The extra point may be so predictable it’s pointless, but that doesn’t mean the NFL is going to change it.
Jeff Fisher, the Rams’ coach and a longtime member of the NFL Competition Committee, said on Mike & Mike that there will be discussions about the extra point this offseason, but the league isn’t going to make a wholesale change to a play that has been part of football for more than a century.
“I’m sure it will be discussed, but that’s a wide departure,” Fisher said, when asked about doing away with extra points. “The committee and the league has always been real careful about drastic changes like that. That came out of left field. It’s not been discussed by any committee members. We have not had a chance to visit with the commissioner with respect to that. It would be interesting to see where it goes, but I would say it’s unlikely that we see something happen this year.”
When Bill Belichick first broached the subject of eliminating extra points last year, we noted that one option to make the extra point more fun would be to require the player who scored the touchdown to kick the extra point. Fisher said he got a laugh out of that and has seen first hand what it looks like, because the Rams sometimes have their practice squad players try to kick field goals.
“I also heard somebody say, ‘Why don’t you have the guy kick it who scored the touchdown?’ That would be something,” Fisher said. “Every Saturday we play around and let our practice squad players try to kick a field goal, and I’ll tell you, it’s a sight to be seen.”
That rule change would make extra points must-see plays. As it stands, extra points are just an opportunity for a longer bathroom break after a touchdown.