PRO FOOTBALL / BOB OATES : Lamar Hunt: Alarmed at Kickers’ Influence

Lamar Hunt, the Hall of Fame owner who, 33 years ago, founded both the American Football League and the team that became the Kansas City Chiefs, is among those alarmed this season by the expanding influence of NFL kickers.

Even though his own kicker, Nick Lowery, is one of the finest, Hunt wants the league to make some major changes in three areas:

--Field goals. Narrow the goal posts from 18 feet to about 10, Hunt urges, thus taking away the automatic aspect of this part of the game while respecting the premise that football must have a three-point play.

--Kickoffs. To bring the runback back into a sport that has been slowed by the specialists who repeatedly put the ball in the end zone, Hunt recommends kicking off from the 30-yard line instead of the 35, eliminating the kicking tee, bringing the ball out to the receiving team’s 35-yard line instead of the 20 after an end zone kickoff. Any would be an improvement, he says, but he wouldn’t mind seeing all three changes.

--Conversions. First, borrow college football’s two-point play. Second, make the conversion try from a point directly out from the spot where the man who scored the touchdown crossed the goal line.

Hunt on field goals: “Football plays, not kicking plays, are what interest football fans. The 45-yard or 50-yard field goal is so commonplace now that the coaches hate to lose a chance to kick one when they get that far.

“So they stop calling interesting but dangerous plays--plays that could (endanger) their field position--and call safe plays that nobody but a coach wants to see.

“By narrowing the goal posts to (10 feet), we could make the 50-yard field goal a very, very rare thing, which it used to be and should be.

“Lively, unexpected plays are what interest football fans. As owners, we should put in rules that help the (coaches think in terms of) unexpected passes and trick runs, things like that.”

Hunt on kickoff returns: “One of the most exciting plays in football, the long kickoff return, has just about disappeared. So far this year, 40% of NFL kickoffs have gone into the end zone, where they couldn’t be returned, and many other high kickoffs (resulting from high tees) reached the goal line.

“That 40% is an all-time record that should cause us all to worry. For instance, we have too many games where the anticipation and excitement build to the opening kickoff, and then the whole thing falls flat when the kickoff is whistled dead in the end zone.

“The coaches like it this way because a long kickoff runback might lose their job. They much prefer to start every series on the 20. But if (the owners) are thinking of what’s best for the game, we should overrule the coaches.

“We should shoot for a new rule that would give us a 100% record on returning all kickoffs. The fans love that play, and it’s important to remember that it’s been a key part of football until recently.”

Hunt on conversions: “The one-point kick is so automatic now, it’s so opposite from what football is supposed to be about, that I don’t know why we keep it. Narrower goal posts would help. So would bringing the ball out from wherever the touchdown is scored.

“But what we really need is the two-point option. We’re the only football that doesn’t have that. They have it in junior high, high school and college, and we had it, of course, in the AFL.

“People say it isn’t fair to award two points for a three-yard run or pass after only six points for 99 yards--but they forget that the hardest thing to make is the last three yards. The defense gets so much help from the back line and the sidelines down there that the best offenses can’t score half the time on one play from the three-yard line--with either a run or a pass.

“I’ve also heard that it’s unfair to coaches to put them under pressure to go for two points in the final seconds--but we aren’t playing this game for coaches. We’re playing it for spectators.

“Our objective should be to make the game as spectacular for spectators as possible--if the (alternative) is to make it safe for coaches.

“For instance, it’s legal now for a college player to return a blocked extra-point try and score (the two point) the other way. Why doesn’t (the NFL) have that play? It doesn’t happen often, but it adds a lot of excitement when it does happen.

“Ask any spectator. Anything is better than a dead conversion, a dead field goal, or a dead kickoff.”