It’s clear that the NFL as an institution wants to make the extra point an actual football play, instead of a pro forma kick that no one ever misses, few want to participate in (especially Rob Gronkowski) and fewer even watch.
But with change accepted, the NFL is running into its usual issue, figuring out what to change it to.
According to Peter King of Sports Illustrated, 30 of 32 teams agreed the play needed to be changed, with the competition committee expected to advance a new proposal at the May meetings.
So last Tuesday at the league meetings, every team was asked for input on what the new rule should look like, and as expected, those opinions were “all over the map.”
According to King, the most likely skeleton of the proposal would involve two choices:
— Kicking for one would move from the 2-yard line to the 15, making it a 32-yard field goal (still a high percentage shot, but not 99.6 like last year’s PAT rate).
— Going for two, to turn it into a football play. They’re still talking about the right yard marker to put it on (the 1, 1.5 or 2), in order to make it a real play and not just a push-the-pile-and-hope.
(Man, with all this close-to-the-goal-line action, it sure would be neat if the league could afford fixed cameras to monitor it all. We should have a Bake Sale. Florio, I’ll bring the brownies.)
The proposals would also allow the defensive team to score two by blocking the kick, recovering a fumble or intercepting a pass and returning it to the other end zone.
It seems like a logical place to start, but anyone who’s been in a committee meeting knows how hard it is to find consensus on where to get lunch. Getting 24 of 32 rich and powerful owners to agree on the specific hows (when two of them don’t want it changed at all) will be the next challenge for the competition committee.