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%.