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SPORTS A19
Friday 29 January 2016
What if a missed extra point decided the Super Bowl?
HOWARD FENDRICH are gone. Now it’s just an- In this Jan. 24, 2016 photo, New England Patriots punter Ryan tance switch when it was
AP Pro Football Writer other field goal.” Allen (6) watches as Stephen Gostkowski reacts after missing approved in a vote of club
All of a sudden, an extra Gano practices more from an extra point during the first half the NFL football AFC champi- owners in May. Now he’s
point can provide some the new spot, the right onship game against the Denver Broncos in Denver. Gostkows- OK with it.
extra drama. hash mark at the 23-yard ki’s missed kick in the game contributed to the loss against the “It was a good change,”
The kick that comes after line. Broncos which, in the end, sent the Broncos to the Super Bowl. Feely said. “It did take a
a touchdown — turning six “I wasn’t a fan of when play that was a given and
points into seven — is not they changed it. Nobody (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) was a boring play, and
quite as much of a sure wants their job to be hard- it created more interest
thing now, because the er,” Gano said. McManus said. “That’s kind tion of perfection, there’s throughout this season.”
distance was pushed back “But I think the better you of how it is.” an added layer of pressure Count Panthers coach Ron
from 20 yards to 33 this sea- are at being a placekick- Here’s the way Feely de- ... and it has tangible im- Rivera among the con-
son. er, the more valuable you scribed it: pacts.” verts, too.
Imagine a Super Bowl de- are going to be. I feel like “Because of the expecta- He was against the dis- “I will be honest with you
cided by a flubbed kick I did a good job of hitting about it: I was against it.
following a TD. Seem far- them this year, and in the I didn’t like it. I thought it
fetched? Certainly used to years to come, it will make was going to change the
be: No one has missed a me a valuable asset to the game. I wasn’t sure it was
PAT in the Super Bowl in a team.” necessary,” Rivera said.
quarter-century. He is 65 of 68 on PATs this “Now that I see how ef-
Things have changed. Af- season, including the play- fective it has been, how it
ter all, the Denver Broncos offs. has made the game enter-
got to their Super Sunday The other Super Bowl kick- taining, how it did impact
matchup against the Car- er, Denver’s Brandon Mc- the playoffs this year — it
olina Panthers on Feb. 7 Manus, is 37 of 38. is exactly what the league
in Santa Clara, California, McManus notes that the wanted.”q
thanks in part to a botched greater length of the
extra point by New Eng- kick means players need
land Patriots kicker Ste- to warm up, which they
phen Gostkowski in last didn’t need to do before.
weekend’s AFC champi- And that can be an issue
onship game. right after a defensive TD,
“Do you want a game because unlike when his
to end on a missed extra offense has the ball and
point rather than going is driving toward the end
to overtime? I think that zone, a score happens un-
would be very anticlimac- expectedly.
tic. I don’t think most fans “You have to run 50 yards
would want to see a game this way to get your helmet,
end that way,” said Jay then you’ve got to run 80
Feely, a kicker for a half- yards back the other way,”
dozen NFL teams over 14 McManus explained. “The
seasons from 2001-14. biggest issue is just refocus-
“I would never want to see ing, knowing you didn’t
a game end that way, es- get to warm up at all. You
pecially one of this magni- might have been on the
tude. sideline for 30 minutes.”
I hope it doesn’t,” he said, Gostkowski sent an extra-
before adding with a point attempt wide right
chuckle: “But it certainly early in New England’s
could.” 20-18 loss to Denver, forc-
NFL kickers had never ing the Patriots to try to go
made worse than 99.3 per- for a 2-point conversion in
cent of their extra-point a failed attempt to send
attempts across any sea- the game to overtime in
son from 2010-14, but the the closing seconds. It was
league-wide rate dropped his first missed PAT in nine
to 94.2 percent this season years, ending a league-
— the lowest mark in 35 record run of making 523 in
years, according to STATS. a row.
Here’s another way to look For any NFL kicker’s leg,
at it: There were a total of a 33-yard field goal is no
eight misses in all of 2014; big deal. But the mental
that total was exceeded pressure of a 33-yard extra
by Week 2 of 2015. point changes everything.
“I wouldn’t say I view it as “Everyone in the stands
an extra point anymore,” and at home thinks you
Panthers kicker Graham have to make it or else
Gano said. “Extra points you’re not worth anything,”
