Is the fumbled extra point attempt by L.A. not a turnover?

A little late, but on Super Bowl props, is the fumbled extra point attempt by L.A. and recovered by Cincinnati not considered a turnover?

For those of you who've just emerged from a cave, in the first half of this year's Super Bowl, Los Angeles Rams holder Johnny Hekker mishandled the snap on placekicker Matt Gay's extra-point attempt. Hekker gained control of the ball, stood up, and tossed it blindly toward the end zone; it was intercepted and after some razzle-dazzle, the play ended.

We asked a football-expert acquaintance why it wasn't a turnover. He indicated that only one possible result of that miscue would have been a turnover: If a Bengal had run the ball back to the Rams' end zone, it would have been not a touchdown, but a defensive 2-point conversion. But thanks to the two points, it would have qualified as a turnover.

"Every possible outcome of that play, except the runback for a defensive two-point conversion, would have returned the ball to the Cincinnati Bengals in the usual fashion. It was going back to them anyway on the touchdown, so even the interception on the two-point conversion didn't qualify as a turnover," he explained.

The failed extra-point attempt by the L.A. Rams did, however, raise some controversy. Was it a missed kick? Or was it or a 2-point- conversion attempt? Both, of course, were tied into prop bets. While calling the game, Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth indicated that it was a missed kick. But the official scorer ruled it a 2-point-conversion attempt.

Bettors who took the Yes on whether there would be a two-point conversion attempt won the bet. However, the failed extra-point attempt kept the first-half total under 24 (13-10), giving Bengals +4 bettors a win instead of a push and costing one player a $1 million bet that the Rams would score more than 13.5 points in the first half.

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Comments

Ray Mar-10-2022

So...what if?

I'm sure that both the NFL and the bookmakers have specific rules to settle the controversies, but in the situation that happened, if the holder (or kicker) just fell on the ball instead of trying a longshot attempt at the end zone, would it still be a failed 2 pointer or a failed PAT?

Roy Furukawa Mar-10-2022

Sports and Betting Today

@Ray, I think it would still be a failed 2-pointer unless the kicker actually strikes it with his foot from what was said in this QoD. Fumble or interception would end up the same unless returned for a defensive 2-pointer. I am just loving how mainstream news sources now openly talk about sports betting just like here on LVA. Before it was taboo to speak of a betting line, now it's sometimes the only reason a story is written on online news. Free Pete Rose already, he was just ahead of his time. C'mon, NHL's Connor McDavid is now BetMGM's spokesperson now for chrissakes.

AL Mar-10-2022

Kick or 2-pt try?

I'm not a NFL football expert, but I know my way around like a lot of guys, and since no expert has chimed in, here's my 2 cents. I'm sure that it's NOT necessary for a kicker to make contact with the ball in order for the play to be considered an attempt to kick the extra point. Why? Because there have been plays on which the ball didn't get held tightly or correctly by the holder, but the kicker went through his motion and simply missed the ball. If the holder then simply grabbed the ball and held it on the ground (so that the other team didn't get it), it would be considered a botched kick. It's the action of the holder standing up and either throwing the ball or running with it or handing it off to another player that would turn the play into an attempt at a 2-pt conversion. As such, I believe that the scorekeeper was correct in classifying the play as a 2-pt attempt.

Hoppy Mar-10-2022

Re: Al

Al, you should be credited with two (2) points, for your answer:).

Question of the Day - 10 March 2022

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