NFL Considering Major Rule Change to Eliminate a Play That's Always Been Part of the Game

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Monday that the league is considering a proposal to do away with extra points. Though the extra point is almost automatic and relatively unexciting, the rule change would alter a play that's always been part of the game.

SEATTLE, WA - JANUARY 19: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on the field before the Seattle Seahawks take on the San Francisco 49ers in the 2014 NFC Championship at CenturyLink Field on January 19, 2014 in Seattle, Washington. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

"The extra point is almost automatic. I believe we had five missed extra points this year out of 1,200 some odd," Goodell told NFL.com. "So it's a very small fraction of the play, and you want to add excitement with every play."

So what instead would happen after a touchdown is scored?

"There's one proposal in particular that I've heard about. It's automatic that you get seven points when you score a touchdown, but you could potentially go for an eighth point, either by running or passing the ball, so if you fail, you go back to six," Goodell said.

As CBS Sports notes, sometimes extra points result in really exciting plays -- even if it's rare.

"In a 2003 game, New Orleans was trailing Jacksonville 20-13 with seven seconds left. The Saints scored on an improbable 75-yard, three-lateral pass play to cut the Jaguars lead to 20-19, but kicker John Carney missed the extra point to give Jacksonville the win," the report adds.

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Featured image via AP