[sportscurmudgeon]

Frankly, I don't care what they do with PATs. They can eliminate them, move the line back, whatever.

I am saddened by the new rule that makes kickoffs a far smaller part of the game. However, as long as "player safety" is a prime motivator, the kickoff return is going to be an "endangered species".

Note that the Canadian Football League has no fair catch and it has a rule that the returner must have a "bubble around him" with no opposing players in the bubble for him to field the punt. If defenders get too close, it is a penalty. I would like to see the NFL experiment with that rule in the exhibition games next season.