play. The league just changed the extra point

spot so it was no longer essentially a gimmy play and then they turn around and dilute

kickoffs all the more. Not only does it make the game less exciting, but it will also cost

players jobs. Special teamers who earn their check running

down kickoffs, kickoff specialists, and of course return men themselves.

They'll all be impacted. It's a bad rule change and the league should take a

new approach next year.

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