1. No, I don't think it's a foul at any point in the game.
2. It needs to go high enough so that the kicking team has enough time to get down and catch it in the air after it has gone 10 yards. It went neither high enough nor far enough for the kicking team to do this. This play looks like a perfectly executed onside kick to me.
I think we need to understand why this rule change was put in place. What are the rules makers trying to do with this change? Ralph, do you have any insight into this since (I think) you were at the rules meeting?
This was considered a safety issue ,as a pop-up kick couldn't be fair caught by R and would draw many opponents on a collision course. I discussed this at a coaches clinic a few months ago and received several positive responses, such as : "It makes the game more safe for both teams." "It was hard to teach and harder to do." "If we don't teach it the kids won't do it." "If we don't get behind, we won't have to worry about onside kicking
".
While concerned about the ability of us to identify, I'm not concerned about it's expected elimination. With it now illegal, I firmly believe it won't be taught and those players that have already learned it will be advised not to use it. Sometime late last century Maine passed a seatbelt rule for all in passenger cars. A statewide poll had indicated that less than 50% wore them. I had my doubts about it's success, as it appeared to be a "hard call" for
. A couple of years ago another poll was conducted. This time 85%+ responded that they now wore seatbelts. IMHO, this was the result of the perceived safety the seatbelts provided and not the mass arrests made, as there weren't any.
Back in 1996, the major concern was for the snapper's safety. Many nose-guards and middle linebackers were coached to intimidate him by blasting him as soon as he snapped. It was hoped that this be rewarded with a bad snap later on. Today's roughing the snapper rule was passed and ,to this day, I can't recall it being
in any of my games. WHY
Easy, the coach taught the new rule and the players listened.
IMHO, the same will happen with the pop-up kick....my glass is always half FULL
.
-Ralph