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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/19/extra-point-tries-moved-to-the-15-yard-line/

Extra point tries moved to the 15-yard line

Posted by Mike Wilkening on May 19, 2015, 6:15 PM EDT
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One of the NFL’s most staid elements is getting a shake up.

Extra points will be attempted from the 15-yard-line beginning in 2015, the NFL and various teams announced Tuesday. Owners approved the rules change at the NFL’s spring meeting in San Francisco.

Two-point conversions will continue to be snapped from the two-yard-line. However, defenses now can return fumbled or intercepted two-point tries for two points of their own.

Previously, extra points were snapped from the one-yard-line, and the kicks, with very few exceptions, have been drama-lacking events.

With kickers more accurate than ever, it’s possible moving the conversions to the 15 won’t have much affect on how teams approach post-touchdown scoring attempts. Nevertheless, this is certainly a new wrinkle for a play that was one of sport’s most humdrum actions.

seems like a gradual change now with the mindset for a bigger one later ... but that's JMO

it probably won't affect games TOO much

I never understood why the returning on a fumble or INT was never allowed, Jim Leonard may have benefited from that last year, but all good now.

I don't like it. It takes trickery out of the game. Even 28 yard field goal should be automatic. If you really want to mess with the kickers, make the goal posts smaller.

I like it. I'd like to see it snapped from the 23, but this is a good start. I like the return change as well.

+1

*snicker* These guy won't be happy until football is unrecognizable. Why not make the kicker hop on one leg before kicking it? Or make him do ten laps of the field and THEN kick it.... Hilarious.

I don't think I will hurt the kickers much, bu I do like that fumbles and interceptions can be returned for 2 points ...

or do a drop kick only for extra points from the 15.. or a two pointer from the 5.

the thing I don't like about the extra point from the 15 is that it seems to take a fake extra point out of the equation.

So it's official..

When we finally make a Super Bowl.. We will lose it because of a last second blocked Extra Point that was returned for 2 points..

That would be par for the course...

I don't like it, cause now it becomes a 32 yard kick which while still relatively easy to make it gives teams that play indoors an advantage.

anyone have a clip of Tom Tupa scoring the first 2 point conversion in NFL history?

http://www.nfl.com/videos/cleveland-browns/0ap2000000058090/Films-Encore-First-2-point-conversion


Nevermind I found it ... I didn't realize that Metcalf returned a punt AND Baldwin returned a kickoff in the same game

Next up, all kickers will be blindfolded on Extra points

Guess I don't understand the significance of these moves.

Maybe they should change the name from the "extra point", which implies that it is just something extra, like a bonus... to a "challenge point".. add more drama... After all, every single play has to be filled with drama...

That's why I don't like changing the XP. They have now removed a fake attempt from the playbook. Not many teams faked the kick, but I seem to recall the first one being very successful.

Browns' Chris Tabor thinks longer PAT hurts cold-weather teams more


Mary Kay Cabot, Northeast Ohio Media Group
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on May 19, 2015 at 8:49 PM, updated May 19, 2015 at 8:50 PM
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns special teams coordinator Chris Tabor will be pining away for the chip-shot extra point when the winds are whipping in off the lake in December.

Sure, the new 33-yard PAT -- approved Tuesday by NFL owners -- might be nothing in the Georgia Dome or the Superdome, but at First-Energy Stadium on a frigid winter afternoon?

Tabor thinks it puts the Browns and other cold-weather teams at a competitive disadvantage.

"I think so. I really do,'' Tabor said at rookie camp May 9. "That's obviously for the competition committee. I'm sure they've talked about it and thought it out, but it's at the 15, (13) yards back. It's going to end up being a 33-yarder. Kicking a 33-yarder sometimes in the Dawg Pound is different than kicking a 33-yarder in a domed stadium or maybe down in Tampa.

"It is what it is. I guess you have to say you know when kickers come to our place we're used to it. We have to look at it that way. That's how we'll approach it."

Tabor didn't even try to hide his dissatisfaction with the rule, which was still only a proposal at that time. Previously, the PAT was kicked from the 2 for a 20-yard attempt -- and kickers made about 99% of them.

"We'll have to do it,'' he said. "We'll have to play by the rules. Hopefully we make more than we miss on them."

Tabor predicts the new rule, which passed by a 30-2 vote, will mean more two-point conversion attempts, which will still take place from the 2.

"I think you could (see more), I really do,'' he said. "Maybe moreso later in the year. We'll just have to see how it plays out."

If a team is penalized during an extra-point or two-point attempt, it can switch to the other.

In addition to moving the near-automotic PAT back, the defense can now score two points on a return of a botched extra point or two-point attempt. Previously the ball was dead in those situations. Owners did not approve a version that would've moved the two-point attempt to the 1-yard line.

Although the new 33-yard kick might seem like a huge change, the statistics don't support that. Last year, NFL kickers made 34 of 35 kicks from the 15-yard line for 97.1%. The year before, they made 92%.

Former Browns kicker Billy Cundiff made all five of his 32- or 33-yard attempts in 2014.

The interesting thing this year is that the Browns don't even know who their kicker is yet. After waiving veteran Garrett Hartley last week, they're left with two first-year kickers on the roster in Mayfield High grad Casey Spear of Vanderbilt and Travis Coons of Washington.

But general manager Ray Farmer said last week that he might bring in other kickers. One available veteran is Shayne Graham, who was cut Tuesday by the Saints. But Graham, 37, spent the 2013 offseason with the Browns before getting axed in the final cuts.

"I've been in this situation before when you want to continue to drive competition at that spot,'' said Farmer. "Kickers are different than any other position. Those guys find their stride at a different point in their career. We think we kind of know what's out there. We feel comfortable with the guys we currently have and who we might continue to add."

Farmer said he'd be fine going with an inexperienced kicker.

"I've done it before,'' he said. "With young kickers there's always the fear that as soon as he misses one kick everybody hits the panic button, but I don't tend to have that fear."

He acknowledged that it could be a fluid situation as the season goes along.

"I think it's always a product of what's available,'' he said. "You take your shots. You grow your guys. You create competition, at least in my mind. Guys that make it, make it. It doesn't stop you from watching other kicking competitions or other scenarios unfold and if there's a better scenario you try to make the best of what's available at that time."

And if they're missing extra points, they can expect to be looking for work.

Not sure why it is a disadvantage, I think it would be the other way...

On a Sunday, both kickers are either in good weather or bad.. so on Sunday, the conditions are equal. Now you have one kicker who practices and plays most of their games in a dome or good weather who has to come to Cleveland, I think he would be at the disadvantage to a guy who has been kicking outside in colder weather all year.

Over the course of the season a kicker in Cleveland or Chicago or Pittsburgh might have worse stats because they kick more outside in bad weather, but on any given Sunday, the kicker who is more used to it should have the advantage.

J/C

As a football purist- I say just leave it alone.

But really, this is much ado about nothing.

It really doesn't give a dome team an advantage when the game is played in Cleveland. IF anything, our kicker should have the advantage. He should know the variables of the stadium and the wind tendencies better then any other kicker in our HOME stadium. And I would expect our kicker to be automatic in a dome from that range.

I do like the college twist where the defense can return the botched extra point attempt for two points. Always thought that was part of football and never understood why the NFL didn't have that rule.

I don't really know why the PAT procedures needed changed.

Ratings are as high as they've ever been, and scoring is as high as it's ever been.

Why keep a good thing going without making an odd and unnecessary change?

Oh well.

My guess is he is evaluated as a special teams coach in part with his teams' stats against league average, and he's projecting.

j/c

From Phil Dawson's Twitter:

"My daughter tonight : "So.... a 33 yard extra point = 1 point. A 23 yard FG = 3 points...right?" Gotta love it."

https://twitter.com/phil_dawson_4

I'm not sure if it does stop the fake. It is well known that the shorter the field, the harder it gets to score. Now you just added more field to work with.

No offense to Tabor, but he has his hands full. Our special teams unit was extremely poor and ineffective, now he needs to worry about the kicker situation even more so.

So it says you can switch after a penalty. If you switch do you go back to the 15? Otherwise line up for two, false start, then kick from the 6.

The problem for Tabor are the players he has to work with. Benjamin is a liability as a punt returner, and the pk situation wasn't good last year and could be worse this year.

Up the value for PAT. Kick as is: one point. Deeper by 20 yards + worth two. Then a three-point NBA line from kicker at the 50, 3 points.

This silly wrinkle seems to remove the fake PAT, which I find thrilling. Sad that this crappy rule change is what fans are clambering for. Dis appointed in the owners meself.

Advantage over what?

Agreed, both kickers will be playing in the same conditions on game day.

Yes, over the length of a season, kickers from domed teams might have better overall stats, but on gameday, it's all equal.

For example, New Orleans plays a minimum of 9 games a season in a Dome..

Versus Cleveland who plays a minimum of 11 games outside..

Over an entire season.. New Orleans kicker has an advantage of Cleveland's..

Lets say it's the last game of the season and the Browns and Colts are both playing at home and both need to win and the other to lose to get into the playoffs but in Cleveland they are playing in a snow storm and the storm helps to cause the Browns kicker to miss an XP and lose the game but the Colts kicker in the cozy confines of Lucas Oil stadium makes all his and the Colts win and with Cleveland's loss go to the playoffs.

I don't really understand what the NFL is trying to do here.

Are they wanting more MISSED extra points? Is that the idea? Why would they want that? So there is a deteriorated product on the field? I'm stumped.

If they really wanted to do something useful, along the lines of improved safety, they give the team a choice of automatically getting the extra point OR the option of going for 2. Just remove the XP play entirely. Less plays = less injuries, right? (yeah, I know..who gets hurt on an XP? Kickers can). It would make the game go smoother too...after a TD, a team automatically takes the XP and then we go immediately into the kick off.

I see no entertainment/competitive value in hoping for a higher chance of missed XPs.

However, I do agree that a defensive score is a great idea. But let's go back to safety issue again...Now you'll REALLY see teams go after the block on an XP. Which, of course, means a higher chance of injury.

Makes no sense.

There was just no holes for whoever we had at returner. If anything, Tabor should have modified his blocking schemes or just implemented a fair catch/knee down policy because, from what my old memory serves, we were failing to even get close to the 20yd line on kickoffs.

But I agree, not good stuff to work with when you're inserting a guy that was soon to retire (Jim Leonard) and just praying he could fair catch without whiffing it. He got Duke now. We'll see, can't get much worse than last year's unit.

I don't see as it is an advantage to warm weather or indoor teams, and in fact, it could be a disadvantage to them if they have to play a game outdoors, late in the season, in wintry conditions.

The Northern teams would be used to it, and the indoor/southern teams would not.

I don't think that it's a huge advantage, but I think that there is an advantage for the cold weather teams, not the other way around..

IIRC, our kick and punt cover units were exceptional last year, and near, if not at the top of the league.

Our return units, especially PR, did struggle though.

I thought that they wanted to take away the "no brainer" aspect of the XP kick, but they also made the 2 point conversion more difficult, and more dangerous for the team going for the 2 points, as they moved the try for 2 back to the 2 yard line, and they allow the defense to return a fumble or INT for a score.

If it were me, I would have left the try for 2 at the 1 yard line, added the fumble/INT return ability for the defense to score, and also would allow a blocked XP try to be returned for 1 point.

That's just me though.

Just another example of the NFL trying to fix something that isn't broken.