How do you feel about the attempted laterals last week?

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Lzen

You shouldn't

You absolutely should (go for 2) in a part of the game where achieving the most expected points is the goal, which would be ALWAYS in 0-0 or 7-7 or 14-7 etc scores early in games. And definitely in most scenarios when behind.

The expected value of kicking an extra point is .952 points. The expected value for going for it is .964. The difference actually increases to favor going for it even more the better your offense is. Its small margins but you should always make the best decision. Football coaches simply don't go for two enough because of fans and job security. Humans don't like to fail emotionally. So they get villified if they go for two and lost by one point but lauded way less if they made 3 (2) point conversions and won by 2.

(Edit - I believe this has some extra point data from when it was a closer kick so if anything the gap is even WIDER favoring going for two)

https://www.boydsbets.com/nfl-two-po...-success-rate/

To further expand, teams in general have much greater success when they RUN vs PASS on two-point conversions. If you've read my posts I'm a huge proponent of ALMOST never running the ball except on short yardage. I actually think many teams actually pass TOO MUCH on 2 yards or less situations and the data supports that.

https://www.bruinsportsanalytics.com/post/going_for_two