The NFL’s preseason experiment with making extra points harder has come to an end. But the NFL’s plan to change the extra point has just begun.
NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino says he believes a change to the extra point is coming, soon. Blandino told guest host Mike Florio on the Dan Patrick Show that after seeing NFL kickers make extra points less than 95 percent of the time through the preseason -- as opposed to more than 99 percent of the time last regular season -- the league will continue to look for a good solution to what has become football’s most boring play.
“We’ve actually missed eight. The experiment’s over. We had 141 attempts and we missed eight, which is 94.3 percent in terms of accuracy, which is lower than the 99.6 where we were,” Blandino said. “I think what you’re going to see is this play is going to change in the very near future. I don’t know if it’s the 15-yard line. I think we’re going to gather all the information we can from this experiment. I know there were several other proposals, several other ideas. We’ll gather all of that, the Competition Committee will get together once the season is over and we’ll come up with a proposal. I’m sure some teams will propose some things but I do anticipate this play is going to change.”
It’s ultimately up to the NFL’s 32 owners to decide what to do with the extra point, and if there’s no rule change that can garner a three-fourths majority of the owners at a league meeting, then there will be no change to the extra point. But Blandino sounds confident that a consensus is building. This may be the last year that the extra point is good 99 percent of the time.