[QUOTE=Sixth Sense;35315]I used to be of the mindset if you are down by 15 you kick the extra point to stay in the game and keep your players interested BUT I realized as Fez said, this is absolutely the wrong move. Most teams will kick the extra point to get down by 8 and still give them a chance. But, more than likely, they then play the game to the end, knowing they have a shot with a two point converstion. And, when that fails, there is little to no time left. They need to go for two after the first touchdown so they know exactly what they have to do to tie the game.
As someone else said in the other thread, Tirico, who is usually pretty smart about these things, was adament about not going for two immediately and was wrong in his statement.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I always have a tough time explaining this one, but one way of thinking of it is that it's better to be down 6 with some time left than to be down 2 with no time left. Assuming you don't get the 2 pointer, these are your likely scenarios given that you get in scoring position again. Actually being down 6 is the worst case scenario (where you are down 9 and needing two scores settle for the FG to cut it to 6 rather than going for it on 4th down).
Also, donniep said in the other thread that the motivated team down 8 is more likely to score than the team down 9. I completely disagree. The team down 9 faces more of a prevent defense and often gets at least the one score.
One more point which Fezzik has somewhat alluded to is that the 2 point conversion on the first TD is easier to convert. Fezzik mentioned a fake would be very effective (would not be affective at all when down 2 with no time left). Also I believe the defense is generally better with their backs against the wall on the last play than they would be when a team surprisingly goes for 2 to cut the lead to 7.
