NFL eyeing proposal to abolish extra points

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

NFL eyeing proposal to abolish extra points
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By Marc Sessler
Around the League Writer
Published: Jan. 20, 2014 at 04:53 p.m.
Is the extra point about to go the way of the dinosaur?

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told NFL Network's Rich Eisen on Monday that the league's Competition Committee might eventually abolish the time-tested point after touchdown in favor of a brand-new scoring system.

"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.

"There's one proposal in particular that I've heard about. 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, so if you fail, you go back to six."

Extra points have become an afterthought. Unless you're up against Lawrence Taylor in Tecmo Bowl, there's virtually zero drama attached to the point after. Taylor's old coach Bill Belichick has often opined about about how unnecessary the extra point feels.

Goodell said "some issues" stand in the way of a change, asking: "Is that going to discourage people from going for two?"

We doubt it. Teams inclined to go for the deuce will continue to do so in situations that call for an eight-point score -- with the same potential consequences. Traditionalists might disagree, but this is a good idea long overdue.

Well, unless you're a kicker.

Goodell's entire interview will air Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network's "Total Access."

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

This proposal would bring into question any FG attempts from that distance. Why would they not get that same status as being automatic?

Because you haven't scored a TD to earn the right to kick for a virtually automatic score.

[KChiefer]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

This proposal would bring into question any FG attempts from that distance. Why would they not get that same status as being automatic?

You have a point, but how many fgs are kicked inside the 2yd line in a game? Teams will still have to kick those.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by greatgooglymoogly

In rugby, I believe they have a set distance for those kicks, but I can't find it off-hand. Anyway, my intention was for this kick to be attempted along a horizontal line that stretches from sideline to sideline.

OK, just stop with the rugby.

[listopencil]

If this rule is enacted, expect some network to do a montage of every missed XP ever filmed. ESPN will do a forty five minute special on it. Hell, maybe a whole week.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

good

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

This proposal would bring into question any FG attempts from that distance. Why would they not get that same status as being automatic?

An excellent point.

[greatgooglymoogly]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

OK, just stop with the rugby.

Yeah, **** the sport that inspired the sport we're discussing.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by greatgooglymoogly

The NFL could do what rugby does and force the kicker to attempt the XP from where on the field the TD was scored. That would make it more difficult.

Example: Charles hits the outside, and just sneaks inside the pylon for the TD. Succop then has to kick from that sideline.

So you punish team for making a great long play? but a 1 yard run gets free points? thats kinda dumb.

I dont hate his idea, but i would like to see them allow better defenses. So many games where teams are scoring in the 40s and 50's now. Its Arena Like.

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by KChiefer

You have a point, but how many fgs are kicked inside the 2yd line in a game? Teams will still have to kick those.

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

[Nightfyre]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

This proposal would bring into question any FG attempts from that distance. Why would they not get that same status as being automatic?

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.

[Contrarian]

I like getting rid of the extra point for this scenario Goodell speaks of!! But don't remove the kicker entirely from the game please, move the damn kickoffs back to where they were so every one of them are not out the back of the endzone! Talk about boring!!

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

OK, just stop with the rugby.

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.)^{[citation needed]}

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.^[1]

[DiaperBoy27]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

This proposal would bring into question any FG attempts from that distance. Why would they not get that same status as being automatic?

Extra points are kicked from the exact middle of the field on the 2-yard-line. Field goals are kicked from where the play ended or one of the hash marks. With the angle, its a tougher kick (although not as tough as in college, which always confused me a bit)

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by listopencil

Yeah, the sentence structure is weird in that quoted bit. What they mean is that when you score a TD you get 6 points. After that you can accept a free 1 point (for 7) and go kick off, or decide to run a 2 point play under current rules (for 8). If your play fails, you are left with the points you scored for a TD (6) and you go kick off.

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.

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

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.

You make it sound like 1 point ain't no big deal.