NFL kickers opposed to longer PAT proposal

One of the rule changes being tossed around the the NFL rules committee this year is to make extra points (PATs) longer, and not just by a little bit either.

The proposed rule would push PATs back from being spotted at the 2-yard line to instead being placed at the 25-yard line, bringing an extra-point attempt up to a whopping 43 yards.

So much for the PAT being a “gimmie”.

But several NFL kickers, including veterans Adam Vinateiri and Jay Feely, hope that the proposal gets kicked to the curb.

“I don’t understand the logic: Will it make the game safer for people by moving the extra point back to a 43-yarder?” Vinatieri said to USA Today Sports. “If anything, players are going to rush harder because they’re thinking, ‘That far of a field goal-type try, we have to go after blocking it more.’

“If you want to talk about potential risk, more guys get injured on a field goal than extra point. It definitely will change the game. For the better? I’m not sure.”

Feely agrees with his AFC counterpart.

“You don’t penalize a baseball closer for being great, you celebrate that,” Feely told USA Today. “You should do the same thing with kickers. If you’re going to change the extra point rule, I’d rather see you change it and still have it as part of the game than eliminate it.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has previously mentioned possibly doing away with PATs altogther, and I personally think this is a much better option. Sure, anything can happen and a few point-afters get botched or blocked, but for the most part they are an excuse to get up and check the fridge.

An NFL.com report shows that the committee is prepared to being inserting the rule as early as this year’s preseason games.

[Source: ESPN]