Should the Broncos or Seattle Seahawks score a touchdown Thursday night, do not think you missed a 10-yard holding penalty as the kickers line up for the extra point.
The NFL is experimenting with the extra point by moving the kick back from 20 yards to 33 yards through its first two preseason games.
Behind the experiment is the feeling the extra point has become far too automatic. The Broncos’ Matt Prater was 75-of-75 in extra points last season, and he’s made 260-of-262 in his career.
The problem with adding difficulty to the extra point, though, is it increases the possibility it will determine the game’s outcome. After 80 some offensive and defensive players bang away for 60 minutes, do they really want a football game to come down to a 33-yard extra point?
“I think it’s silly, and I think most everybody in the league feels that way,” said the Broncos’ Britton Colquitt, Prater’s holder. “The kickers don’t like it. I guess the biggest thing is why change something that’s one of the original rules of football? I’m not kicking it, but if I was a kicker I wouldn’t like it. I think you can make too much change.”
One other little-known adjustment: ball placement. The usual extra points are snapped from the 2-yard line, smack dab in the middle of the field.
Snapped from the 15-yard line — which means the kicks are from the 33 — each kicker has his preferred vantage point. Prater, for instance, likes to kick from the left hash mark.
Teams are allowed to snap from the 2-yard line after a touchdown if they go for the two-point conversion.
After the first two preseason games, the NFL will revisit the extra-point discussion after the season.
Ball home recovering. Broncos running back Montee Ball was released from a local hospital and was recovering at his Denver-area home Wednesday, two days after undergoing an appendectomy.
The first week after any surgical procedure always is the toughest, and it’s uncertain whether Ball will be able to attend the Broncos’ preseason opener Thursday night.
Ronnie Hillman will start at tailback in Ball’s place with C.J. Anderson also expected to come in for a play or two with Peyton Manning’s first-team unit. Depending on how it plays out with the first team, Anderson might also play alongside No. 2 quarterback Brock Osweiler with rookies Juwan Thompson, Kapri Bibbs and Brennan Clay also expected to get playing time.
There is hope Ball will be able to get a tuneup carry or two in the Broncos’ third preseason game, Aug. 23 against the Houston Texans, although that might be ambitious. The Broncos are confident Ball will play in their season opener Sept. 7 against the Indianapolis Colts at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
