NFL Overtime Changes

Here’s my suggestion:

Dont tell the opposing team’s QB that a game can end in a tie and let him cake his way through OT.

Of course, I speak of Don McNabb….hahaha…what a moron!!!!

I just watched the BSPN crew debate how a veteran QB could not know the rules of overtime.

Leave it the way it is. It’s rare that games end in a tie. Teams have five quarters to settle game. If you change the rules and have a team that plays the following thursday night, that team would be spent after the first quarter of the following game if they had to play two or three extra quarters the sunday before to try to win the game with a TD.

I think it’s a little silly especially when you get into 6 OT’s and 70-63 basketball scores. It’s way too favorable to the offense to start out in field goal range and is such a crapshoot it doesn’t matter how much better one team might be than the other. I strongly believe if you gave each team the ball at the 50-yard line most of those games would end within 2 OT periods. Also, starting the OT at the 50 would increase the odds of the defense making a stop instead of the way it is now which is shockingly lopsided in favor of the offense.

I think the main complaint with FG sudden death is that is gives such an advantage to whoever wins the toss, leaving too much of the outcome up to chance.

Here’s a good discussion of this proposal. It is from 1994 so this question has been around for a while.

Some basic points:

- Prior to 1994 when the kickoff was moved back 5 yards to the 30, who won the toss did not significantly affect the outcome
- Since 1994, nearly one-third of overtime games have been won on the first possession by the team that received the ball first, and there is a 99.99% statistical certainty that the coin flip has made a difference in the outcome of the game over the last 10 years
- The first-to-six proposal does decrease the probabilities that the receiving team wins the game, but it also increases the probability of a tie

Considering that, my proposal would be to have the OT kickoff only from the 35. If prior to 1994 when the kickoff was at the 35 the impact of the coin toss was not statistically significant, that seems like the most simple, easy solution to the question.

Instead of making it sudden death, just play the extra quarter and take the final score. If it’s still a tie, then so be it, but both teams have a fair shot. You would still get the coin toss, kickoff, etc.

I like the college format, but the NFL will never do it due to the effect on stats and the points tiebreaker.

My simple solution would be to give each team an equal number of possessions only within the flow of a normal game instead of giving each team the ball at a predetermined spot on the field the way they do in college or allowing a team that ended an overtime period on offense to also start the next OT on offense.

For example, if the team that won the toss scored a field goal on its opening possession the other team would have a chance to extend the game with a field goal or win it outright with a touchdown. Like the college game, this would go on until the team with the even numbered possessions (2nd, 4th, 6th) failed to match whatever score the opposing team had put on the board.

Of course, defensive touchdowns no matter which team possessed the ball first would end the game since a turnover would……

A.) constitute a change of possession if the first team to receive the ball committed the turnover.
B.) or in a scenario where the team with the opening kickoff failed to score but the other threw a pick-six on its only possession that could be considered as the other team still managing to score in the first overtime period even if technically they would have had an extra possession due to having received the opening kickoff. This would be an extra wrinkle giving the defense incentive to run a turnover back to the house so as to not give the other team another possession and end the game immediately.

by the league is to minimize injuries through extra play. You’ve got teams that have just just spent an entire game beating each other up. The prospect of extending that even further with a rule change beyond what’s currently in place has no chance of happening. Look no further than the AZ game – Pro Bowl QB lost for 3 games, Pro Bowl punter lost for the season. No need for fundamental rule change when it only happens every 6 or so years.

Lastly, a great line by Trey Wingo to the effect, the Iggles had 5 Quarters to beat CIN and still couldn’t do it.

the kickers should have to arm wrestle on the 50 to decide the games. Go Folk!

If you lose the coin toss than play some damn defense.

i like the college OT, but move the starting position out of FG range. make them earn at least a couple first downs to be in FG position.