NFL to lengthen extra point attempts, allow defense to score on two-point plays

Lindsay H. Jones | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption NFL to push back extra point attempts USA TODAY Sports' Lindsay H. Jones goes over all the action from the first day of the NFL owners' meetings.

SAN FRANCISCO — The most boring play in the NFL has gotten slightly more interesting.

League owners approved multiple changes to the point after attempt Tuesday, with the extra point now being snapped from the 15-yard line instead of the 2-yard line — effectively making it a 33-yard try — while the defense will now have the opportunity to score two points on a return. The two-point conversion will remain at the 2-yard line.

The proposal, submitted by the competition committee, passed with a 30-2 vote, with only the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders voting against it.

The change is currently approved for only the 2015 season, but Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith, a member of the competition committee, said the expectation is that the change will stick long term.

"This isn't an experiment. It's a rule change," Smith said. "We have given ourselves the ability to look at the statistics and make sure we are accomplishing the things we are trying to accomplish."

And that is making the extra point a more competitive play after kickers converted 99.5% of those kicks in 2014. Dean Blandino, the NFL's vice president of officiating, said kickers made between 93-94% of attempts from 33 yards last season.

"The overall goal throughout the process was to make the play more challenging and a more skilled play than what it was," Blandino said.

It could also mean more two-point conversion attempts after just 59 such plays in 256 regular-season games last season.

Owners considered a proposal from the Philadelphia Eagles that would have moved the line of scrimmage for the two-point conversion to the 1-yard line, but it was rejected, in part because of concerns about teams running pick plays in such a tight space.

There were additional concerns that snapping the ball at the 1-yard line would be an unfair advantage for teams with large, mobile quarterbacks, like the Carolina Panthers' Cam Newton or San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick.

The competition committee also weighed concerns from several cold-weather cities, particularly from the AFC North, about a disadvantage that comes from kicking a longer field goal in poor weather conditions.

"That's how we ended up at the 33-yard kick," Blandino said.

The owners rejected a proposal from the New England Patriots that had no provision for a defensive score.

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Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones