Goodell Wants to Get Rid of the Extra Point

[bark]

Why? Romo fumbled a field goal not PAT attempt

Wow I had a brain fart. Wide right

 

[Keifer]

I agree with a few people. 1) if you want to make it more meaningful, push it back 10 yards, or 2) get rid of it and do what Goodell proposes. Like someone said, the 2-point conversion was adopted in 1994. Most of us probably don't even realize that. We assume it's been around forever. We're either too young to remember or we forgot how it used to be because it's been so long. People freak out after every little change. They want to keep football "pure." This is so trivial and it doesn't change the way the game is played. It's not like he's saying you're no longer allowed to run the ball.

I think the reason people freak out about the small changes is because they are gun shy from the big changes he has made. A lot of people (me included) think he is watering down the league and wish he would leave the rule book alone.

 

[DFWJC]

Have to admit, the PAT is pretty automatic. Seems like there would be an opportunity to make it more interesting, though I'm not so sure that his suggestion is the best answer.

 

[Doomsay]

Your sig pic HAS to be a "Caption This" !

I agree, but it is an RS12 discovery, so I defer to him.

 

[Teren_Kanan]

As others have said, I'd rather make it harder kick,

Or have the person who scored the TD kick the XP =p

But I Do agree that the Xp is kind of pointless.

 

[Nightman]

I remember when they added the "seven yard" penalty on missed FGs to encourage more teams to go for it around the 35 yd line. All that ended up happening was that coaches chose to punt more from inside the opponent's 40, real exciting. And how about the changes to overtime, which went from sudden death to equal possessions due to "fairness" or Brett Favre. Quit messing with the game, it's called FOOTball for a reason.

 

[joseephuss]

Just add two more uprights that are closer together. You have to make it through the close ones for a PAT to get 1 point. FGs won't change and still have to go through the normal uprights. It also won't greatly change the game. It just makes the kick a bit harder without changing the ball placement or "normal" routine after a TD is scored.

It isn't as if this has really ever been an issue. PATs have generally been converted at a high percentage. In 1963 PATs were converted at 95%. That isn't a lot of misses and it has only improved. Kickers, holders, long snappers, better field conditions and general overall conditions have made the PAT kicks go a little smoother over time, but it was never that difficult. While FG percentages have gone up a significant amount over the decades, the PAT has only seen a slight increase. I'd rather not see some drastic change implemented. Keep it simple or don't change it at all.

 

[Venger]

Folks really aren't thinking this through. You really want to make a touchdown's 7th point a dodgy proposition? No, because a TD in modern football IS seven points. We are simply changing an automatic PAT into an automatic point. Getting rid of the PAT does nothing to change football in any meaningful way. It's perfunctory, it inflates scoring totals for kickers, it's as dramatic as a pre-season coin toss. Get rid of it and be done with it, it really is vestigial at this point.

Norm was on today with one of his more hare-brained propositions - kick it from where you cross the goal line. Because people don't hate kickers enough already? Talk about messing up the game, getting rid of the PAT doesn't do that, it changes nothing of any meaning. But start making that 7th point tenuous and you will.

Futzing around with the kickoff yard line has had a far more dramatic impact on the game than getting rid of PATs ever will, and they've moved that TWICE now.

Retire the PAT. It's long since time.

 

[DallasCowboysRule!]

PATs do matter. Yeah, they are more or less automatic these days but occasionally even an NFL kicker will miss one and how many times when that happens do you see that team end up losing by 1 point? Or being down by 4 instead of 3 at the end of the game and having to go for a TD instead of a field goal. Extra points do create some drama on occasion.

 

[JD_KaPow]

PATs do matter. Yeah, they are more or less automatic these days but occasionally even an NFL kicker will miss one and how many times when that happens do you see that team end up losing by 1 point?

The last time that happened was Christmas 2010, when the Cowboys lost to the Cardinals. So the answer to your question is "almost never."

Or being down by 4 instead of 3 at the end of the game and having to go for a TD instead of a field goal. Extra points do create some drama on occasion.

That happened once this past season, in a Jaguars-Titans game.

In the 2013 season, there were five (5) missed extra points:

1. The Lions missed an extra point in a game they ended up losing by 14.
2. The Bengals missed an extra point in a game they won by 4.
3. The Bears missed an extra point in a game they won by 17.
4. The Jaguars missed an extra point in a game they lost by 4, and would have been in a position to kick the game-tying FG late.
5. The Vikings missed an extra point against the Cowboys and lost by 4, but the Cowboys took the lead late and the Vikings didn't get into FG range on their last drive.

So a game arguably turned on a missed XP once this season, and some extra drama was created on two other occasions. If you think that's a compelling argument for sticking with the current rule, that's fine. I tend to think otherwise.

 

[Blackspider214]

I'd be for it if whenever they score a TD they go straight to kickoff instead of hitting us with 5 minutes of commercials before play finally resumes.

Yeah well we know that's not going to happen. Commercials are what pays for this league and why it's so big. Advertisers paid for those spots and want them. Commercials are the last thing they will cut. If anything, they will try and add more and they already have with every scoring play and turnover up for review. Heck even if they get 3 yards into the endzone they will review and go to break.

 

[Blackspider214]

PATs do matter. Yeah, they are more or less automatic these days but occasionally even an NFL kicker will miss one and how many times when that happens do you see that team end up losing by 1 point? Or being down by 4 instead of 3 at the end of the game and having to go for a TD instead of a field goal. Extra points do create some drama on occasion.

Anyone remember this game from about a decade ago?

Missed XP.

 

[KJJ]

Why not just make the PAT a much longer kick?

Why make the PAT a kick at all? If they don't want the extra point to be so automatic they should make the offense run a play like they do for a 2 point conversion but from the one yard line. Teams will have to make a decision whether to pound the ball in or throw it which will make the PAT less automatic.

 

[KJJ]

Anyone remember this game from about a decade ago?

Missed XP.

It's so rare that a missed extra point costs a team a game you had to go back a decade. The NFL doesn't like to see games decided by kickers which is one of the reasons they changed the OT rules allowing both teams to have a possession unless a TD is scored.

 

[percyhoward]

Why make the PAT a kick at all?

It's more interesting if the coach has to decide whether to kick for one or go for two. That was the improvement that was made when the 2-point conversion was brought into the NFL. If you move the PAT back, then the farther you back up the kicker, the more the coach has to think about going for two. If you were to ask every single coach, each one would be able to come up with a distance that they would rather not kick from, and so would go for two. Take the average of that number, and kick the PAT from there.

Or better yet, add 10 yards to that number, since most coaches will lie because they want no part of such a decision, and all the second guessing that would go along with it.

 

[KJJ]

As others have said, I'd rather make it harder kick,

You would have too many games decided by kickers which wouldn't be good for the game in my opinion. The most logical solution would be to make teams have to run or throw for a PAT from the one yard line.

 

[cajuncocoa]

Your sig pic HAS to be a "Caption This" !

I need a good laugh....I hope someone gets this started.

 

[KJJ]

It's more interesting if the coach has to decide whether to kick for one or go for two. That was the improvement that was made when the 2-point conversion was brought into the NFL. If you move the PAT back, then the farther you back up the kicker, the more the coach has to think about going for two. If you were to ask every single coach, each one would be able to come up with a distance that they would rather not kick from, and so would go for two. Take the average of that number, and kick the PAT from there.

Or better yet, add 10 yards to that number, since most coaches will lie because they want no part of such a decision, and all the second guessing that would go along with it.

Coaches already have to make that decision and most go for the automatic kick unless they have to go for two late in a game. It would be a lot more interesting if coaches had to decide whether to go for one point from a yard out or two points from two yards out without the option of the automatic kick. It's not that easy to score from a yard out and having a choice of whether to go for one or two points with your QB on the field would make PAT's exciting and they would determine the outcome of a lot of games.

If you move the kick back to make the PAT less automatic too many games would be decided by kickers. The NFL doesn't want to see games every week decided by place kickers. The reason the NFL changed the rules on missed FG's spotting them at the point of the miss rather than at the line of scrimmage is to deter teams from attempting FG's. The NFL wants to see scoring in TD's not kicks.

 

[KJJ]

The idea Goodell brought up won't pass because you'll be risking a point to gain an extra point that's just not going to fly. Teams don't like taking points off the board so the only time anyone would risk going for a PAT is if they're a must to win a game and if they fail going from 7 points back to 6 points won't matter. A head coach would be persecuted if they lost a point going for a PAT and that lost point ends up costing them a game so they won't risk it unless they need the extra point to win. If it were up to me PAT's would start at the 2 yard line for a one point conversion and the 5 yard line for a two point conversion with a team having to cross the goal line to convert.

 

[ufcrules1]

Folks really aren't thinking this through. You really want to make a touchdown's 7th point a dodgy proposition? No, because a TD in modern football IS seven points. We are simply changing an automatic PAT into an automatic point. Getting rid of the PAT does nothing to change football in any meaningful way. It's perfunctory, it inflates scoring totals for kickers, it's as dramatic as a pre-season coin toss. Get rid of it and be done with it, it really is vestigial at this point.


Retire the PAT. It's long since time.

Great post. The PAT is pointless (pun kinda intended).