NFL rule change: extra point from the 15 yard line

NFL moves extra point to 15 yard line

I weakly support the change. Well over 99% of extra points were made, making it a non-factor time waster in the game. The new position makes for a 33 yard field goal, which is roughly a 92% chance.

I would support removing the extra point entirely (granting 7 points for a TD unless the team opted for 2) over the previous 2 yard line implementation, but that was never a real option since the extra point gives the NFL an excuse for an extra commercial.

It subtracts some plays that don’t matter, and adds some plays that matter. Not only does the extra point become a play worth watching, but when it actually makes a difference it’ll often lead to a two point scoring play being needed later. Two point conversions with the lead on the line are often the most important and exciting plays of the game. It’ll both decrease the amount of boring/unwatchable/time wasting plays and increase the number of interesting/dramatic plays.

Most of the objections I’ve seen have basically been pure conservatism. “Game is perfect, don’t change anything”, as if God handed down the rule of the 2 yard line on a stone tablet thousands of years ago and it can’t be changed. Ironically, the conservatism approach works either way - if it were always at the 15 yard line, and someone suggested they move it to the 2, people would say “no, the 15 yard line is perfect, this is how football was meant to be”

Which isn’t to say there aren’t better objections out there, but I haven’t been hearing them. I guess the best case you can make is that people simply don’t want more game-changing plays to be dependent on the kicking unit, but game-changing field goals are already a big part of the game.

Incidentally, I think it would be better for the game if the expected value of a 2 point conversion were greater than that of an extra point. It would give, well, smart coaches an advantage over conservative coaches, and I always like those opportunities. It would form an interesting dynamic to the game if you made the 2 point conversion about 60% of the time, giving an average value of 1.2 points, and the extra point stayed around 92%, giving it an expectation of .92 points. Undoubtedly, until someone actually won a superbowl being aggressive with two point conversions, NFL teams would stay with the conservative and wrong approach.

As for the implemented change, it makes what was rote more difficult and a team must consider that the defense can score if their offense is unsuccessful. This I like.

Hate it. Change without a compelling reason to change is stupid. Game wasn’t broke, didn’t need fixing.

The big problem I have with it is that it locks a team into a choice; they have to declare whether they are going for one or two before the play, which removes some intrigue from the play.

So fake field goals are illegal, now?

Can they still score 2 after a blocked kick?

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Well, nobody would fake it from the 15.

But with a 1-2 point lead at the end of the game many teams will probably defer the attempt to avoid the chance of 2 going the other way-can they do that now?

Stupid rule change. Should have moved the try to the 1-yard line. Wouldn’t really affect the kick, but the odds of scoring on a run or pass go from about 42% to over 50%.

I could get behind the move back to the 15 if they did like in the pro-bowl and also narrowed the goal posts. I really hate the whole field goal game at this point since you only need a guy who can kick long and reasonably straight. By narrowing the goal posts, the kickers have to do a better job of playing the angles. You know, like the guys in college have to do.

Or better yet, a PAT kick must be taken by the player that scored the touchdown. That’d make it much more interesting.

Practically speaking, how many fake extra point attempts do we see per season, really, though? I suspect it’s less than 1. I don’t know if you can still make a fake attempt from the 15. At first glance it seems less likely that teams would attempt it, but I wonder, since it would be so unexpected, if teams wouldn’t even give the token coverage against a fake and would instead rush the kick with all 11, making a 15 yard fake possible.

I haven’t been able to find exact information as to whether the offense will still get two if they run it into the end zone after a block (like the text of the rule), but even if they can, there is no way that coaches are going to elect to go for two from the 15 (even with trickery) if they can go for two from the 2.

Agreed, this would be a good alternative, although I suspect unlikely to change most coaches mind very often.

I think widening the hashes would be better than narrowing the goal posts because it also creates situational strategy/formation variables for normal downs, but either way is fine with me - FG kickers are too good and I would like to see the game become more touchdown-centric, even if it means less scoring overall.

That’s a fun idea - I would actually like this best of all.

This from me also. This takes away tick plays like shuffle passes to motioning end or whatever else a special teams coach may have in his hat. Other than that, I like the idea of taking away the “gimme” of the extra point. I suppose a smart coach can think of ways to work this. Maybe bring back the dropkick.

Exactly right.

I have no objection to the actual rule change other than it’s silly and won’t have the desired effect of making more teams go for 2.

Some change needed to be made because kickers have gotten so much better over the years. My preferred change would have been to simply eliminate the extra point and make a TD worth 7 automatically. But this is fine too, I guess. It’s kinda like those All Sport commercials from the 90s, if the athletes get too good for the game’s fixed aspects, then those aspects have to change to make the game have actual suspense.

Or alternatively make every team go for 2 after scoring a TD.

I also would have preferred the moving of the 2-pt conversion to the 1 yard line if keeping both.

I would prefer that they move the hashmarks back out to where they used to be, and then spot the ball for the conversion from the same hashmark as determined by the position of the player when he scored the touchdown. Get a TD in the corner of the endzone? Good for you, but now your kicker has to try from the hashmark at the 2 yard line. Extreme angle PATs from the 2 would be harder than straight shots from the 15 in my opinion, and may tempt coaches to go for two.

I don’t have a problem with it. It adds a little more difficulty. It’s a better solution then just giving them the point.
My scheme would have been they can go for extra points from the position of the last down. If the touchdown was made on a kick return then it would have been on the other teams 20 yard line.

I’ve been saying for two years, require the try to be by dropkick.

Huh? When was the last time any TV broadcast aired a commercial between a touchdown and the extra point/2-point conversion attempt? There just isn’t enough time, and besides, that’s when they show the replays of the touchdown.

This is so easy to fix.

Want to make the PAT’s more interesting, and FG’s an adventure?

Just bring back the straight on kicker.

Make it mandatory… No more soccer style kickers.

And no squared-toes on the kicking shoe, either!

Shank away, kickers!

The more I think about this, the more I like it.

I would cap it at the 35, meaning you kick the PAT from the line of scrimmage of the play that scored the TD to a maximum of a 52 yard kick. And you could always opt for the 2-point try from the 2.

This would reward getting into the red zone over busted plays, which are generally more flukey.

I don’t like the problems of moving it back (so you have to decide what you’re going to do beforehand, might just slow the game down even more). Would rather they just remove it entirely - i.e., take a freebie point or go for 2. If they want more 2 point conversion attempts, move the LOS for the 2 pointer to the 1.5 or 1 yard line.