Could the NFL experiment with an onside kick alternative in the preseason?

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It was 10 years ago that Sean Payton called for “Ambush,” one of the gutsiest plays in Super Bowl history. Trailing 10-6, the Saints opened the second half of Super Bowl XLIV with an onside kick they recovered.

New Orleans scored a touchdown six plays later and went on to win 31-17.

Chances are a surprise onside kick will not occur in Super Bowl LIV.

Onside kicks have become next to impossible for the kicking team to recover since the league changed the kickoff rules. The NFL experimented with an onside kick alternative in the Pro Bowl, allowing the team that scores a chance to convert a fourth-and-15 from its own 25-yard line to retain possession.

The NFC tried the onside kick alternative, but Kirk Cousins threw an interception.

The NFL could experiment with the play more in the preseason and potentially make that the alternative to the onside kick in the future.

“I think now it’s just become so difficult with the fact that you can’t bunch anybody together, that they made so many changes in the kicking game,” Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira, the former NFL’s head of officiating, said during the network’s press day. “Seven percent success rate is not enough, and that’s what it’s turning out to average even though last year was a blip. I’m not going to be at all surprised if they go to the fourth-and-15 like they did in the Pro Bowl and give them one shot. If they make the first down, you continue on. I really think the [Competition] Committee feels enough now that they have to look at it more solidly and maybe do what they do from time to time, which I think is good, and say, ‘OK, let’s experiment this with the 64 games of the preseason next year and see what the results show and encourage teams to try it in the preseason so they can get some grasp of will it go from 7 percent back to 15 or 16, 17 percent, where it should be. I won’t be surprised to see the change.”

The NFL changed the extra point from a non-competitive play to a more challenging play by moving the kick back. They could provide for an onside kick replacement in an attempt to improve the odds of the team that scores but still trails having a chance to come back.

The days of the surprise onside kick, though, appear to be long gone.