Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

SixtiesFan wrote:

John Grasso wrote:

74_75_78_79_ wrote: And why DID the league have to take so long to adopt it?

Because it was a COLLEGE rule and the PROS were better than the colleges.

It was easier for the coaches without the two-point conversion. With it, they had to make more decisions. I read somewhere (don't recall where) that the NFL (coaches in particular) didn't want the college and AFL two-point conversion because it was simpler without it.

I don't buy that at all. 90% of the time, there's no decision to be made, and 9.9% of the time, the decision is cut and dried. A 10-year-old kid who's watched half a season on TV knows what the decision should be.

Somebody on the competition committee was keeping the two point conversion out of the NFL all those years.

Not that it would have added that much more suspense, but two divisional playoff games on the same day come to mind. First the infamous Fog Bowl. If, Heaven forbid, Eagles actually score a TD in the 4th Q, a 2-point-attempt afterwards would have made it interesting.

Next divisional, down 21-7 in the 4th at Riverfront, Seahawks score a TD with plenty of time in regulation. Only problem, they missed the PAT. Just the same, even pinned deep in their own territory later in the quarter with more than 2 minutes to go, the game FWIW would have seemed more in reach for Seattle if the 2PC was intact as opposed to having to drive all the way down the field, score a TD, then onside-kick it.

A question about the first four Super Bowls (before the merger) - being that the AFL did apply the two-point-conversion, was there any talk between both leagues of applying it in any of those SBs? Or maybe one year have it, the other year not? Or being that the AFL was dissolving into the NFL anyway, it would be ‘NFL rules’ from the very start?

The NFL tried an experiment in the 1968 preseason for interleague matchups. Teams had to run or pass for the single point after touchdown. Kicks weren't allowed.

I vaguely recall reading that the NFL refused to allow the 2 point conversion in the Super Bowl when they were holding negotiations in 1966. Ironically, the Colts could have benefited from a 2 point conversion in the Super Bowl.

Chiefs/Chargers 10/19/1986 Week 7

Kansas City led 42-34 late in the game. The Chargers scored a late touchdown, but could not go for it to tie the game.

A game that proved important for KC's only playoff appearance between Stram and Schottenheimer.

1988 AFC Wild Card game: Trailing 24-16, the Browns scored with 31 seconds left and converted the extra point. A seemingly endless try to recover an onside kick then came up short.

A related topic might be post-1994 games that might have turned out differently without the option to go for 2. Last year's Super Bowl would certainly be on the list.

Packers/Bears last game of 1968

Week 15 1980: Cleveland was up by eight with about 3:30 left when the RB fumbled. The Vikes went down and cut the lead to one (before getting the ball back again and winning on a hail mary from Kramer to Rashad).

If there would have been a two-point conversion rule in place, and the Vikings tied it at 23 on their next to last drive, that probably butterflies away the hail mary to Rashad. And, if the Browns win in OT (and still win the next week), they get the #1 seed outright (moving Buffalo to #2 since they beat SD that year). Also, the Lions end up winning the Central over the Vikings.