Here are seven words you almost never hear in a football game, “And the extra point is no good.”

The NFL has taken notice of this, and is considering a proposal to possibly eliminate the extra point from the game.

“The extra point is almost automatic”, according to Commissioner Roger Goodell. “I believe we had five missed extra points this year out of 1,200 some odd. So it’s a very small fraction of the play, and you want to add excitement with every play.”

I wasn’t sure how I thought about the potential change at first, but then Goodell  said that one of the proposals included getting an automatic seven points on a touchdown, but then having the choice to either go for the extra eighth point, but if you miss that you go back down to six instead.

I think that this is a genius idea and would be a great replacement for the extra point, which kind of has become an “automatic” thing in today’s NFL. But at the same time I think that if it’s as automatic as some people say, then why should it be bothered and tinkered with if it doesn’t make a huge difference in the result of the game. It would be like getting rid of the free throw in basketball just because it’s “boring” and an “easy shot”.

I wanted to get more football-smart responses to this possible change, so I went out to The Pit to see if I could get some answers straight off the gridiron

Junior Joe Isham told me that he was skeptical about the new idea, but thinks it might work, “I don’t think it’ll go through because it’s been around since forever. But it might be a good idea in the long run.”

My brother-in-law Nick Zieleniewski, class of ’01, told me that it could be a worthwhile change, “ I think getting rid of the PAT would be fine as long as what they replaced it with would be interesting. I think it’s a good idea. I think it will have a big impact if it changes the outcome of a game.”

Even though the extra point has been a staple throughout football history, it seems like it has run its course, and a scoring change might be a good thing for the sport.

And besides, aren’t we all tired of seeing Shayne Graham go wide right, no matter what team he plays for?