The long extra points in the NFL preseason are making kickers miss

The NFL has been wondering what to do with extra points, long-deemed too automatic, for a while now, and made the decision to bump the post-touchdown try back to the 15-yard line for the first two weeks of preseason. And just a little bit into Week 1 of that two-week trial, guys are missing PATs.

Here's Shayne Graham, who has made 375 out of 380 extra points in his career, good for 98.7 percent:

That kick definitely would've been through from the two-yard line, where it would've been a 19-yarder, but it doinked as a 20-yarder.

Here's Jordan Gay, a backup punter forced into playing time due to an injury to Graham Gano, missing his attempt:

Kickers made 99.6 percent of extra points last year and 99.5 the year before. There certainly have not been 100 touchdowns yet in the preseason, and we're already up to two. You can chalk Gay's miss up to him being a backup punter, but Graham is an NFL vet kicking in a dome. And hey, maybe Gay would've been able to hit the chip shot 20-yarder if that's what he'd been asked to do.

This tells us what we could already figure out pretty easily: Making a field goal 14 yards longer makes it more difficult. If the NFL wanted data to consider as they ponder what to do with the vestigial PAT, they'll certainly have it.