Wassell: The kicking game in the NFL should not matter this much
Nov 22, 2016, 11:47 AM | Updated: 11:47 am
The Seahawks had an extra-point try blocked on Sunday for the fourth time this season. (AP)
(AP)
Nothing is safe anymore in the NFL. Not even extra points. Whether that’s a good or bad thing depends on who you ask.
710 ESPN Seattle’s Tom Wassell and Gee Scott sit on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the rash of missed PATs so far in 2016. The trend started last season when the NFL moved the spot of the ball on extra-point tries from the 2-yard line to the 15, making int a 33-yard attempt. In 2014, kickers nailed PATs more than 99 percent of the time. That dropped to 94.2 percent in 2015. As of Monday, the mark was 93.6 percent this season, with Sunday’s 12 misses league-wide marking the most in a single week in NFL history. ESPN’s Mark Dominik tweeted another interesting stat: NFL kickers are 44 of 45 on field goals from 32 or 33 yards out this year but have missed have 48 extra points from that same distance.
Scott said he loves the extra element of difficulty: “Kickers matter now … That is great for competition.”
Wassell, meanwhile, believes there was a reason extra points used to be a gimme and that a touchdown was essentially worth seven: “When you score a touchdown, you go out there and earn it. You’re not settling. Basically, what we’re saying is a team that is having to settle in the red zone time after time for field goals, you can catch up now and tie a team that that has scored touchdowns because of this missed extra point stuff. It’s nonsense. The kicking game should not matter that much.”
The Seahawks have not been immune to the issues. Stephen Hauschka had an extra-point try blocked on Sunday for the fourth time this season. He missed four last year after missing just three PATs in his seven previous seasons combined. Comparatively, Hauschka has missed only three field goals this season, and two in 2015.
On the “Pete Carroll Show” Monday, Carroll said the team allowed too much penetration during the blocked PAT Sunday but that the trajectory of Hauschka’s kick was also low. Carroll speculated that the reasons for league-wide troubles are a mixture of weather conditions and psyche.
“We have always talked about that later in the year it’s gonna be a bigger factor because of the weather because the plus or minus factor is gonna add in. I would think that’s what’s happening,” Carroll said. “When it used to be an (extra point), it was nothing to line up and kick your extra point. Now it’s a field goal and it’s like, “I’ve got to kick it this far?’ I think it gets in their head a little bit.”
As for what to do about all this, Wassell said he would be fine with simply awarding seven points after a touchdown.
“It’s not a question of excitement, it’s a question of the flow of a football game and what should be worth what,” he said. “A touchdown should be weighted heavier than two field goals. And this whole business about it’ll create a rise in the number of two-point conversion attempts, so what? I don’t need to be seeing that, either.”
