Judy Battista of NFL.com reports that the NFL Competition Committee has discussed the idea of “experimenting” with longer extra point attempts during the preseason.
Battista mentions that a member of the committee has informed her that they has “preliminary talks” about placing the ball at the 25-yard line for the extra-point attempts. This would essentially be a 43-yard attempt.
“There is no consensus yet,” a committee member told Battista. “We could experiment in preseason, but we are not there yet.”
The idea of eliminating the extra point has come up in recent years as some, including Patriots HC Bill Belichick, have pointed to the fact that extra points have become almost automatic. However, it appears as though the NFL would like to find a comprise that keep it part of the game in the coming years.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell previously addressed the topic during an interview with Rich Eisen a month ago.
“The extra point is almost automatic,” Goodell said, via NFL.com. “I believe we had five missed extra points this year out of 1,200 some odd. So it’s a very small fraction of the play, and you want to add excitement with every play.
“There’s one proposal in particular that I’ve heard about. It’s automatic that you get seven points when you score a touchdown, but you could potentially go for an eighth point, either by running or passing the ball, so if you fail, you go back to six.”
Kicking from the 25-yard line would at the, very least, make attempts less automatic while preventing them from changing the scoring system that has been in place for a number of years now.
I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about potential changes leading up to the owners meeting.
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