Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
Aaron Schatz from Football Outsiders brought up this article by Jason Lisk on ESPN radio today.
Interesting theory. Incidentally, Schatz includes the Panthers among teams who should always go for two, as both Tebow and Newton figure to be successful on about 67% of 2-point attempts. I think that number might actually be a little low.
Interesting theory. Incidentally, Schatz includes the Panthers among teams who should always go for two, as both Tebow and Newton figure to be successful on about 67% of 2-point attempts. I think that number might actually be a little low.
Full articleIf the New York Jets are doing it right, Nick Folk should be dead last in extra points made next season. By right, I don’t mean impersonating the 1976 Buccaneers and rarely scoring, either. I’m talking about using Tim Tebow on two-point conversion attempts after every touchdown, until late game strategy dictates otherwise.
Teams go for the extra point instead of going for two, until mandated by late game situations, for a couple of reasons. The first, tradition and safety, is why coaches make a lot of decisions. Extra points have been around forever; the two-point conversion attempt was not adopted by the NFL until 1994 (the AFL used it until the merger). Thus, the norm is the extra point. It’s also the lower risk strategy, as the point is almost assured. Coaches tend to think about the negative and the potential loss of a point far more than the positive potential gain.
The other reason is that typically, the extra point has the slightly higher value. Last year, kickers made 99.4% of extra points attempted. The two point conversion rate typically hovers around 45%. Of course, that overstates the difference, because a percentage of “two point attempts” are really failed extra points, where the holder tries to run or pass after bobbling the snap. The true rates are closer, but if an average team employed a strategy of going for two instead of kicking the extra point, they would lose about 1 to 2 points over the course of an entire season.
The Jets, though, should press their advantage and disregard tradition when it comes to extra points. They should line up for two point conversions with Tim Tebow at QB after every score, until late game strategy dictated otherwise.
The Jets will surely use Tim Tebow in two point packages when they do attempt them. I’m just taking it a step further. Always use him, because it is a positive advantage for producing points. I would wager you that if the Jets used Tim Tebow on two-point plays, he would convert more than 50%.

If not, nothing said here makes an ounce of sense. It's almost worse than your first attempt.
How many times have we seen horrible uses of time outs and simply making terrible decisions in the heat of battle? Anyway, getting back to the coaches taking risks, BB goes for the 1st down more than others and the stats guys will tell you he is right almost every time he has done it; whether he makes it or not is not the point.
Seriously? "If they happen to lose all the games they miss and make it in all the games they happen to win"? That's the best statistical argument against it?First off there is absolutley no basis in fact for that argument. You are correct on one point in all of the above - you can't predict which situations it matters - which is exactly why, if the average NFL team scores ~3 TDs/game and it works >50% of the time, it doesn't matter. Everyone has already said that there are clear situations when you go for 1. At the end of the game when the TD you just scored ties the score, or near the end, when the TD puts you up by 8 or 3 and an extra point will make it 9 or 4 respectively. Also, for those citing the number of games that are won or lost by a single point, there are many reasons that point is irrelevant:1) First off, most basically, there is no way to score only 1 point. That means near the end of games teams are either kicking FG or scoring TDs. All OT games automatically, by virtue of this fact, ALWAYS end in a score differential of more than 1. 2) Near the end of close games (i.e. within a TD) teams often adjust their strategy based on the score - onside kicks, going for 2, settling for a FG. No team is going to settle for a FG when they are down 4 points with 1:30 lft just to make it close. Similarly, every team is going to go for 2 if they just scored a TD to bring them to within two with 1:30 left. Thus the chances of a game being decided by 1 point are low to begin with.Ironically, the entire point of going for 2 on a regular basis is to force opposing teams into making difficult decisions in those late game situations . As an example, let's say the Jets have scored 3 TDs, made 2 of the 3 - 2 point conversions (missed the other) and kicked a FG. So they have 25. The opponenet has scored 2 TD, kicked both extra points and also kicked a FG. So they have 17. It's the 4th quarter and the opposing team just scored a TD with 4:47 seconds left and 2 timeouts. Do they go for 2 to try to tie? If they don't (or do and fail) if they Jets kick another FG, then the Jets are up by 4. We could go through numerous examples - but the point is the same. If you always go for two, and make it more often than you miss, you are dictating what the other team must do. As another example on the other end of the proverbial spectrum. The Jets score a TD on their opening posession. They go for 2 and make it. You're the other team's coach. Your team marches down the field and scores a TD. Do you go for 2 to try to "keep up", or trust that your team will score another TD and that if the Jets score again you'll be able to stop their conversion?
It's entirely possible that even if they make it 60% of the time the misses still cause more losses than the successes cause wins. It's also possible that the successes cause more wins than the misses cause losses.The difference is that if you're converting 60% of them, the latter scenario (it causing more wins than losses) is more likely.This is basic statistics, and the point you're making above is no different than someone making the ludicrous point that a team should go for two in a tie game because there's a chance they'll miss the extra point, or that a team should go for it on 4th and 20 with a 1 point lead and 15 seconds left because there's a chance that they could convert the 4th and 20 if they go for it, and a chance that the punt could get blocked and run back for a TD if they punt.There is always the chance that the bad statistical play will work out better in some situations. All you can do is play the odds and if you're converting 60% of the time than the odds say it's more likely to cause more wins than losses.