Two-point conversion

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A famous two-point conversion in an NFL game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins in 2005. The Bucs won on the conversion 36-35.

In American and Canadian football, a team may try to score a two-point conversion (score two points) instead of an extra point (one point) immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that just scored must run a play from close to the opponent's goal line (5-yard line in Canadian, 3-yard line in amateur American, 2-yard line in professional American) and advance the ball across the goal line as if it were a normal touchdown. If the team succeeds, it earns two additional points on top of the six points for the touchdown.

[edit] Adoption of rule

The two-point conversion rule has been used in college football since 1958^[1] and more recently in Canadian amateur football and the Canadian Football League.

The American Football League used the two-point conversion during its 10-year existence from 1960 to 1970. After the AFL merged with the NFL, the rule did not immediately carry over to the merged league. In 1994, the NFL adopted the two-point conversion rule.^[2]

The NFL's developmental league, NFL Europa (and its former entity, the World League of American Football), adopted the two-point conversion rule for its entire existence from 1991 through 2007.

[edit] Defensive two-point conversion

In American college and Canadian football, an intercepted two-point attempt, or one otherwise recovered by the defense, or a blocked extra point kick, can be returned to the other end zone to give the defensive team two points. The team that scored the touchdown then kicks off as normal. This is rare because of the infrequent use of the two-point conversion and the rarity of blocked extra points, and also because of the difficulty in returning the ball the full length of the field. It has proven the winning margin in some games. Only once has an individual player scored more than a single defensive two-point conversion in a game: Tony Holmes of the Texas Longhorns in a 1998 game against the Iowa State Cyclones. The NFL and the National Federation of State High School Associations do not allow this, and a two-point attempt resulting in recovery of the ball by the defense is merely 'no good', although it can, on rare occasions, result in a one-point safety.