Longer extra points are enhancing game

TORONTO • When NFL owners voted last year to make the touchdown conversion a more competitive play, they probably didn’t envision how well they’d succeed — or how many other dominoes would start spilling.

Lengthening the distance of extra-point kicks by 13 yards, to 33, has not only added uncertainty to a scoring play that was boringly automatic for decades, but it got inside the heads of kickers. That, in turn, has shaken the confidence of some head coaches, which is compelling them to go for two-point conversions more often.

As we have seen over the past crazy two weeks, all of this has improved the game.

It’s to the point where conversion kicks are being missed left and right — and off the uprights, too. Games have been won and lost on those misses, and that’s one reason we’re seeing more uncommon scores, such as Buffalo’s 16-12 victory at Cincinnati.

After the rule’s passage last season, some kickers began to out-think themselves, asking for the ball to be snapped and placed either left or right of dead centre, to a spot they hoped would give them an incrementally better chance of making it.

Only nine kickers are still perfect on extra points, when in years past nearly all would be perfect after Week 11. Twelve kickers have missed multiple times. Minnesota’s Blair Walsh even lost his job last week after missing his fourth.

Kickers missed 12 extra points on Sunday, the most in any week since the NFL and AFL merged in 1970. By comparison, over the last two years of shorter extra points in 2013 and 2014, kickers missed only 13 of 2,497 extra points.

The odds of making a two-point conversion off a scrimmage play (snapped from the two-yard line) traditionally are slightly more than 50 per cent. But over the past two weeks, NFL coaches went for two 15 times. Only five were successful.

Ryan Tannehill, QB, Dolphins. Completed his final 11 throws over two drives in the last six minutes to turn a 10-0 deficit at Los Angeles into a dramatic 14-10 victory. Tannehill threw the winning TD pass with 36 seconds remaining. It was his 12th career fourth-quarter comeback.

Mike Nugent, PK, Bengals. He clanked both of his extra-point attempts off the right upright in Sunday’s 16-12 loss to Buffalo. Had Nugent converted one of the kicks, he could have come on to attempt a game-tying field goal in the final minute.

Russell Wilson, QB, Seahawks. Aided by a resurgent rushing attack and improved offensive line play, Wilson is back to performing his backfield escape acts and passing wizardry. He’s thrown for 622 yards in Seattle’s past two wins, good for four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Arizona Cardinals. It’s not just QB Carson Palmer, although he’s antsy in the pocket again at just a hint of pressure. The Cardinals’ special teams are a hot mess, the overly aggressive defence keeps getting burned, and something’s askew on offence besides Palmer.