Debating NFL Overtime Rules…Which System Works Best?
Posted by qbert1387 on February 10th, 2012
The overtime rules in the NFL have come under a lot of scrutiny, especially in recent years. There are two basic guidelines to work from: the current NFL system of first team to score wins, or the college football rules of each team get a chance with the ball and they keep playing until one team outscores the other. Which one is the fairest? Well, personally I think the college way builds more excitement and drama, but it might look weird for NFL talent starting a drive automatically from their opponents’ 25-yard line. On the other hand, the NFL style, though very quick and final, does seem unbalanced seeing as how the overwhelming majority of teams who win the coin toss end up winning the game in overtime. What to do…what to do? Here are a couple ways to mold these current ideas into something a little more fair.
If the NFL continues using its current set of rules for the overtime, a coin toss should not be the deciding factor in who wins. Now, the idea of sudden death to break a tie itself is not a bad idea, but I don’t like that a measly flip of a coin can decide a teams’ fate before they even get to step out onto the field. There must be a plan in place that allows both teams an equal opportunity to play offense. For example, perhaps teams can “bid on the ball”. What I mean is instead of teams choosing heads or tails, teams can essentially bid on what yard-line they’d like to start from and continue moving farther away from the opponents’ endzone until one team decides to let the other start from that far away. In other words, if a team is so desperate to start on offense first to the point that they’d start from their own 1 yard-line, OK, fine, you get to begin overtime with the ball first, but you’re starting from your own endzone. It’s a matter of teams continuing to bid on playing offense first until one team finds it’s not worth it enough from starting so far away. Though strange sounding, it affords both teams equal opportunity to have the ball first.
The other idea that’s been circulating is for the NFL to change to the NCAA football system of overtime. This is where both teams each get the ball and continue to take turns on offense (from the opponents’ 25 yard-line) until one team outscores the other. In other words, if team 1 scores a field, team 2 needs to score a touchdown to win or a field goal of their own to continue the tie and the overtime. Meanwhile, a defensive stop counts as a team’s offensive attempt, so the other team can score in any way to win. I find when watching college football overtimes, there seems to be more intrigue and drama around it. However, I don’t think the NFL should shy away from their system of a more traditional sudden death ideology. But, just for the sake of argument, if the NFL decided to use this system I would only disagree with automatically starting at the opponent’s 25 yard-line. Kick the ball off and begin like any other overtime.
One thing is for sure. Whatever is decided, keep it consistent. This year’s NFL playoffs system for overtime was tweaked in comparison to the regular season. First off, like I said, the inconsistency is unacceptable. But also, the rules sounded absurd. Basically, they tried to infuse partial ideas from college, but only for teams’ first drive. A touchdown, no matter what ends it. A field goal allows the other team to have a shot on offense to tie with a field goal (continuing the overtime) or win with a touchdown. But, after each teams’ first drives, all of that is out the window, and it reverts back to the NFL’s original system of first to score wins. Now, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense has nothing to complain about after giving up that 80-yard touchdown to Tebow in the Wild Card round, but most fans seemed to disapprove of the playoff overtime rules. So, on that note, at least there is one overtime idea we’re not debating about.
