Starting in the 2015 NFL season, the football will be snapped from the 15-yard line when a team attempts a one-point conversion after a TD, commonly known as the PAT. This change was submitted by the league’s competition committee and approved at the owners meetings in San Francisco in mid-May. However, two-point conversions will continue to be snapped from the 2-yard line.
The rule change has received mixed feelings throughout the league. Former kicker Jay Feely said that the league did not accomplish much beside put some on the field at a risk for injuries.
Meanwhile former Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson said that it was time to make the process of making the extra point more interesting.
Denver Broncos kicker Connor Barth is against this rule as many kickers are and explains his opposition, “If they want to make it more exciting, narrowing the uprights would make it a lot more challenging than moving the extra point.”
At the same time, he says there can be an added benefit to some kickers.
“It would weed out the strong-legged kickers who aren’t that accurate,” he told The Denver Post. “It would benefit guys who are accurate and can hit a good ball every time. It would make our value go up.”
Some will argue that the extra point should be gutted completely but I do not agree with that sentiment because you never know what can happen in a close game that goes down to the wire. That element of the game should never go away, I believe that making a team earn everything is an element that is more likely to keep people tuned into a game.
Many believe that the PAT has become too automatic and putting the ball at the 33-yard line will entice more 2-point attempts.
According to a tweet by Matt Maiocco, if a team lines up for a 2-point conversion and is flagged for a penalty, they can move back to kick for one point. Furthermore, if a PAT is blocked, and the ball falls behind the line of scrimmage, the offensive team can take it to the end zone for 2 points.
In 1994, the league adopted the 2-point conversion but in over 20 years since the new addition was added, in only 4 seasons has the success rate of converting a 2-point conversion been above 50%. In the 2014 NFL season, teams were successful in 27 of 56 conversions, which is 47.5%.
With this new rule, the league doesn’t expect much of a drop-off in the success rate of PAT’s but could be enough to make a difference especially in games decided by a touchdown or less.
Like college football, the defensive team will be able to score one or two points if they force a turnover on a conversion. This will make the post-touchdown play more interesting and will make teams think twice of who to put out on the field in this situation.
30 of the 32 teams owners voted for this rule with the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders being the only dissenters.
Depending on how this rule pans out, I would not be against eliminating the extra point completely if this rule continues to make the PAT too boring to watch. If the rule changes are not having a successful impact on making the game more exciting, the NFL may have to revisit this issue in less than a year from now.
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