I haven’t watched any AAF games, so it’s a miracle I didn’t miss this. But evidently, the Alliance of American Football doesn’t have kickoffs, and instead allows a team to attempt an 4th-and-12 onside converstion from their own 28-yard line. Atlanta tried it (sucessfully) earlier this week.
This is remarkably similar to what I (and Peter and Paul) proposed back in 2016, so I can only assume the AAF saw our idea in my obscure blog post and put their own slant on it.
I still like our idea better, which was mandatory rather than optional. Most times this means teams will punt, but having to do the play after every score enables fakes. We also get to see more punts, which are fun to watch, and it ensures that punters have something to do in games where their offense is just rolling the other team.
But nits aside, the AAL rule is already much better than the NFL’s. Let’s just hope others agree so the innovation can trickle up.