

While NFL fans continue one of their favorite pastimes – the second-guessing of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick – a broader question needs to be considered following the injury to star tight end Rob Gronkowski. Instead of debating whether star players should play on special teams, the deeper issue: At a time when the NFL is so concerned about player safety, why does the league continue to have conversion kicks?



Gronkowski is expected to miss is 4-6 weeks after breaking his forearm while blocking on an extra point attempt with 3:55 left in the fourth quarter of Sunday's blowout win over the Indianapolis Colts.

Since the start of the 2009 season, all but 22 of 3,186 extra points have been converted, according to Elias Sports Bureau. That's 99.3 percent. Furthermore, of the 22 conversion kicks that have been missed, only three (all of them in the 2010 season) had any impact on the final outcome of the game. That's three out of 672 games. Of those three games, none of the outcomes had any impact on the playoff race. And before you start to mention the impact on draft positioning, let's get serious: The last thing the NFL should be concerned with is the impact of PAT kicks on draft positioning.

To put this in another perspective, the NFL is continuing to use a play that puts players (stars or otherwise) at risk for the incredibly narrow chance that its failure might impact a game. The chance of it having an impact on the playoffs is even less (or, in this case, zero so far since the start of 2010).

Remember, this is the same league that changed the kickoff rules to restrict contact even though kickoff returns are potentially one of the most exciting plays in a game. There's a far greater chance of a kickoff return TD than there is of a missed PAT kicks (nine return TDs vs. only four missed PATs this season).

Now, this is not a call to completely eliminate the PAT kick at all levels of football. At the high school and college levels, the PAT kick is far less likely to be made and has a much bigger impact on the game. At the NFL level, it's as automatic as a politician twisting facts during a campaign.

The elimination of the conversion kick can come with stipulations at the NFL level. For instance, if a kicker gets hurt before or during a game, a team could be forced to kick the PAT. When the Detroit Lions lost kicker Jason Hanson temporarily to an injury two years ago (he was hit during a field goal attempt), defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh had to kick in his place on one conversion. Suh missed, leading to one of the three aforementioned games that was impacted by a missed PAT.

This doesn't get in the way of the two-point conversion rule. The rule can simply be amended to say that a team can opt for one point automatically or choose to go for two, getting only six points for a touchdown if a two-point attempt fails.

Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, also chairman of the NFL Competition Committee, said Tuesday that the committee has considered the elimination of the PAT in the past. However, members of five teams that were surveyed Tuesday said they would prefer to keep the play. As one PR man, who was relaying the response of his team, said in an email: "They still putt 1-footers in professional golf."

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