NFL regains some sanity, will ditch the long extra point

[Diezel Dawg]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp14/story/_/id/11368862/mailbag-penalties-cause-preseason-frustration

One experiment is coming to an end this week. The two-week practice of having extra points from the 15-yard line will end following the Washington-Cleveland game Monday night. The league wanted more drama on extra points, which had become an almost automatic play. Eight extra points (more than in the entire 2013 regular season) were missed in the first 30 preseason games, and Friday's Oakland-Detroit matchup provided an example of the impact of a missed 33-yard extra point.

Lions kicker Nate Freese missed an extra point in the first quarter. That ultimately allowed the Raiders to win in the final six seconds by getting a touchdown and the elongated extra point, which prevented overtime in a 27-26 Raiders win in a game that lasted 3:26 and had 18 penalties marched off.

8 misses in 30 games. Deciding factor in 1 of 30 games. Over a full regular season that would prorate to 68 missed extra points and 8 or 9 games being decided because of a PAT.

I never understood why the NFL thought throwing more stat-noise or chaotic element into a contest was smart, but at least they learned quickly.

I'm not sure they learned quickly. They planned to only try it for 2 weeks.

I think they will eventually go with the 33 yd pats and it wouldn't surprise me if they narrowed the uprights.

Narrowing the uprights would be stupid. Why not widen the hash marks to where they are in college football? That would make more sense.

 

[bigtrain21]

I don't like that either because then the outcome could possibly rest on who was better at goal line offense.

Yeah, God forbid a game's outcome be determined by an offense's ability to score or a defense's ability to prevent scoring. The league would disintegrate as we know it.

Kearly gave a really good answer for me and we clearly feel the same way on this but the bottom line is this. If we are playing playing the Packers to open the season and both teams score 2 touchdowns, I want the score to be 14 - 14.

I don't want a forced 2 point conversion scenario that you suggest and have one team be ahead 16 - 14 since I think success on 2 point conversions a lot of time boils down to luck and doesn't really demonstrate who the better team is.

I don't want longer extra points because I don't want it to be 14-13 because a kicker misses an extra point. I want the game decided by regular players and while kickers are on a team, they are hardly breaking a sweat.

I am, however, fine with it being 15 to 14 if one of the teams decides to go for 2 and assumes the risk of doing that on their own. I don't want them forced into that decision though.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Kearly, I know what he meant, I just think people are too averse to change in a lot of ways. The PAT is utterly pointless right now. That leaves two results for change - make it harder, or get rid of it entirely and move to something else. Football games are already filled with randomness in a lot of ways, so if you think too many games will be decided by a two-point conversion attempt, then get rid of it and speed games up slightly and just make TDs worth seven; but I don't see very many people trumpeting for that, for whatever reason.

 

[Seahawks1983]

Yup, wishful thinking, Kearly. The NFL was just doing its initial test run on this for 2 weeks.

For the record, it's one thing to say, "8 misses in 30 games! What an impact!!"

It's another to say "8 misses in 136 attempts. 94.1% success versus 99.5% success. And about half of those misses were by rookie kickers."

So for the past two weeks, the XP hasn't been COMPLETELY automatic. It's just been MOSTLY automatic.

Say what you want, 8 in 30 games, or 1 in 20 PATs if you prefer, is a big deal. It will allow a chaotic element teams have no control over to decide several games a season.

Maybe it comes back next year. Goodell loves terrible ideas and arbitrary changes. Always has, always will.

Chaotic element? It has been a part of the game for decades. There is nothing chaotic about it. Making it more challenging, so that it actually serves a purpose, enhances the game. It does not detract from it.

And to say the teams have no control is downright wrong. The special teams has all sorts of control over the kick going in or not.

 

[Seahawks1983]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp14/story/_/id/11368862/mailbag-penalties-cause-preseason-frustration

One experiment is coming to an end this week. The two-week practice of having extra points from the 15-yard line will end following the Washington-Cleveland game Monday night. The league wanted more drama on extra points, which had become an almost automatic play. Eight extra points (more than in the entire 2013 regular season) were missed in the first 30 preseason games, and Friday's Oakland-Detroit matchup provided an example of the impact of a missed 33-yard extra point.

Lions kicker Nate Freese missed an extra point in the first quarter. That ultimately allowed the Raiders to win in the final six seconds by getting a touchdown and the elongated extra point, which prevented overtime in a 27-26 Raiders win in a game that lasted 3:26 and had 18 penalties marched off.

8 misses in 30 games. Deciding factor in 1 of 30 games. Over a full regular season that would prorate to 68 missed extra points and 8 or 9 games being decided because of a PAT.

I never understood why the NFL thought throwing more stat-noise or chaotic element into a contest was smart, but at least they learned quickly.

I'm not sure they learned quickly. They planned to only try it for 2 weeks.

I think they will eventually go with the 33 yd pats and it wouldn't surprise me if they narrowed the uprights.

Narrowing the uprights would be stupid. Why not widen the hash marks to where they are in college football? That would make more sense.

Because the hash marks limit how wide the LOS can be set. The NFL wants teams to start play from the center of the field. I suppose you could add a second set of marks just for field goals, but that might get confusing for people.

 

[Russ Willstrong]

Expanding the hash marks would be interesting for offense plays and the kicking game. Much more open field to the far hash for offenses while angles on field goals increase in difficulty closer to the endzone.

I don't think the PAT is a wasted play nor does it have to be. Great teams are well - rounded and often buoyed by clutch special teams play. Many memorable games in the past have been decided by place kickers even on PAT attempts. Now we want them to be irrelevant?

 

[kearly]

Chaotic element? It has been a part of the game for decades. There is nothing chaotic about it. Making it more challenging, so that it actually serves a purpose, enhances the game. It does not detract from it.

And to say the teams have no control is downright wrong. The special teams has all sorts of control over the kick going in or not.

It has been part of the game for decades, but with a miss rate of 1 in 200 it's rare enough to not be an issue. At the new 1 in 20 rate it is going to rear it's head 10 times more frequently than before.

It is definitely a chaotic element. Kickers can't control when they miss kicks at short range any more than a fielder in baseball can control when he has an error. Human error is inevitable and totally random.

Sure, human error and luck are a part of the game, but the game is better when these elements are kept to a minimum.

Expanding the hash marks would be interesting for offense plays and the kicking game. Much more open field to the far hash for offenses while angles on field goals increase in difficulty closer to the endzone.

I don't think the PAT is a wasted play nor does it have to be. Great teams are well - rounded and often buoyed by clutch special teams play. Many memorable games in the past have been decided by place kickers even on PAT attempts. Now we want them to be irrelevant?

If they expanded the hash marks that would impact the game in a huge way, especially for college spread offenses like the kind Chip Kelly runs. Having a wider hash-mark would mean having a wider field to one side which would allow offenses to stretch defenses even more, it would be a huge boon to offense. There was a Greg Cosell article linked the other day that explained in detail the impact of short vs. wide hash marks on offenses in the NFL vs. College.

Regarding special teams play, I am totally fine with a field goal deciding a game. I just don't like the idea of a game being decided because one team got unlucky on a PAT randomly. When you are kicking from such short range, it's not about skill but about human error and luck.

I also feel that PATs and fieldgoals aren't on the same level as football plays for a long list of reasons, so I'm okay with a FG deciding a game, even when it really hurts. The Seahawks got bounced from the playoffs in Atlanta because of a 49 yard FG, but the result felt earned. Had they lost because the Falcons took advantage of a missed PAT to win, it would have felt like Atlanta won because they got lucky.