Peter King is reporting in this Sports Illustrated article that the NFL might be overhauling it's overtime rules. I would welcome this change with open arms. The NFL has the worst overtime rules in all of professional sports. Sudden death takes the fun out of the overtime experience. It is not very much fun watching a team play for a field goal to end the game and then the other team doesn't even have a chance to answer. It's ridiculous.
Fans have been complaining for years about the overtime rules. The end of the game is essentially decided by a coin flip. King reports in his article that almost 60% percent of the time the team that wins the coin toss wins the game, leaving the other team to wonder what would happen if they actually got a shot at scoring.
Even the NFL players don't understand the rules. Who can forget the Donovan McNabb snafu two years ago when he found out that if the overtime period runs out and the teams are still tied, then the game ends in a tie. What kind of sport ends in a tie? What is this, hockey or soccer?
How about the 1998 Thanksgiving game where Jerome Bettis called "Tails" and the official flipped the coin to tails. He then awarded the ball to the Lions after he declared that Bettis said heads, which was false. The Steelers lost a pivotal game and later missed the playoffs. If the Steelers would have been given the chance to score then the mistake would not have been as bad.
What is more exciting in sports that the overtime in college football? Each team gets a chance to score. The most exciting football game I have ever witnessed was the 2003 game in Lexington against Arkansas where the teams went into 5 overtimes. The game was not decided by a coin flip, it was determined by the teams on the field. Both teams were given an even chance and there were no ties.
The NFL needs an overtime overhaul.
The college OT system will never happen in NFL. I'll be surprised, as Peter King will be, if changes even take place. You have a 10% advantage in the 60-40 winner of coin-flip.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the odds Payton Manning gets hurt in an extra quarter of play? Are the injury odds worth the extra 10%? For him to make 14 million while riding the pine? Doubt it.
They have to make some type of modification. I understand that there really aren't too many overtimes in the NFL in a season. Out of all of the games played last year, only 13 went into overtime (which is about 5% of the time). I just hate NFL overtime and I really want to see a change happen.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that the team that wins the coin toss is only at a 60-40 advantage. Considering that a team only has to get into field goal range to win the game, I would think that their odds would be better than that.
ReplyDeleteI don't buy the arguement that the league is worried about the players increased risk of injury. The comissioner has openly said that he wants to expand the regular season to 18 games.
ReplyDeletePutting the players on the field an extra 120 minutes a season is far more dangerous than making them play one or two overtimes.
Exactly on the injury argument.
ReplyDeleteStreble...I was pretty sure you didn't get to watch that 8OT thriller...weren't you at a part in Lex that night with me? I remember Matt Young's sorry ass stopping by afterwards cuz he was there...
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