Since Zuerlein's onside kick can only work once

Red Dragon

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Zuerlein pulled off the trick perfectly, but it's only going to work once. From this point on, all Cowboys opponents are going to pounce on that ball before it goes 10 yards. They aren't going to stand and watch like the Falcons did.

So does he have to go back to performing normal traditional onside kicks from this point on?
 

Bullflop

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Zuerlein pulled off the trick perfectly, but it's only going to work once. From this point on, all Cowboys opponents are going to pounce on that ball before it goes 10 yards. They aren't going to stand and watch like the Falcons did.

So does he have to go back to performing normal traditional onside kicks from this point on?

Either way, the chances of the kicking team recovering an onside kick are extremely slim. If the percentage of kicking the traditional way is greater, then that would perhaps be better. Unfortunately, such a statistic may not be available. My intuition tells me that the old way might be best from now on. I think it's likely that every NFL will learn a lesson by what happened to the Falcons last Sunday. Does anyone have another idea?
 
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Pompey-Cowboy

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Every onside kick is different and every onside kick is an unlikely to succeed, desperate shot in the dark. The kicking team only ever recovers them when the receiving team makes a mistake. No matter what approach you take, it's probably not gonna work in your favour.
 

CWR

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its possible that Atlanta wasn't just stupid, but didn't anticipate the ball going 10 yards, and therefore didn't want to risk jumping on it while its spinning around and end up losing it creating a live ball.

If Zuerlein can get enough spin on that ball who knows, maybe it works again? All I know for sure is that was a hell of an onside kick play.
 

Bullflop

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Either way, the chances of the kicking team recovering an onside kick are extremely slim. If the percentage of kicking the traditional way is greater, then that would perhaps be better. Unfortunately, such a statistic may not be available. My intuition tells me that the old way might be best from now on. I think it's likely that every NFL will learn a lesson by what happened to the Falcons last Sunday. Does anyone have another idea?

In any event, it might be interesting to see how other teams decide how to handle it. Will the Cowboys continue to allow Zuerlein to repeat his way of the onside kick? In any case, it'll be interesting to see how that onside kick scenario proceeds in the future . . . ;)
 
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Jarv

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I wonder if this was a Fassel thing or idea? What else does he have up his sleeve?
 

cowboyed

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You say you want a kick revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the game
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to not kick it the same
 

Zekeats

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Op nailed it this won’t work again and the nfl took all of and I mean ALL of the fun out of every aspect of the kickoff. It’s sad.
 

Ring6

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it shouldn't happen twice, nope, shouldn't have even worked once, but using it then was a good call. best onside kick ever.
 

fredp22

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Zuerlein pulled off the trick perfectly, but it's only going to work once. From this point on, all Cowboys opponents are going to pounce on that ball before it goes 10 yards. They aren't going to stand and watch like the Falcons did.

So does he have to go back to performing normal traditional onside kicks from this point on?
dont agree
not easy to pick up a ball spinning and bouncing with 4 guys around you ready to pounce the second you touch it. think its a practiced planned play. also if its less than 10 yard you're almost immediately giving the other team a chance for a field goal.
Atlanta wasnt confused-they just knew the odds for a fumble were higher than getting possession
 
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