The XFL’s overtime protocol, which will be awesome if/when it’s ever used, was based on a PFT idea. So here’s a new PFT idea for making the XFL’s creative approach to the extra point even more compelling.
Currently, the team that scored a touchdown must choose whether to pursue one, two, or three points. For one, the ball is placed at the two. For two, the ball is placed at the five. For three, the ball is placed at the 10.
So the decision is made before the snap, just like it is in the NFL when it comes to going for one or going for two.
How about an approach that defers the decision until after the snap? Put the ball at the 15. If the offense gets to the 10, the team gets a point. If the offense gets to the five, the team gets two points. If the offense puts the ball in the end zone, three points.
It would be the first time at any level of football that the point(s) after a touchdown become flexible, the subject of a pre-snap guessing game and a post-snap guessing game. The score of the game would add to the intrigue, and it possibly would prompt an offense to feign that it’s focusing on earning, for example, one point in the hopes of catching the defense napping and scoring three.
Above all else, the change would infuse a new layer of uncertainty -- and thus excitement -- into a fairly routine process. And it could make people more inclined to tune in, and to stay tuned in.
