The ending of the game yesterday was awesome! (I’m a Ravens fan.) I only saw the blocked FG / TD on YouTube, and I’m confused about the sequence at the end. The clock started at the snap, with 3 seconds showing. The kick was blocked and returned for a TD with no time left on the clock.
Ravens celebrate. Browns are stunned. Teams leave the sidelines. Coaches meet int he middle of the field.
While this was happening, the announcers said that the referee made an announcement that the extra point had to be played to end the game. Was this, in fact what happened? Was there an extra point attempt? If so, why?
The final score indicates no kick was made. It wasn’t necessary and not worth clearing the field. An extra point attempt is always allowed following a touchdown, and if it had been needed to tie the score or win the game they would have attempted it.
Yeah, I heard the announcers say that and they were wrong. PATs are also not kicked after a TD in overtime. We just had this in the Sunday night game when the Broncos won on a TD in overtime. Final score 30-24. I’m surprised Mike Tirico thought it was necessary.
I didn’t see the end of the game live, but my understanding is that Baltimore did take the PAT snap but Schaub kneeled. That’s what the play-by-play shows, and I saw some talk on Twitter about it, since there’s probably somebody somewhere with the Baltimore kicker in fantasy who lost by less than a point. I’m fairly sure that the rule is that a touchdown on the last play of regulation requires a point after attempt, just like every other TD in regulation, while in OT there is no PAT.
I think that in the NFL, they have to have the extra point if there is a touchdown scored at the end of the fourth quarter, even if it would not affect the result, because points are a possible playoff position tiebreaker. The box score says “run failed,” so I am assuming the Ravens just took a knee, which is what usually happens in a case like this, since if they would have been ahead by only one or two points, they would not want to risk the Browns somehow getting the ball and scoring two. There is no extra point in overtime because that has always been the rule.
In college, they would not have had the extra point attempt unless the difference in the score was one or two points. In high school (except in Texas and Massachusetts, where they use mostly college rules), since the defense cannot score on an extra point, they do it only if the score is tied, the offense is one or two points behind, or it is a league game in a league where points are involved in a league standings tiebreaker.
Well, I guess I was wrong. I thought a winning TD at the end of regulation was the same as an overtime TD. I don’t think they showed the play on TV, did offense and defense both line up for Baltimore and Cleveland?
No time to look up the rule right now, but I think you are correct that there is always the option of going for the point after for a team in regular time. Even if they just want to boost the kickers stats they can go ahead and kick. And in overtime as you say the rule has always been that the game is won and over when a touchdown is scored. The recent change regarding field goals does not apply because there are no extra points after a field goal.
I recall in the famous Green Bay / Seattle “Fail Mary” game, after the Seahawks were awarded the winning touchdown, the Packers had to come back out of the locker room to line up for the extra point, which was meaningless. So, yeah, this has some precedent in my memory.
Extra points tries are an untimed down and can decide or tie the game in regulation.
In OT, the score is tied or within 3 points, so a TD instantly wins the game, no XP necessary.
Interestingly, if the defense scores a safety on the first possession in OT, the game is over, because a safety is both points and a turnover so both teams will have technically had possession.
On December 15, 1975, in one of the crappiest Monday Night Football matchups in history, the San Diego Chargers (finished 2-12) defeated the New York Jets (finished 3-11), 24-16. The Chargers led in the fourth quarter, 24-10. The Jets scored a touchdown as time expired, and did not attempt the extra point. The two teams simply walked off the field.
At some point subsequent to that–either the next week or during the off-season–the NFL issued either a formal rule change or a clarification (I’m not sure which), stipulating that the PAT must always be attempted following a touchdown on the final play of regulation.
No one was sure why they did so. Some fans felt it was an acknowledgement that points can be a playoff tiebreaker, and in fact points ranked higher among the hierarchy of tiebreakers in 1975 than they do today. Others felt it was to keep gamblers happy, since gamblers bet against the point spread. I’m not sure the latter explanation holds water because for every happy gambler there will always be an unhappy gambler. But at least the mandatory PAT takes the guesswork out of the situation.
So far as I know, the mandatory PAT has been followed in every applicable game since 1976. I remember one case where the Buffalo Bills walked off the field, allowing the New England Patriots to run in a meaningless and uncontested two-point conversion after time expired. But the offense has always come back to the field and run a legal play from a legal formation.
They did show the PAT kneel-down on TV, but it was easy to miss because they had already showed the coaches shaking hands and players celebrating. You might have stopped paying attention by then.
I’m not sure what you mean by this. Unless I’m sorely mistaken, in the NFL, if the PAT is blocked or there’s some sort of turnover, the play is immediately over. The defense cannot score. So if there’s 0 on the clock, and the team that just scored is leading, they will win, no matter what.
No that was changed for this year. The defense can score two points by running back a blocked kick, fumble or interception for what would normally be a touchdown. Of course the two points would have made no difference in the final outcome of this game.
I thought the defense could score however many points the offense was trying for? So if you run back a blocked kick you get just one, but if you intercept a 2-pint try and return it you get two. Did I just make that up?
Yeah general consensus around here was just kind of like “huh.”
You totally made that up. A FG attempt is just another down at the line of scrimmage. There is no guarantee that the team is “trying for” 3 points or 6 or just a first down.