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NFL Appears Close To Changing PAT Rules

(CBS) Chances are that after your favorite team scores a touchdown, you use those those moments immediately after to use the washroom or make a quick run to the fridge, as you know the extra point is perfunctory.

NFL leaders also knows the extra point is an assumption, one that has been converted with 99.6 percent efficiency over the last three seasons. Thus, they're in discussions to change how it works.

Last year at a general NFL meeting, 30 of the 32 teams agreed that the PAT must change, per a report from MMQB's Peter King. This past week at the NFL's annual meeting in Phoenix, the competition committee was stuck on what the fix should be.

There's agreement that if a team wants to go for the traditional kick for one extra point, the ball should be placed at the 15-yard line, making it a 32/33-yard attempt, King reported.

The debate stalls when trying to determine where the ball will be snapped on a two-point conversion: either the one-and-a-half-yard line or the two-yard line. That half-yard may seem insignificant, but consider that last season, teams went for a touchdown only five times when faced with fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line. The belief is there would be more debate and consideration by coaches to go for two from the one-and-a-half yard line.

The issue will come to a vote in May, and the league needs 24 teams to vote "yes" to push through the change.

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