2 Pt. Conversion Is Too Easy

There’s a certain balance and symmetry to pro football that makes it the exciting spectator sport that it is. A 100 yard field. It just looks like the perfect size and distance. Ever fly over a football field in an airline and see it from above? A spectacular sight.

You have to go at least ten yards to get a first down. With three downs to get it, that’s just enough of a challenge for an offense to get a first down with its various combinations of runs and passes vs. a defense that has just enough territory to defend to make the task fair. A defense playing well has enough chance of stopping an offense from getting a first down as the offense playing well has of getting a first down. Each yard or two makes a difference. Offense vs. defense. There’s balance. There’s symmetry.

Even the scoring had a great symmetry to it. A touchdown with an extra point is just one point better than two field goals. A touchdown and one field goal is still better than three field goals, but four field goals is just a bit better the other way. Two touchdowns (and the subsequent extra point conversions) is better than the four field goals, but five field goals is just a bit better than the two touchdowns and the extra points. A safety, the result of some fabulous defense or special teams work is worth two.

There was always an 800 lb. gorilla in the room of NFL games, but very few teams (and especially coaches) had the guts to try to exploit it. That “gorilla” would be the relative ease of having a football play after a touchdown occurring from the two yard line, have the value of TWO points, exactly two thirds of the value of a 60 yard field goal. Exactly two thirds of the value of a 15 play drive that stalled near the goal line and resulted in an easy “chip shot” field goal.

It’s really not that difficult in football terms for a team to gain two yards on any one play on the field. It is more difficult on the two yard line right up next to the goal line, but it is not THAT difficult when compared to the difficulty of a team getting a safety. But the NFL had the idea (actually they copied the idea from the old AFL) of having a run or pass conversion from the two yard line being worth two points. That play, and its relative “ease” of being converted successfully, was out there, but everyone seemed to be happy with the idea of going for the “guaranteed” kicked one point conversion.

But the powers that be in the National Football League have seen fit to mess with the symmetry. Because they thought that a kicked extra point was “TOO EASY,” they decided to make a drastic rules change that put the option out there for a one point kicked extra point being awarded if a team could kick it from (approximately) 33 yards out.  Or, they said, a team could go for a TWO point conversion from the two yard line. Kick from 33 yards out. One point. Run from two yards out. Two points. Got that? To a lot of people, that feels totally illogical.

Now, a kicker usually makes a kick from 32 yards out. The odds are really good that he will still make it, but it IS possible he could miss the farther out that he is. So, that makes the option of going for a two point conversion from the two yard line look all the more attractive. AND, there’s another twist to this rule change. If a team is on the 15 yard line while kicking and there’s a defensive penalty, the ball can be awarded to the offensive team on the ONE yard line (half the distance to the goal) with the chance to get TWO points for gaining ONE yard.

So, you can change your mind about going for one point from the 15 yard line (plus the ten yards for the end zone and the seven to eight yards for a snap back to the holder to equal the 33 yard extra point), and instead be able to go for two from the one or two yard line. Or, if the penalty is against the offense (this HAS happened already this year), the kicker can actually have to attempt a 48 yard (equivalent of a field goal) extra point.

Here’s the problem. It is TOO EASY to score a two point conversion. The one point conversion was made more difficult, but the two point conversion stayed the same.  NFL teams just might start saying, “okay, it’s not that difficult to score from the two yard line, we’re just going to go for two every time.” They will practice the two yard plays extensively until they become the best plays in their playbook. The odds are just too good and the reward is just too good to not go for two more often. It could throw everything we’ve ever seen about football out of balance, out of symmetry and into something resembling some other, lesser sport.

The worst thing about this whole extra point conversion thing is that it just feels bogus. The NFL that people have watched for years seemed to be working just fine before, and now an NFL commissioner, and whatever committee he has put together, has decided to fix what wasn’t broken.

Nobody knows how the NFL coaches will adapt to the new extra point rules changes, but the fans I’ve talked to have told me it just feels contrived. Like somebody, somewhere (it feels like to the general public that Roger Goodell wanted to put his stamp onto the game and has instead changed the very nature of how scoring is being done) had to butt into the game THEY loved and change it just for the hell of it.

What will you do next, Mr. Commissioner? Come up with a five point field goal? Come up with a nine point touchdown if the team runs a double reverse pass play that includes a hook and lateral option play? Those contrivances look about as legit as what you just put together for this season.

I repeat this adage. When something’s not broke, don’t try to fix it. You often end up making things worse.