DozOnLife
  • Blogs
    • Sports
    • Music
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Advice
    • Everything Else
  • About
  • Contact

The NFL Finally Fixed Its Overtime Rules (Spoiler Alert: They Still Need Tweaking)

3/29/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Image Source
After years of complaints that NFL Playoff Overtime rules are unfair (which they were), the league has FINALLY guaranteed both teams a possession, regardless of what happened on the opening drive....unless the defense scores a safety...they didn't include anything about pick/fumble-6s, but I think it's safe to assume those would end the game as well since they previously did!

From NFL Now: The owners have changed the overtime rules — for the postseason only. pic.twitter.com/ttZwf2uYIN

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 29, 2022
Thanks to the owners' 29-3 vote, this rule change is only for the postseason and goes into effect immediately.

Say what you want about whether or not a team should "make a stop" in a sport where every rule favors the offense if they "really want to win," but the data over a solid sample size proves that the team who wins the OT coin toss has a distinct advantage. Since 2010 when the former adjusted sudden death rules went into place, every team except for the 2018 Saints and 2021 Chiefs that won the OT coin toss won the game.

Here’s what the NFL’s new OT rule is trying to guard against: Over the past decade, teams that won the overtime coin flip in the postseason were 10-2, including seven of those 10 wins coming on the opening possession.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 29, 2022
​The league finally adopted the common-sense notion that both teams in America's most popular professional sport deserve a chance to possess the ball in overtime. Bravo, NFL!

Even though my Patriots highly benefitted from this unjust rule, I'm glad a change was made. It just feels like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole. It doesn't address the fact that it still favors the team who gets the ball first in a league where every rule favors the offense. It'd be one thing if these were the rules in 1971, but in today's NFL, everything is skewed towards the offense.

If both teams score a field goal or touchdown with the same outcome on the PAT/2 point try, it basically becomes sudden death. The argument goes from "I can't believe X didn't get a chance to possess the ball" to "I can't believe X didn't get a chance to match." It's like if a baseball game went to extra innings and the away team scored a run in the top of the 10th, the home team matched in the bottom of the inning, then in the top of the 11th, the away team scored, and the game ended.

Again, this is better than the previous rule; I just wholeheartedly believe my "overtime innings" proposal would be the best and most impartial way to end things, but as we know, living in a country that legislates bigotry, life is not always fair. Fingers crossed, though! Hopefully, this is just the first step towards an idea similar to mine. I don't even need credit; I only want to help make my favorite sport even better, but this is a step in the right direction.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blogs
    • Sports
    • Music
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Advice
    • Everything Else
  • About
  • Contact