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In an unanticipated move, the offensive-heavy direction of the league could shift as early as next season.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Saturday the league's competition committee may consider eliminating extra point attempts after touchdowns due to the near-automatic rate of conversion.
"The extra point is almost automatic," Goodell told NFL Network. "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."
One way to do that, and perhaps the only way without making a significant impact, would be to count all touchdowns as being worth seven points. Goodell said one proposal would be to continue to allow an extra point to be scored on a play from scrimmage after a touchdown. In that proposal, however, success would be worth an additional point, while failure would cost teams one point.
So it's possible this is the first rule change that would subtract points from a team's total in the sport's modern history.
Goodell posited the hypothetical question of whether it would discourage teams from going for two point conversions (which are now worth only one point). Unless the team is behind by four points or one point in the second half, there likely wouldn't see those conversion attempts. Not that they're seen all that often now.
It may change the strategy of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin when facing a first and goal from the 1-yard line in a tie game, though.
