Tim Benz: Biggest change necessary for NFL overtime? Stop pretending it can make everybody happy
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I don’t really care if the NFL’s Competition Committee decides that changes are necessary for overtime rules.
I just want a rule in place that precludes everybody from complaining about them.
Because it seems like every season we wind up whining over whatever overtime rules are currently in place as a result of an extra-session playoff result we don’t like.
Call me skeptical, but I don’t see human nature changing just because the rules might change.
According to Judy Battista of the NFL Network, the Competition Committee is set to meet in Indianapolis this week to discuss several subjects, and chairman Rich McKay said Sunday, “There is no question proposed changes to overtime will be brought up.”
This is largely a reaction to how the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in overtime of their epic 42-36 overtime playoff game last month. After a wild fourth quarter that featured 28 points, with both offenses moving up and down the field at will in the waning moments, Buffalo never got to touch the ball in overtime.
That’s because, under current NFL rules, the team that wins the coin toss in overtime can end the game if they score a touchdown on their first possession. The Chiefs did exactly that, and the Bills never got to play offense.
MAHOMES TO KELCE.
THE @CHIEFS WIN THE GAME OF THE YEAR! #NFLPlayoffs #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/9eM2Ur15O0
— NFL (@NFL) January 24, 2022
Of course, the great irony is that Kansas City suggested a rule change to overtime after the same thing happened to them in the 2019 playoffs. Back then, the Chiefs lost a 37-31 OT affair to New England when the Patriots won the coin toss and Tom Brady led a game-ending scoring drive with K.C.’s offense never touching the field.
Go figure, huh?
According to NFL research cited by Battista, under these rules, coin-toss winners came out victorious in 52.8% of overtime games.
Pretty even. In the postseason exclusively, however, coin-toss winners are 10-1.
That shouldn’t be a surprise. If you are in the playoffs, that usually means better quarterbacks. Hence, more chances for a first possession TD.
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I remember making this exact complaint when the rules were changed in 2010. Before then, all a winning team needed was to get a field goal after winning the coin toss, which felt even more disproportionate.
But if possession is the big thing here and minimizing the impact of the coin toss is what matters, why didn’t they mandate at least one touch offensively per team in the first place in 2010? We all knew the potential for this next level of discontent was going to manifest.
One concern was about player safety. If a game that went beyond 60 minutes had the potential to end after 65 minutes or so in overtime, why give the coin-flip loser a chance to push it beyond 70 in the playoffs (or just create a tie) with another touchdown in an era when we are trying to minimize player risk?
A second issue was perceived concern over games — especially those in the playoffs — bleeding into the next broadcast window and potentially splitting audiences for an indeterminable amount of time.
How could either of those topics suddenly be less of an issue now? What changed?
And let’s say an adjustment is made to let both teams at least touch the ball once. If the Bills and Chiefs do it all over again next January, is it any more “fair” if they both score a touchdown on their initial possessions of overtime and the coin-flip winner kicks a field goal on the third one?
Are we going to complain about that next? Do the offensive possessions have to be equal before we are happy? Do we have to treat NFL overtime like baseball innings where everyone gets a fair number of at-bats?
If so, let’s just adopt a modified version of the college overtime rules now and skip the middle step because I’m tired of the constant complaints. Play untimed like the college kids do. Just have the drives start back at the offensive 40-yard line or midfield to minimize the reliance on NFL kickers. Or put the ball at the 25-yard line and make field goals illegal, i.e., touchdowns or bust.
However the NFL decides to restructure overtime, the coaches, players, media and fans need to understand there is no perfect system. Things will be flawed either in practicality, fairness or injury risk. The Competition Committee just needs to prioritize what it deems to be the most important.
I say give each team at least one possession, in both the regular season and playoffs. Keep the clock at 10 minutes for regular season games. If it’s tied after 10 minutes, it’s tied.
Extend it back up to 15 in overtime for the playoffs. That makes it more likely a game ends in one overtime as opposed to starting all over again in overtime No. 2.
If it does get to overtime No. 2 in a playoff game, tough. The next score wins. Sudden death. Like the old days.
You can only be so fair for so long.