Point-after attempts in spotlight once again

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This article was published 16/07/2015 (4049 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE CFL’s new point-after-touchdown rules are causing a ripple through the league, and none bigger than in Winnipeg.

Blue Bombers kicker Lirim Hajrullahu has missed three extra points in seven attempts in just three games. He missed one in all of 2014, when he was the West Division’s special teams player of the year.

League-wide in 2015, there have already been 10 missed point-after attempts, which now take place from the 32-yard line (previously, they were attempted from the 12-yard line).

That extra distance is doing something, but it’s hard to say it’s just one thing.

Hajrullahu, for instance, discussed the matter after Wednesday’s practice at Investors Group Field and pointed to two things: he’s mis-hit at least a couple of those attempts and the extra distance is just a little something extra to think about.

“We’re getting comfortable with it and it’s something new,” Hajrullahu said. “I’m working on it every day and this will be fixed. Well, not fixed, because there’s nothing I need to fix, but just get it out of my head and do what I do with every other kick.

“It’s been a couple of mis-hits and those things happen.”

Hajrullahu said the best analogy for what he’s facing is golf.

“I think more people can relate to that,” he said. “Sometimes, you just slice a ball or hook a ball. That’s how it goes.

“And that’s why we’re out here every day working before practice, in practice, after practice, watching film, to try to correct mistakes and I thought we made a big leap last week in terms of all the field goals (4-for-4).

“We fixed it right after (the first PAT miss) and made the second one. Hopefully we’ll continue rolling.”

Hajrullahu’s stats so far, it’s worth pointing out, include 5-for-5 on field goals, so these extra-point whiffs surely aren’t about the kicking.

“I have a lot of faith in Lirim,” head coach Mike O’Shea said Wednesday. “He missed a convert, but he was 4-for-4 on field goals (last week). I trotted him out there… the first field goal of the game was a 52-yarder and I did not have any hesitation of putting him out there.

“The game will dictate what decision we make, whether we go for one or two (points).”

O’Shea said he couldn’t pinpoint any one thing that has caused his team to miss three one-point convert kicks in the young season.

“It could be something very, very technical,” the coach said. “It could be anything. It could be point of hold, it could be spacing on steps. It could be eyes… It could be snap. There’s bunch of different things that go into it.

“Once again, it’s one of those things that Lirim is a technical guy and he watches film and what he sees, he makes minor corrections and it’s those corrections then that when you make one, you have to make another little one and how does that adjustment affect it,” he said.

“I’m not sure why. It’s from the 32, dead centre. I trust Lirim to work through it… I believe in him.”

Given the Bombers are 2-for-2 when trying a two-point convert — scrimmaged from the three-yard line — why doesn’t the team just go for it all the time?

O’Shea said many factors go into each attempt’s choice, including score, flow of game, the weather and his gut feel.

“Let’s see where it ends up,” the coach said. “That’s a pretty small sample size.

“When you say going from the three, it sounds easy. But it’s not… You’re (trying to score) a touchdown from the three and we’ve seen lots of teams get shut down from the goal line, from the one. It’s not always that simple.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca