Tom Coughlin not likely to change his ways with NFL's new extra-point rule
New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin looks on during training camp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on Friday Aug. 7, 2015. Credit: Brad Penner
It seems as if Tom Coughlin is going to remain a one-point kind of coach.
Despite new rules that increase the difficulty of kicking extra-points, Coughlin said he mostly leans towards taking his chances with a 33-yard attempt rather than going for a two-point conversion from the 2-yard line.
"As you see, many people (around the NFL) came out last weekend and just went for two, but the advantage there is no different than it ever was," Coughlin said. "I think it's just as important to kick extra points from 33 yards as it is to go for two."
There are circumstances that change that philosophy, though.
"I think the real interesting concept there is a defensive penalty," he said. "A defensive penalty puts a ball at the one, so most people are going to go for the two points then."
And of course, the weather will play a role. And at MetLife Stadium, the winds in particular.
"I don't think until late, you know, you're talking maybe after November, after Thanksgiving, in December, before any of those issues come up," he said. "Obviously pregame we'd go through all that and it would be part of the questions that I always ask. You know, 'How far (can you kick)? What's the distance like today from both ends?' I get a feel for what the wind is, now that the wind is an issue during the course of the game, and you have to revisit it, so it's a constant."
Still, Coughlin seems content with his old-fashioned one-pointer even if it has become a little longer.
"The old extra point circumstance was 99-point-something (percent successful), and a 33-yard field goal was 94-something," he said. "So in between there, yeah, it's something . I'm hoping that our percentages, in terms of 33-yard extra points, are going to be 100 percent. Just like I always think."
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
