NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has never been afraid of leaving his mark on the NFL.
Whether it’s championing player safety on the field or attempting to reign in player behavior off of it, Goodell hasn’t been shy about tweaking the sport to his liking since he took over for Paul Tagliabue in 2006.
But from handing out unnecessary roughness fines like parking tickets to doling out unprecedented penalties to the New Orleans Saints for their bounty program, Goodell’s motivation has always been the same — to protect the future of the league and the sport itself.
Not all Goodell’s decisions have been well-received. It’s brutal to watch a flag fly after every violent collision, but watching a watered-down version of the sport is better than having the entire league killed by a multi-billion dollar concussion lawsuit.
I’ve always seen the rule changes as a necessary compromise — until now.
Goodell recently told the NFL Network that the league’s competition committee may consider getting rid of the extra point. Basically since extra points are converted so often — kickers made 1,256-of-1,261 (99.6 percent) PATs this season — he wants the entire practice abolished.
The idea began as a suggestion from Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who suggested earlier this month that extra points are a boring waste of time and that the league should do something about it.
But Belichick meant the extra point should be more difficult to decrease the conversion rate. I can’t imagine automatically increasing the value of a touchdown is what he had in mind.
But that seems to be exactly what the commissioner is thinking.
Goodell claimed that since the kick is too automatic, it is boring and should be replaced with something more exciting. He mentioned making a touchdown worth seven points, and following it with an extra play that would make the score increase to eight, if successful, or drop down to six if it’s not.
If that seems pointless and confusing, it’s because it is. I can’t think of a single sport that deducts points from a team’s score. There’s a good reason for that — it’s dumb.
Plus, the proposed rule goes against everything Goodell has supported during his tenure. It makes no sense for a man so concerned with player safety to support something that creates more opportunities for injury by adding more plays from scrimmage.
Big hits are entertaining and have always been a prominent part of football, but Goodell said it had to be sacrificed in order to protect the players.
That’s fine, but then how can he turn a blind eye to safety in order to implement a Mickey Mouse system like this and claim it’s in the name of entertainment?
And don’t tell me that running a couple extra plays inside the five-yard line each game won’t lead to more players getting hurt. Anyone looking for an example can take a look at what happened to the 49ers’ inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman on Sunday.
Pretty gruesome, right?
The new system would be nothing more than a gimmick and it’s impossible to justify risking a single player’s career to make it happen. Especially when so many institutions of the sport have already been forsaken in the name of player safety.
Hopefully this bad idea never sees the light of day.