Posted on 01/21/2014 10:03:45 AM PST by nikos1121
Earlier this season, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick told reporters that extra points in football were boring because they have become so automatic, and now it appears commissioner Roger Goodell might agree.
In fact, on Monday, Goodell appeared on NFL Network’s “Total Access,” and took things a step further than Belichick, indicating that the league’s competition committee could consider eliminating the PAT altogether.
“One of the things the committee does besides looking first at the safety issues … (is) looking to see, ‘Are there any plays in the game that, really, are not consequential?’” Goodell told host Rich Eisen. “And one of the issues that has happened is that the extra point is almost automatic.”
Goodell is right enough there. The NFL only saw five missed extra points this regular season — one each from Green Bay, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Tennessee and Philadelphia — in 1,267 tries. And the active kicker with the worst PAT conversion rate is Graham Gano, who has made 97.6 percent of his regular-season kicks since coming into the league four seasons ago.
But if football actually did do away with the extra point, then what would happen after a touchdown?
“You want to add excitement with every play,” Goodell said. “So there have been some proposals. Some are still going through the process of creativity, but there’s one proposal in particular that I’ve heard about (where) it’s automatic that you get seven points when you score a touchdown, but you could potentially go for an eighth point, either by running or passing the ball. But if you fail, you’d go back to six.”
It’s certainly an interesting idea that would force coaches to rethink the way they approach certain game situations, but before you start thinking about how such a rule might impact the 17th round of your fantasy draft next year, take a breath — because Goodell, in his interview, also made it clear that the proposal he discussed is just that.
“We often get a lot of ideas that are thrown out,” Goodell said. “The committee will look at all of them and decide what is worthy of further consideration.
“There’s some issues, and it goes back to … unintended consequences,” he continued. “You want to be careful there; is that going to discourage people from going for two? We want to make sure we look at some of that, and that’s what the committee does. They’ll make, obviously, some focus on this in the committee and see where they come out.”
That percentage was only attainable AFTER Shaq retired.
It really has to do with adding more time that can be used to run commercials thus enhancing revenue to the NFL.
Profesional football has mastered the kicking game far an away from High School and college. Therefore, the kicking game should be more at a higher level.
1. The PAT is from 20 yards.
2. One point if on kick off no run back.
3. 2 point conversion stays the same.
4. Receiving team is ten yards further back giving the onside kick a better chance.
“As an Eagles fan since birth, I vividly remember the Miracle at the Meadowlands. I’ll bet Giants fans wish that Pisarcik would have knelt on it. I agree though, that I hate the quarterback kneel down.”
I hate Joe Pisarcik about as much as Red Sox fans hate Bill Buckner.
Make-it-take-it?
Another option would be to have less than 11 men on the kicking team to allow more potential for blocked kicks.
Wish they would eliminate field goals or maybe penalize a team if they miss one over 30 yards. I detest 50 yard field goals.
I think you're on to something there -- and include the cheerleaders with it.
Ban hitting the quarterback while they are at it,
Did you see the new rules for the pro-bowl? It’s called a trial balloon.
BTW- It is no longer AFC vs NFC, it is now “an NFL All-Star Game”. The top 6 QB’s in voting will be in the pro-bowl even if they are all from the same conference.
Instant replay should always be a regular speed, not slow mo. If you can’t decide the play that way it’s not over ruled.
But they aren’t allowed to block it hardly...they removed the jumping through the middle off another player for safety reasons. And that’s why it’s really automatic now.
Football has really changed with all the “safety” stuff. This year it’s been crazy with offense because defense has to be extra careful when hitting or they’ll get a penalty.
They should go back to the old school leather helmet and soft pads. Then they players won’t have long term head injuries because now they use their “safety” gear as a weapon.
Yeah, but I'd have each team with a ball. Can score two touchdowns at once!
By the way, I still haven't figured out why they can't put some sort of transmitter in the ball to determine if it actually broke the plane or not. They put doodads on clothes to keep you from walking out of the store with them, surely we can put them on footballs.
C'mon man. One of the few occupations still available for slow white guys in football.
Regular scoring isn’t broken, the extra point is. The failure rate is under 1%, it’s simply boring. I don’t like the automatic 7 thing though, if they want to adjust it either make it always a 2 point conversion, or move the kick back to the 20 or 25. I lean more towards always 2 points, the success rate on that is around 50% so over the haul the scoring would be about the same but GETTING the score would be more exciting.
I for one do not want to see it eliminated, there’s always that slight, slight chance that the kicker might miss, that’s part of the fun. Goddel and liberalism is running the NFL.
Yawn.. Just allow the defense to make a play if the PAT is blocked. It will force the defense to make an effort.
If they block the kick, the defense gets control of the ball wherever the play ends. If it is within the 20, the defense gets to decide whether they want the ball at the line of scrimmage or receive a kickoff.
The PAT is no different than a field goal. 11 players still have to line up.
Good suggestions—as the PAT is less automatic in High School and college, and the rules ought to be roughly the same at every level, change should be in the direction that you indicate.
Kick from another 5 yards behind the center.
If they block the kick, the Def gets the point.
War Damn Eagle.
The success rate on two-point conversions this year was 58%.
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