The NFL, trying to add just a little bit of drama to one of the most automatic plays in all of sports, ratified changes to the extra point Tuesday.
The owners of the 32 teams, meeting in San Francisco, approved a proposal to move the snap of the football to the 15-yard line for extra points in the 2015 season.
The football will continue to be snapped from the 2-yard line for two-point conversion attempts. Previously, the ball was snapped from the 2-yard line for extra points, as well. The owners also considered but did not approve a proposal to move the snap of the ball to the 1-yard line for two-point tries. That proposal was designed to encourage teams to attempt two-point conversions more frequently.
The new rule also gives the defense the opportunity to score two points by returning a turnover on a two-point attempt or a blocked extra-point kick to the opposite end zone.
The NFL plans to evaluate the results of the new setup following the 2015 season.
The owners delayed the vote until this meeting after considering potential changes when they met in March at the annual league meeting.
The league experimented during the preseason last year with the longer extra point, which makes the kick what amounts to a 33-yard field goal. Kickers went 133 for 141, a success rate of 94.3 percent, in 33 preseason games league-wide last year, covering the Hall of Fame Game and the first full weeks of the preseason.
Kickers league-wide connected on 1,222 of 1,230 extra points last season, or 99.3 percent. They had missed only five extra points in the 2013 season, when they went 1,262 for 1,267, or 99.6 percent.
The owners approved the measure by a vote of 30-2, with the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders voting against it. The proposal required ratification by at least 24 teams.