How to Make Football a Better Game

I can hear you thinking it.  "But David - football is already the most popular game in America.  How are you going to make it better?"

What if I said that I could eliminate the most boring play in the game, make football higher-scoring, and make virtually every possession have at least one edge-of-your-seat play?  Would you be interested?

Here's how it works: 

First, in my football dream world, kickoffs and punts would also be eliminated.  Every drive starts from the 20, and you get four downs - if you don’t convert, sucks to be you.  I think the 20 is a good spot to start because it's not SO far back, but it's not so far up that teams can just play conservatively back and forth, gaining one or two first downs and then turning the ball over on downs.  If you are facing fourth-and-four from the 26 yard line and you MISS it - you're screwed.  The other team starts in GREAT field position.  Thus, the game becomes higher scoring.  If you can't punt, even when you're in horrible field position, teams have to get more creative and riskier, and that results in more turnovers, more spectacular plays, and a better game overall.

Second, there's a change in OT.  Overtime will still be sudden-death.  Home team has a choice of ball or wind.  Why?  Because they're the home team.  Whoever starts on offense starts from their own 35.  Why the 35?  Because if they fail to convert, their opponents start with the ball less than half a field away.  This yardline could be changed if the 35 is too problematic.  Hopefully, though, the field position and wind disadvantages and the possession advantage even one another out.  If defense stops the offense, good for them.

Third, the extra point is eliminated.  Every TD is worth 7 points.  However, if you'd like to get an "extra" point, you can.  All you have to do is wager one of your 7 points.  In other words, you'd get one down from the three yard-line.  If you made it, you'd have 8 points.  If you missed it, you'd LOSE one of your 7, and you'd only have 6.  It makes a game-tying TD ACTUALLY tie the game, most of the time.  And, if you tie on the last play of the game, you can choose to win or lose, right there.  No time to think about overtime or not.  You either win, or go home.

Fourth, I wouldn't eliminate the kicking game entirely.  The only vestige of the kicking game I appreciate is the field goal.  The rest of it can just go.  But I also support progressive field goal scoring (2 points for a field goal of 20-29 yards, 3 points for a field goal of 30-39 yards, etc.).  It rewards strong-legged, accurate kickers.  And it creates some interesting scenarios, like this vignette:

You're the home team.  There's a decent-speed wind with you, for now.  It’s four and one from the 39, with your team down by 5 with two minutes to play, and you have Sebastian Janikowski (or a similarly strong-legged kicker).  Do you:

a.  Go for the conversion, and try to keep moving the ball, trying to score while running out the clock?
b.  Kick a field goal from the standard distance (~17 yards farther than your yardline), which would be a 5-pointer to tie the game, but leave time on the clock?
c.  Have your holder line up an extra four yards back and kick a 6-pointer to tie the game while leaving time on the clock?

To me, that would all make football a MORE exciting and interesting game, rather than what it is now.  Defense matters more, because there's no onside-kick to fall back on.  Another scenario, with the same team:  If you're down by two TDs with 3 minutes left, and you score, now you're down by one TD.  If your defense creates a four-and-out, they turn the ball over to you inside their own 30!  You're in great position to score again.  And, if you do, you can choose to go for the extra point, at which point you'll either win the game, or lose.  And if you choose to play for overtime, you now have to choose if you want the ball, at which point you'll have to fight the wind even if you're in "normal" range for your strong-legged kicker, or you can give the ball to the other team in the hope that your D can stop them again.  It's a boatload more strategy, more second-guessing of coaches, fewer gimmicks, fewer scary special teams plays that cause injuries, more scoring, defense is more important, there's more appreciation for strong-legged kickers, and there's a freed-up roster spot because no team carries a punter anymore.  It's pretty much the best of all possible worlds.

What do you think?  Do you have answers for the posited scenarios?  Do you think these would be good changes?