It’s Longer, But it’s Still Just a Kick

Despite what my friends Troy Westwood and Trevor Kennerd might want to believe, people don’t pay money for football tickets to watch kickers. Sorry, guys, you were both great but kicking is sort of football, but I watched you at practice with your pal Cameron. It’s a completely different game.

So on Tuesday, the National Football League, a league that had actually considered dropping the extra point altogether, voted to change the league’s extra-point rules from 2015.

That’s right, instead of just dumping the extra point – in 2013 only five extra points were missed all season – the NFL’s owners decided to move the scrimmage line for extra points from the two-yard line to the 15-yard line.

Instead of dumping the extra point, they decided to make it more challenging. And why not? They’re paying for a kicker, might as well make him work for his cheque.

To make things a little more interesting, the owners decided that if the defense blocks this new 32-yard extra point (min-field goal), they can return it for two points.

Sure, it will be a little more fun, but it won’t keep too many people from getting up for a beer. Unless, of course, it forces a few coaches to give that two-point conversion try a little more often. One can always hope.

32-yards should be easy, but not a given.

Anyway, as New York writer Elliot Hannon suggested yesterday, “It will add just enough uncertainty to keep you in your seat and put more emphasis on the kicking game, which, after all, is why fans go to the stadium on Sunday—to see their favorite kicker until he gets waived.”

Sorry, Troy and Trevor, I go to watch touchdowns and see receivers get knocked on their backsides. But I’m sure somebody likes to watch kickers.

Posted by: Scott Taylor for RiverCitySports.com