Who scores the most points in football? If you said running backs, you would be mistaken.

It’s not the receivers either. It IS the kickers.

Why? Part of the reason is the PAT. Every time a team scores a touchdown, the kicker runs out there and adds 1 point to his total. While the extra point is never a sure thing in the high school game, the percentages go up steadily in the college and professional ranks.

In fact, the National Football League is looking into a pair of ways to make the game more interesting and get coaches to go for the 2-point conversion more often. The Sunday kickers make the 20-yarder an astonishing 99.6 percent of the time. So why even try? That’s exactly the point of the first plan, which would make a touchdown worth an automatic 7 points. Coaches could still go for 2. If they were successful on the conversion, they would get an extra point, making it 8 points. If the try was unsuccessful, a point would be taken away.

Proponents say it would speed up the game, eliminate a play and therefore a chance of players getting hurt. This idea has been floated for several years and has actually picked up steam. Purists say if it ain’t broke …

The second idea was broached by NFL’s competition committee this week. If a team wants a PAT, the ball would be spotted at the 25-yard-line, making the kick from 42 yards. Even in the professional ranks, the percentage of successful kicks from that range drops to around 80 percent. Throw in sloppy conditions and a driving wind, the chances of a miss will go up. Meanwhile, NFL teams that go for 2 are successful about half the time. Suddenly, what to do after a touchdown would actually require some strategy.

Do we want the ball at the 3-yard-line for a 50 percent chance of 2 points? Or do we take the ball at the 25 for an 80 percent chance of 1 point? Simple math shows that in the long run, the odds would favor the 2-point conversion. Coaches would have to make the hard decisions a little more often each game.

Personally, I would like to see the second option. A PAT from the 10 is a chip shot. The kicker can lift the ball high, not worrying about distance. But for a 42-yard kick, the kicker has to put a lot of leg into it and at a lower angle. With the ball crossing the line of scrimmage lower, it will increase the chances of it being blocked. And if the NFL would allow the defenses to return a blocked PAT for 2 points, more teams would actually exert a little effort on the conversion. If you watch most PAT kicks now, in any level of play, most players just stand around on defense. They don’t block or rush.

And if the NFL does adopt this concept, I could see it finding its way into the college game and the high school game. Of course, the yardage would have to be adjusted for the different levels of play. There aren’t many high schools with kickers who can regularly boot 42-yard field goals. If they moved the ball to the 10-yard-line instead, then high school kickers would have a 27-yard kick facing them after touchdowns. I would envision the college game adopting a point somewhere between the two. The 18-yard line would result in kicks from the 35, a nice sounding number.

Another idea the NFL competition committee has been throwing around is imposing a 15-yard penalty any time someone uses the n-word. But how do you police the racial epithet. Is it a penalty when used in anger, but not when used as a greeting among friends? And in the heat of battle, how can an official be sure of just what he heard? And anyone who has ever been on a football sideline, even a high school one, you hear an awful lot being said that you wouldn’t repeat in front of the preacher.

William Moore is the Senior Editor at Gulf Coast Newspapers. He can be reached at wmoore@gulfcoastnewspapers.com