# Some football/NFL questions ... and I know my football **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-football-nfl-questions-and-i-know-my-football/42087 "2000-11-21T04:52:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-football-nfl-questions-and-i-know-my-football/42087/1 "2000-11-21T04:52:37Z")
1. NFL referees’ uniform numbers: Do they get to pick them, or are they assigned by the NFL? And why three digits? There aren’t that many officials. Why not two, like the players? 2. In the Redskins-Rams game Monday night, Jeff George threw an interception while attempting a 2-point conversion. The guy for the Rams started to run with it, but, unlike in the college game, you can’t run that back for 2 points. It was blown dead. My question: Is George charged with an interception on his stats for that? 1. (A football-in-general question) What’s the significance of the point values assigned for various scores? How did it evolve? It seems kind of odd, when you think about it. Why not 3 points for a touchdown and 1 for a field goal, for example? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2000, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-football-nfl-questions-and-i-know-my-football/42087/2 "2000-11-21T05:00:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Milossarian \* > **1. NFL referees’ uniform numbers: Do they get to pick them, or are they assigned by the NFL? And why three digits? There aren’t that many officials. Why not two, like the players?** There are 7 officials in a crew. There can be 15 games a week. That’s 105 officials. Each crew usually has an alternate. I also think that some officials’ numbers have been retired. > [@](#): > > \*\* > 2. In the Redskins-Rams game Monday night, Jeff George threw an interception while attempting a 2-point conversion. The guy for the Rams started to run with it, but, unlike in the college game, you can’t run that back for 2 points. It was blown dead. > > My question: Is George charged with an interception on his stats for that?\*\* No. > [@](#): > > \*\* > 3. (A football-in-general question) What’s the significance of the point values assigned for various scores? How did it evolve? It seems kind of odd, when you think about it. Why not 3 points for a touchdown and 1 for a field goal, for example? \*\* It just sort of evolved that way. TDs used to be five points until the early part of the century. Then they were made six points. Field goals have been four and then were dropped to three I believe. It took a while, but eventually it was decided that touchdowns were more important than field goals. So they had to make it so that a TD and an extra point were worth more than 2 field goals. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2000, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-football-nfl-questions-and-i-know-my-football/42087/3 "2000-11-21T05:44:16Z")
When scoring was first standardized for American football in 1883, it went like this: touchdown = 2 goal after touchdown (conversion) = 4 field goal = 5 safety = 1 These were adjusted over the years to better match the difficulty of actually making the score. Somewhere around 1905 they reached the current scoring values. ---
**Author:** ![labdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@labdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labdude)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-football-nfl-questions-and-i-know-my-football/42087/4 "2000-11-22T05:16:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Milossarian \* > \*\* > 2. In the Redskins-Rams game Monday night, Jeff George threw an interception while attempting a 2-point conversion. The guy for the Rams started to run with it, but, unlike in the college game, you can’t run that back for 2 points. It was blown dead. > \*\* What’s a 2 point conversion? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-football-nfl-questions-and-i-know-my-football/42087/5 "2000-11-22T15:28:33Z")
To follow up on the interception question, the stats in the paper show George with one interception, thrown in the first quarter and returned 23 yards. Therefor, the ‘intercepted’ conversion attempt is not so counted. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-football-nfl-questions-and-i-know-my-football/42087/6 "2000-11-22T15:39:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by labdude \* > \*\*What’s a 2 point conversion? \*\* After a touchdown the scoring team has the opportunity to score a one-point (field goal style) or a two-point (touchdown style) conversion. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-football-nfl-questions-and-i-know-my-football/42087/7 "2000-11-22T18:31:58Z")
In the NFL, on 1-point or 2-point conversions, there are no stats kept except whether or not you made it. The same applies in college football where errant extra point attempts can be returned by the defense for a score. The defense can intercept a 2-point conversion pass and return it for a score, but no interception is recorded. Just the 2 points for the defense.