# Has anyone ever missed an extra point in football? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 24, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415 "2002-11-24T00:45:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gopher)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/1 "2002-11-24T00:45:42Z")
Um. Yeah. That’s basically it. Just curious ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/2 "2002-11-24T00:48:13Z")
I take it you don’t watch much football. It’s really not uncommon at all for the extra point to be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/3 "2002-11-24T00:51:02Z")
Are you kidding? It’s pretty uncommon. The extra point is usually made - my guess would be 9 out of 10 times. ---
**Author:** ![Kalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalt)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/4 "2002-11-24T00:56:05Z")
yeah it’s made over 90% of the time in professional football, but there are an aweful lot of touchdowns in a football season, and there are plenty of missed extra points each year. Probably hundreds each season. Having been to many Houston Oilers home games back in the day, I have seen more than enough missed extra-points. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/5 "2002-11-24T00:58:39Z")
But at that rate, it probably happens every Sunday. I’m sure any football fan has seen it happen time and time again. In other words, I didn’t mean to imply it was common, but it’s pretty far from unheard of, too. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/6 "2002-11-24T01:00:33Z")
It definitely happens but it’s very rare. In the pros it probably only happens three or four times a year. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/7 "2002-11-24T01:03:57Z")
Nope, never, not one time in the whole history of the game. In fact, scientists are baffled by the sheer impossibility of it. The current state of science says that the law of averages would dictate that a missed kick would happen at least once…But it hasn’t… Okay, who am I fooling. I live in VA and I’m a Redskins fan. Anyone else remember Max Zendayhaws (Jeez, did I spell that phonetically or what?). ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/8 "2002-11-24T01:10:03Z")
If I’ve added things up right, 8 out of 739 NFL kicking point after attempts have failed so far this year. Just over 1%. My guess would be the failure rate slightly higher for college and still higher for high school but unlikely to average as much as 10% even in high school. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/9 "2002-11-24T01:13:50Z")
OK, Gary Anderson is 725 for 731 on his career. Spot checking a few more stats on this page suggests something like 98% for most NFL place kickers, but you will find very few perfect records beyond more than a few attempts: [http://nfl.com/players/playerindex/POS\_K](http://nfl.com/players/playerindex/POS_K) Probably about 20-30 per season for the whole NFL. ---
**Author:** ![gus28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6de8d8/32.png) [@gus28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gus28)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/10 "2002-11-24T01:34:35Z")
I’ll bet anyone here good money that it happens on any given weekend, I’m talking about college and NFL… ---
**Author:** ![gus28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6de8d8/32.png) [@gus28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gus28)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/11 "2002-11-24T01:35:55Z")
Ummmm… I mean if gambling were legal in my state… Meatros, being a fellow Redskins fan, I feel your pain. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/12 "2002-11-24T01:45:54Z")
I believe his brother also blew goat-chunks too. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/13 "2002-11-24T02:11:04Z")
last weekend in the Jets game Jon Hall missed an extra kick. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/14 "2002-11-24T02:11:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gus28 \* > \*\*I’ll bet anyone here good money that it happens on any given weekend, I’m talking about college and NFL… \*\* I’ll take the first weekend in April for the NFL. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/15 "2002-11-24T02:29:34Z")
I can’t give statistics, although I’ll bet a web site from NCAA and NFL would have them, but there are a number of missed ones. The ball has to be snapped properly, the holder has to: a) not drop it, b) place it down in time and upright, and the kicker has to contact the ball. I saw a kicker miss the ball completely in a college game because the timing was off, he went too soon (or the snap was late) and the holder didn’t get the ball down so the kicker did a stutter step and then missed the ball completely. Anything that involves three people and depends on rather precise timing can be done wrong. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/16 "2002-11-24T03:48:39Z")
OK then, if kickers can kick such great percentages, what is the most kicked in succession? ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/17 "2002-11-24T03:57:15Z")
That record is currently held by Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos, at 344 straight, and counting. Second is Norm Johnson, at 301. Elam is 368 for 369 in his career, and is the all time leader, for those with more than 200 kicks. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/18 "2002-11-24T03:58:45Z")
Err…that’s all time percentage leader. George Blanda is the all time PAT leader. ---
**Author:** ![NothingMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b77776/32.png) [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/19 "2002-11-24T04:02:10Z")
_Dammit Flymaster_ !! You DO realize that now that you have actually written about Elam’s record he’s gonna go and miss one Sunday night against the Colts. My god man - have you no inkling of the powers we possess ?? - one pissed off Broncos fan ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415/20 "2002-11-24T04:11:58Z")
High school kickers miss extra points at a much higher than 10% rate if you figure in EVERY high school team. Only a select few high school teams have dependable kickers and that gets filtered down more at the college level and more in the NFL. I would put the make rate in high school at 60-70% Some teams don’t even have place kickers and just go for two all the time. I covered a low level playoff game last night. There were five kicking extra point attempts and four were made, but one team was 3 for 3 and the other kicker was 1 for 2. Another problem with high school kickers is that the snappers and holders aren’t as good either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-missed-an-extra-point-in-football/138415.md?page=2)