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Reader mail! Extra points

Updated 10/22/2017: Jeff Heath extra point.

In 1971 the Bears had two non-kickers score PATs: Bobby Douglass on a rush and Dick Butkus on a pass from Douglass. Douglass was the Bears’ holder on placekicks. Prior to the 2-pt conversion rule in ’94; how many times during the era after the merger (1970-1993) had there been successful PATs by rush or by pass in regular season or post-season games? – James

It happened at least 30 times. (Steve Largent’s 1985 extra point is listed as an uncredited “kick” on Pro-Football-Reference and credited to Norm Johnson in many box scores, so it is possible that there are others that I’ve missed.)

All of these conversions (which counted for 1 point) likely came as the result of botched snaps or holds in field goal formation.

(The last time I know of that a team lined up in a non-kicking formation for a 1-point extra point came in the 1940 Championship Game. The Bears lined up in scrimmage formations after their last two touchdowns, but only because the refs feared that they would run out of footballs, 9 of which had already been kicked into the stands. End zone nets would not be introduced for a while.)

Extra points other than by kick, NFL, 1970-1993

Player Team Opponent Date Note
Bobby Douglass CHI DAL 10/31/1971
Ralph Baker NYJ SD 10/31/1971 pass from Bob Davis
Dan Reeves DAL STL Cardinals 11/7/1971
Dick Butkus CHI WAS 11/14/1971 pass from Bobby Douglass
Larry Schreiber SF NO 11/14/1971 pass from Bruce Gossett
Virgil Carter CIN NYJ 12/19/1971 listed as a kick on PFR
Mickey Zofko DET CHI 11/5/1972 pass from Greg Landry
Dick Butkus CHI PHI 12/10/1972 pass from Bobby Douglass
Ron Holliday SD CLE 10/28/1973
Bob Chandler BUF KC 10/29/1973
Lynn Dickey HOU Oilers BAL Colts 11/4/1973
Pat Curran SD MIN 11/23/1975 pass from Mike Fuller
Roger Wehrli STL Cardinals CHI 12/14/1975
Brian Sipe CLE CIN 10/3/1976
Mike Fuller SD BAL Colts 11/7/1976
Steve Mike-Mayer BAL Colts NE 10/28/1979 Mike-Mayer was a kicker
Gary Parris STL Cardinals CLE 10/28/1979 pass from Roger Wehrli
Nolan Cromwell LA Rams BUF 12/7/1980
Rich Wingo GB CHI 9/6/1981 pass from Ray Stachowicz
Reggie Wilkes PHI NO 10/11/1981 pass from Ron Jaworski
Steve Kreider CIN LA Raiders 11/28/1982
Ross Browner CIN HOU Oilers 11/6/1983 pass from Steve Kreider
Pat Ryan NYJ MIA 12/16/1983 listed as a Pat Leahy kick on PFR
(second extra point)
Pat Ryan NYJ KC 10/21/1984 listed as a Pat Leahy kick on PFR
(third extra point)
Rick Bryan ATL DET 9/8/1985 pass from David Archer
Steve Largent SEA ATL 10/13/1985 listed as a kick on PFR
Steve Kreider CIN HOU Oilers 10/20/1985
Rick Neuheisel SD CIN 10/4/1987
STRIKE GAME
Chris Kelley CLE NE 10/4/1987
STRIKE GAME
pass from Dale Walters
Chris Mohr TB CHI 10/8/1989 listed as a Donald Igwebuike kick on PFR
(sixth extra point)
Steve Largent SEA BUF 12/4/1989
David Treadwell NYG MIN 1/9/1994
NFC Wild Card

 

Non-specialists who successfully kicked extra points, 1970-2021

A companion list of non-kickers/punters pressed into extra point duty. (Note: Suh is not on the list, as he missed.)

Player Position Team Opponent Date Note
Deacon Jones DE WAS CHI 12/15/1974 Last regular season game of Jones’s career.
Dave Pureifory DT GB DET 9/21/1975 Regular kicker Chester Marcol pulled a thigh muscle;
Pureifory went 1 for 2 in each game.
DEN 9/29/1975
Steve Zabel LB NE TB 12/12/1976 Last game of the regular season.
NE had called timeout up 24-14 with 6 seconds left to set up Steve Grogan’s 1-yard TD, which broke the single-season record for rushing TD by a QB.TB, finishing up an 0-14 season, was not pleased.
Ray Mansfield C PIT BAL Colts 12/19/1976
AFC DIV

Regular kicker Roy Gerela strained his abdominals compensating for a leg infection.

Mansfield kicked the final extra point of the Steelers’ 40-14 win over the Colts and the only extra point of the 24-7 loss to the Raiders.

Gerela was active for the Raiders’ game but did not attempt a kick.

OAK 12/26/1976
AFC CHAMP
Ted Thompson LB HOU Oilers NYJ 11/23/1980 Toni Fritsch was injured in warmups.
Thompson went 4 for 4.
George Yarno G TB DET 12/18/1983 Last game of the regular season.
Regular kicker Bill Capece was injured; replacement David Warnke had missed an extra point and a 29-yard field goal.
Wes Welker WR MIA NE 10/10/2004 Welker also kicked a 29-yard field goal in the game.
Mark Simoneau LB PHI SF 9/18/2005 David Akers was injured in the 2nd quarter but returned for the 2nd half.
Simoneau had an extra point blocked the next week.
Doug Flutie QB NE MIA 1/1/2006 Last regular season game of Flutie’s career.
Drop kicked.
Chad Ochocinco WR CIN NE 8/20/2009
PRESEASON
Shayne Graham was injured in warmups.
Wes Welker WR NE CLE 11/7/2010 Stephen Gostkowski was injured during the game.
Jeff Heath SS DAL SF 10/22/2017 Dan Bailey was injured in warmups.

 

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8 thoughts on “Reader mail! Extra points

  1. So before the 2-point conversion was adopted, a PAT could be thrown or run into the endzone for one point? How strange; I don't remember that rule at all, though I'm definitely old enough.

  2. Duh. Post was about XPs- not FGs. My mistake.

    Found a guy you overlooked with the XPs, though.

    Packers defensive lineman Dave Pureifory made two XPs in 1975.

  3. Bump! I distinctly remember attending a New York Giants game as a kid where on a PAT, the holder took the snap and just ran into the end zone untouched; not sure if it was a botched snap or a designed fake, but it definitely was a PAT by rush. Game was in the 1987-1991 era, sorry I don't remember more but I was fairly young at the time.

  4. I can't find anything like that happened in a Giants home game during that period (unless it happened in preseason). The closest thing I can find was a fake field goal the 1986 Giants ran against the Packers, but Jeff Rutledge was tackled at the 4 after gaining 18 yards.

  5. Roger Leclerc, the Bears’ kicker once fielded a bad snap and ran for the extra point himself, circa 1962 (I heard it on the radio). I suspect that it shows up as a successful kick in the statistics.

    1. November 11, 1962 against the Vikings: “Place Kicker Leclerc, fielding a grounder from center, beat the Vikings to first base for the extra point after the Bears’ second touchdown in the second quarter. Red Grange never revealed more talent than Leclerc did in the open field the Vikings created at left end.” http://i.picpar.com/s3Oc.png

      Pro Football Reference incorrectly has this as a kick, but it wouldn’t have shown up in the list above anyway as it happened before 1970.

  6. Dick Butkus had two pass receptions for extra points. One decided a game, the other was more routine. This was a planned play for busted PAT attempts. Butkus would go to a specified corner of the end zone, and whoever recovered was supposed to throw it there, where he, the tallest guy around, could out-jump the defenders. There was no risk, as the defense couldn’t score on a turnover in those days.

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