The Overtime Rules being changed

Changing the Overtime rule causes teams to have a fair opportunity to come back in the playoffs. The rule allows each team to possess the ball in extra play unless the club that receives the opening kickoff scores a touchdown. If the opening drive results in a field goal, the opposing team gets the opportunity to match the score or touchdown to win. The discussions around overtime come more than two months after the 2021 NFL’s playoffs, which saw six of the final seven games decided by three points or less. owners will debate the Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles’ proposal that requests possessions for both teams in overtime, regardless of whether a touchdown is scored on the first possession. Allowing both teams an automatic possession could prolong games and increase the risk for injuries.Ten years ago, the league changed its rules to bring an end to “sudden death” overtime, which a team could win with just a field goal. Instead, the team that received the opening kickoff of the extra period could only win on their first possession with a touchdown. The tweak to the rule has proven a half-measure, especially in the playoffs. Of the 12 postseason games that have been played under this iteration of overtime rules, 10 have been won by the team that won the opening coin toss, including seven won on the opening possession of the extra period.

First, we found the problem of the Overtime rules not being changed in the first place. Changing the Overtime rule can affect the integrity of the NFL. But as we know now, they changed the rules the other day to allow both teams to get the ball in Overtime, but only in the playoffs. In this year’s postseason, it happened again, this time with Mahomes on the winning side of the equation.

In the article, “The NFL is flirting with another overtime rule-change that would fix a problem that has haunted the NFL postseason”, It’s a clever solution, if not a bit gimmicky. While that rule change did not come to pass, a year later the league is still debating ways to give every team a fair shake in the extra period.Just one week after the Chiefs beat the Bills in overtime by keeping the Buffalo offense on the sidelines during the extra period, Mahomes and the Chiefs won the overtime coin toss again, this time against the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game. The NFL is once again looking at changing the rules of overtime. Proposed rules could ensure that both teams get a possession in overtime. The proposed rule changes come after several teams lost overtime playoff games without touching the ball.

 The NFL for years resisted changing its overtime rules to guarantee both teams a possession. When the Chiefs proposed it in 2019 following their AFC Championship loss to the Patriots, the idea had so little support that it was dropped altogether. When the NFL originally changed overtime rules in 2010 to a modified sudden-death format, it was because kickers had become too good, and it was too easy to win the game with a long field goal. Now the rules have to change again because the quarterbacks and offenses are so good. 

The NFL made permanent the rule from last season that a team may have only nine players in the box when receiving an onside kick. The onside-kick recovery numbers dipped to 7.8 percent from 2018-20 and jumped to 13.5 percent in 2021, around the NFL’s historical levels.the NFL’s TV ratings for the overtime playoff games this year were through the roof and that the league’s data confirm that the fan wants to see his quarterback touch the ball. 

The new rule guarantees each team a possession no matter the game clock. If overtime expires before the second team has completed its possession, the game will continue into a second overtime. If both teams score a touchdown on their opening possessions, the game turns to sudden death and a field goal wins it. The NFL approved a resolution from Baltimore, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Tampa Bay that would allow teams to deny job interviews for secondary positions for, say, an assistant general manager or college scouting director until after the NFL Draft in late April. This is to prevent teams from losing key personnel and all the research they conducted to that point. 

The discussions around overtime come more than two months after the 2021 NFL’s playoffs, which saw six of the final seven games decided by three points or less.  It’s a clever solution, if not a bit gimmicky. While that rule change did not come to pass, a year later the league is still debating ways to give every team a fair shake in the extra period. The NFL approved two health and safety measures. One requires players to wear sensors during training camp to collect injury data. The other requires all linemen, tight ends, and linebackers to wear a padded cover known as a Guardian Cap on their helmets during all practices and team activities to help prevent concussions.

We know that there are many factors that contribute to the NFL making the switch for the league. In this year’s postseason, it happened again, this time with Mahomes on the winning side of the equation. After the Bills and Chiefs traded blows during the most thrilling final two minutes in the history of the NFL, Kansas City won the overtime coin toss and drove the field to punch their ticket to the AFC title game. As Mahomes marched toward victory, Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The Patriots’ AFC Championship win over the Chiefs and Super Bowl win over the Falcons are two of the seven games that ended on the first possession. The two games in which the winning team lost the coin toss were the Rams’ victory over the Saints in the 2019 NFC Championship. This is why the rules needed to be changed and it did thankfully. 

Yahoo! (n.d.). The NFL is flirting with another overtime rule-change that would fix a problem that has haunted the NFL postseason. Yahoo! News. Retrieved April 3, 2022, from

https://news.yahoo.com/nfl-flirting-another-overtime-rule-205502411.html

NFL changes overtime format for postseason games only. MSN. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2022, from https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/nfl-changes-overtime-format-for-postseason-games-only/ar-AAVBXEB

Young, J. (2022, March 25). There’s momentum to change the NFL’s overtime rule as owners prepare for Annual meetings. CNBC. Retrieved April 3, 2022, from

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/25/nfl-overtime-rule-change-has-momentum-executive-says.html