Originally Posted by Nightfyre (Post 10383162)

Field goals at this distance are not nearly as prevalent as extra points. Further, the field goal is for three points, where the extra point is just one point.

Originally Posted by Raiderhader (Post 10383160)

Clearly you have not invested a lot of time in watching the Kansas City Chiefs.

Originally Posted by listopencil (Post 10383167)

The try/convert is among the oldest parts of the game of gridiron football and dates to its rugby roots. In its earliest days, scoring a touchdown was not the primary objective but a means of getting a free kick at the goal (hence why the name "try," more commonly associated with rugby today, is still used in American football rule books), and thus early scoring rubrics for the game gave more points to the subsequent kick than the actual advancement of the ball into the end zone. The related term "conversion" is still used in both rugby union and rugby league to refer to extra points scored by kicking the ball through the posts after a try has been scored.

By the start of the 20th century, touchdowns had become more important and the roles of touchdown and kick were reversed. By this time the point value for the after-touchdown kick had reduced to its current one-point value while the touchdown was now worth five. (This later increased to six points in American football in 1912 and in Canadian football in 1956.)<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]</sup>

Although a successful kick is only worth one point, missing one can decide the outcome of the game. Perhaps the most famous example to this was the 2003 game between the New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars where, after scoring a touchdown as time expired as a result of the multiple-lateral River City Relay, Saints kicker John Carney missed the extra point, giving the Jaguars a 20-19 victory and eliminating the Saints from playoff contention. On November 11, 1979 the New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills 14-12 - the difference coming from two missed extra points by place kicker Toni Linhart. Linhart never played another game in the NFL.

Another 2003 game, this one between the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was sent to overtime after what would have been a game-winning extra point was blocked; the Panthers won the game in overtime 12-9. A 2005 game between the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers is another notable exception, as the Buccaneers won 17-16, the difference being Ryan Longwell missing an extra point after a Packers touchdown.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference">[1]</sup>



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Originally Posted by cosmo20002 (Post 10383169)

OK. But really the end result is still pretty much taking points off the board. You've got the free point in your pocket. But fail on your extra-extra point, you lose the free point you had.

But, I suppose the current kicking of the EP is about the same as a free point when they make it 99.9% of the time. Going for two is about like taking a free one off the board. Hmmm...

So it's about the same deal but "seems" different.

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By (Post 10383180)

Perhaps, but 99%+ is still 99%+. If they're going to consider it automatic for one point, it's got to be automatic for 3 points if they're going to be logically consistent, because the issue is the high success rate.

Originally Posted by ChiefsandO'sfan (Post 10383087)

"The extra point is almost automatic," Goodell said. "I believe we had five missed extra points this year out of 1,200 some odd. So it's a very small fraction of the play, and you want to add excitement with every play."

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By (Post 10383180)

Perhaps, but 99%+ is still 99%+. If they're going to consider it automatic for one point, it's got to be automatic for 3 points if they're going to be logically consistent, because the issue is the high success rate.

Originally Posted by KChiefer (Post 10383185)

You're simultaneously over and under thinking this one.

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower (Post 10383092)

Hmmm... I want to hate this proposal but I really can't.

The downside is removing the tactic of lining up in the kick formation and running a fake but it's not like coaches opt for that option anyway.

Originally Posted by cosmo20002 (Post 10383182)

No argument will ever be won by saying, "In rugby they do this..."

Originally Posted by listopencil (Post 10383193)

I posted it to point out how outdated the extra point kick really is. It's more like, "We should stop, because in rugby they do this and we aren't playing rugby."