Vikings' Blair Walsh embracing 'new challenge' of NFL's 33-yard extra points

Vikings kicker Blair Walsh knew that change was inevitable this time a year ago when the NFL announced that it would experiment with the placement of the ball for extra points after touchdowns. That change came yesterday, when league owners voted to move extra points back 13 yards to the 15-yard line.

"I don't think they would have put it in last preseason unless they were serious about changing it," Walsh said last night in a phone interview. "You could see the writing on the wall. But I'm glad they didn't eliminate it."

Some kickers aren't thrilled that they will now have to try to nail their point after touchdowns (PATs) from 33 yards out. But Walsh, who penned this piece on the looming change last offseason, is embracing the challenge.

"Absolutely," Walsh said. "You've got to be confident in what you do. If somebody was telling you, 'Hey, we're going to make your job just a little bit more important,' why wouldn't you take it? It's a new challenge."

In the first two weeks of the 2014 preseason, when the NFL tried out the proposed PAT rule, Walsh made all four of his extra points from 33 yards.

In the regular season, Walsh made eight of 10 attempts from 30-39 yards.

Because extra points will be, as he put it, "no longer straight automatic," Walsh said he will have to prepare a little bit more for them.

"You just have to practice the situation a little more," he said. "You'll have to really focus and pay attention to all the small details to be successful."

Over the past 24 hours, there has been a lot of talk amongst media, fans and number-crunchers about how the new rule could affect game strategy. The statheads say that the smarter statistical option is now going for two points from two yards out, and some folks wonder if teams will consider adding "two-point specialist" quarterbacks who are goal-line running threats.

So, Blair Walsh, here is a hypothetical for you: The Vikings score a late touchdown to pull within one point of the Packers. What's the call? Walsh out for the 33-yard PAT? Or are you going for two with Adrian Peterson?

"I think the way you have to look at it is, what would you have done last year? You would kick the extra point," said Walsh, who was an All-Pro in 2012. "I think that adding 13 yards to the kick shouldn't really make you not trust your kicker at that point. So I think you have to kick it and play for overtime. You don't want to lose it on a two-point conversion."