The new NFL extra point procedure has impacted Jason Myers of the Jacksonville Jaguars more than anyone else in football.
The rookie kicker has missed an incredible seven extra points this season, which means he’s been significantly less successful on those 33-yard PATs (81.6%) than he has on regular field goals (85.7%).
Just how bad is it? Some facts:
- In the previous 20 years (under the old rules), only nine kickers missed more than seven extra points in total.
- This year, no other kicker has missed more than four extra points.
- Eleven percent of the extra points missed this season have come from Myers.
- Only eight extra points were missed all of last season. If Myers misses one more time in the final two weeks, he’ll match that league-wide total. No more than seven extra points were missed league-wide in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
- Dating back 22 years to 1994, Myers is the only kicker in football with more than four missed extra points in a single season.
Unfortunately for Myers, he’s now the poster boy for the NFL’s change to longer PATs. And it’s a shame, because few of us want to see a game won or lost on a missed extra point. In this day and age, this sport is all about touchdowns and field goals. For whatever reason, the league felt the extra point had become boring and needed changes, but who cares if it’s boring? It takes about 10 seconds and is basically viewed as an extension of the post-touchdown commercial break.
I hate the new procedure, but not as much as Myers probably does.
(Thanks to Pro-Football-Reference’s excellent game play finder.)
