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

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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.