Converting to more excitement
One-point kick or two-point try after TD are plays of intrigue now — and the statistics prove it
REGINA — One of the CFL’s major rule changes should win over some converts.
At long last, the league’s onepoint conversions are worth watching, now that the kickers face a degree of difficulty.
Effective this season, kicked converts must be attempted from 32 yards away — the format had previously called for a rudimentary 12-yard kick — and the placement specialists aren’t quite as effective as a result.
Forty-eight games into the 2015 campaign, a total of 190 one-point converts have been attempted, and 25 have been missed — one more than had been unsuccessful over the previous 15 seasons combined. As a contrast, consider the 2014 season, in which 333 of 335 one-point attempts were successful. And one of those two misses was by a linebacker, Kyle Jones of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who unexpectedly was forced to attempt a dropkick after a botched snap. Winnipeg’s Lirim Hajrullahu was the lone kicker to miss from 12 yards away.
Consistency being everything, Hajrullahu is again at the bottom of the league when it comes to kicking converts, having missed five of his 17 attempts in 2015.
Oddly enough, Hajrullahu’s field-goal percentage (79.2) exceeds his success rate on converts (70.6).
The league can point to a higher level of success, having eliminated a wasted play and introduced an element of intrigue.
What took it so long? Decades ago, the league’s kickers had reached a point where a 12-yard kick — introduced in 1975 after the 17-yard convert was scrapped — provided a reason to visit the concession. By the mid-1970s, the league had reached a point where most of the placekickers were specialists. Gone were the days when an offensive lineman would hurriedly lace up a kicking shoe and attempt a convert from straight on, endangering the safety of any fan who was seated to the left or the right of the uprights.
Yet, the league stuck with the 12-yard kick for 40 seasons before finally making a change. It has been the most successful rule change of 2015, if not the most publicized.
Entering the season, much of the rules-related chatter pertained to amendments that were designed to open up the passing game. The league introduced a rule that prohibited contact between a receiver and a defender beyond five yards from the line of scrimmage. The move was perceived in some circles as a declaration of open season on defensive backs, who were suddenly forbidden from clutching and grabbing receivers.
But teams have adjusted to the new rule, for the most part, without games turning into track meets.
Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant predicted a 6,000-yard passing season, only to suffer a ruptured left Achilles tendon in Week 1. He was shelved for the remainder of the 2015 campaign.
Injuries to other notable CFL pivots — including Ricky Ray (Toronto Argonauts), Mike Reilly (Edmonton Eskimos), Travis Lulay (B.C. Lions), Drew Willy (Winnipeg) and Kevin Glenn (Saskatchewan) — have undoubtedly affected production through the air. However, it should be remembered that quarterbacks also were falling left and right in 2014 when scoring plummeted to an average of 45.5 points per game — the lowest figure since 1985 (45.4).
In 2014, scoring declined by nearly a touchdown per game from 2013, when the average was 52.4. The league took immediate steps to revive the offences, with moderately successful results to date. Forty-eight games into the 2015 season, teams have combined for an average of 49.0 points per contest — an improvement over 2014, but nonetheless a decline from two seasons ago.
Yet, there are signs that the passing game has received a kickstart. Last year, there were only three 1,000-yard receivers, and at least 10 players could hit that milestone this time around.
Hamilton’s Zach Collaros, a top candidate for the league’s most-outstanding-player award, has thrown for 3,286 yards and is on pace for 5,377 as a member of a pass-happy team. Collaros also has thrown 24 touchdown passes, putting him on track for 39. The enhanced entertainment doesn’t stop there, because there is always the convert to consider.
The new rules give teams the option of scrimmaging the ball from the three-yard line for a twopoint convert — the ball used to be placed on the five — or attempting a one-pointer from 32 yards away.
Again, the benefits are evident. To date, 34 of 50 two-point convert attempts have been successful, compared with a 7-for-23 rate for all of last season.
Although the emphasis will always be on touchdowns, modifications to the punctuation mark — an extra point or two — have produced the most notable improvement in the great Canadian game.