Adam Vinatieri Dislikes the New Extra Point Rule

For some reason, the NFL doesn’t think their brand of football is nearly exciting enough. They are constantly tinkering with the rules and are this year have set their sights on changing the extra point attempt.

The NFL owners approved the Competition Committee’s proposal to move the extra point attempt following a touchdown from the 2-yard line back to the 15-yard line. A team attempting a two-point conversion will still get the ball at the 2-yard line and defenses can now score on either play if they force a turnover.

The NFL is hoping to inject some more excitement to a play that is normally automatic. The idea being that more teams will opt to go for two instead of the field goal. What it means is that more teams will miss the extra point, and that’s just as much fun as the automatic attempt.

Adam Vinatieri, arguably the best kicker in history and a lock for the Hall of Fame, doesn’t like the changes to the rule. He expressed his dislike to IndyStar yesterday:

"“I’m a traditionalist,” said Vinatieri, who is entering his 20th season. “Unless something’s broke, why fix it? But obviously, people thought something was broke, so we’ll just deal with it and move forward. Kickers have continued to adapt and get better with different (kicking) ball rules and moving the balls back on kickoffs.“So we’ll just adapt and move forward.”"

This isn’t the first time he’s spoken out against changing the extra point attempts. This rule was proposed last year as well, and he told USA Today the same thing while theorizing that it could lead to more injuries:

"“I don’t understand the logic: Will it make the game safer for people by moving the extra point back to a 43-yarder? If anything, players are going to rush harder because they’re thinking, ‘That far of a field goal-type try, we have to go after blocking it more,’ ” Vinatieri told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. “If you want to talk about potential risk, more guys get injured on a field goal than extra point.“It definitely will change the game. For the better? I’m not sure.”"

The NFL also made some tweaks at the Pro Bowl where they narrowed the goal posts and it drew the ire of Vinatieri (as well as fellow kicker Cody Parkey).

"“Not a big fan. It makes it a lot more difficult,” Vinatieri said. “I was looking at my kicks and I believe I would have made them all on a normal goal post. Unfortunately, I didn’t. I need a lot more work on those skinny posts. It’s going to be a game-changer if they do that.”“If you are a little bit off,” Vinatieri said, “it makes a huge difference.”"

In summary, we will possibly see a more exciting extra point attempt but we still don’t know what constitutes a catch in the NFL.