Coach Chris Tabor at practice

Cleveland Browns special teams coach Chris Tabor is not in love with the new longer PAT. (John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer)

(John Kuntz/ The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns special teams coordinator Chris Tabor will be pining away for the chip-shot extra point when the winds are whipping in off the lake in December.

Sure, the new 33-yard PAT -- approved Tuesday by NFL owners -- might be nothing in the Georgia Dome or the Superdome, but at First-Energy Stadium on a frigid winter afternoon?

Tabor thinks it puts the Browns and other cold-weather teams at a competitive disadvantage.

"I think so. I really do,'' Tabor said at rookie camp May 9. "That's obviously for the competition committee. I'm sure they've talked about it and thought it out, but it's at the 15, (13) yards back. It's going to end up being a 33-yarder. Kicking a 33-yarder sometimes in the Dawg Pound is different than kicking a 33-yarder in a domed stadium or maybe down in Tampa.

"It is what it is. I guess you have to say you know when kickers come to our place we're used to it. We have to look at it that way. That's how we'll approach it."

Tabor didn't even try to hide his dissatisfaction with the rule, which was still only a proposal at that time. Previously, the PAT was kicked from the 2 for a 20-yard attempt -- and kickers made about 99% of them.

"We'll have to do it,'' he said. "We'll have to play by the rules. Hopefully we make more than we miss on them."

Tabor predicts the new rule, which passed by a 30-2 vote, will mean more two-point conversion attempts, which will still take place from the 2.

"I think you could (see more), I really do,'' he said. "Maybe moreso later in the year. We'll just have to see how it plays out."

If a team is penalized during an extra-point or two-point attempt, it can switch to the other.

In addition to moving the near-automotic PAT back, the defense can now score two points on a return of a botched extra point or two-point attempt. Previously the ball was dead in those situations. Owners did not approve a version that would've moved the two-point attempt to the 1-yard line.

Although the new 33-yard kick might seem like a huge change, the statistics don't support that. Last year, NFL kickers made 34 of 35 kicks from the 15-yard line for 97.1%. The year before, they made 92%.

Former Browns kicker Billy Cundiff made all five of his 32- or 33-yard attempts in 2014.

The interesting thing this year is that the Browns don't even know who their kicker is yet. After waiving veteran Garrett Hartley last week, they're left with two first-year kickers on the roster in Mayfield High grad Casey Spear of Vanderbilt and Travis Coons of Washington.

But general manager Ray Farmer said last week that he might bring in other kickers. One available veteran is Shayne Graham, who was cut Tuesday by the Saints. But Graham, 37, spent the 2013 offseason with the Browns before getting axed in the final cuts.

"I've been in this situation before when you want to continue to drive competition at that spot,'' said Farmer. "Kickers are different than any other position. Those guys find their stride at a different point in their career. We think we kind of know what's out there. We feel comfortable with the guys we currently have and who we might continue to add."

Farmer said he'd be fine going with an inexperienced kicker.

"I've done it before,'' he said. "With young kickers there's always the fear that as soon as he misses one kick everybody hits the panic button, but I don't tend to have that fear."

He acknowledged that it could be a fluid situation as the season goes along.

"I think it's always a product of what's available,'' he said. "You take your shots. You grow your guys. You create competition, at least in my mind. Guys that make it, make it. It doesn't stop you from watching other kicking competitions or other scenarios unfold and if there's a better scenario you try to make the best of what's available at that time."



And if they're missing extra points, they can expect to be looking for work.