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. |
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.
Atlanta quarterback Chris Miller made a field goal at one time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.