Is the extra point about to go the way of the dinosaur?
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told NFL Media's Rich Eisen on Monday's edition of "NFL Total Access" that the league's Competition Committee might eventually abolish the time-tested point after touchdown in favor of a brand-new scoring system.
"The extra point is almost automatic," Goodell said. "I believe we had five missed extra points this year out of 1,200 some odd (attempts). So it's a very small fraction of the play, and you want to add excitement with every play.
"There's one proposal in particular that I've heard about," Goodell went on. "It's automatic that you get seven points when you score a touchdown, but you could potentially go for an eighth point, either by running or passing the ball, so if you fail, you go back to six."
Extra points -- with a 99.1 percent success rate since 2004 -- have become an afterthought. Unless you're up against Lawrence Taylor in Tecmo Bowl, there's virtually zero drama attached to the point after. Taylor's old coach Bill Belichick has often opined about about how unnecessary the extra point feels.
Goodell said "some issues" stand in the way of a change, asking: "Is that going to discourage people from going for two?"
We doubt it. Teams inclined to go for the deuce will continue to do so in situations that call for an eight-point score -- with the same potential consequences. Traditionalists might disagree, but this is a good idea long overdue.
Well, unless you're a kicker.
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