Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
The Fifth Down at the NYT examines overtime rules today, and highlights the unfairness of the coin toss. If you care to defend the coin toss because "life's unfair," then feel free to introduce other completely unfair elements into the game at random moments, like land mines or random dog attacks "just to spice things up." (Mike Vick joke goes here.) If you think fairness matters, you'll agree that the overtime system needs serious overhauling, since the team that wins the coin toss wins most of the time based on a random, non-athletic event fair only in its unfair application to both teams.
The most intriguing proposal is not the adoption of the Kansas City tiebreaker, the collegiate system for breaking ties at the end of the game. Seven overtime games would kill network executives, and greatly exaggerate the chance of injury. No, the solution that most tickles the ivories involves another thing Americans are very, very fond of: gambling.
3). Silent Auction: Each coach writes down a yard-line at which they would elect to start their offense. The numbers are given to the referee in sealed envelopes; whichever coach picked the lower yard-line wins the auction and get the ball first. The game plays out in sudden death.
Betting on your coach to figure out the optimal strategy for starting the overtime: now there's a lively way to end the game and figure out what coaches actually paid attention during statistics class. Also, we'd start working in penmanship into the equation of coaching excellence. ("Um, Coach Phillips, is that a '48' or a '43?'")
In addition to the random fairness of the plan, you should also note that it gives the Detroit Lions a new and exciting way to lose football games. Whatever the NFL is going to do about overtime, it's certainly not doing anything now: in meetings in March the league deferred any address of the overtime situation since no one had a clear alternative to the current one. This leaves the possibility of a team winning or losing a Super Bowl on the coin toss wide open, and if the NFL wants their Bud Selig moment to happen, well, it's still just sitting there waiting to happen.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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I think college rules are the way to go when it comes to overtime.
by ImNOTsure on Jun 30, 2009 2:45 PM EDT reply actions
I liked the old CFL rules – a 10 minute overtime, and if the game is still tied, it ends in a tie
by mathesond on Jun 30, 2009 3:45 PM EDT reply actions
Give each team one possession. Keep the 15 minute OT clock.
If the team with the ball first scores, then they kick off to the other team, which must match or better the first team’s result.
If still tied after each team has one possession, it becomes sudden death. Then there’s no complaining about one team not getting the ball and it’s still in the context of a real football game, not some goofy
If there’s a turnover resulting in a score on the first possession, the game is over.
I’m sorry, but college’s OT is just as horrible as the NFL’s OT.
Half joking, but the silent auction idea isn’t horrible……
by msgg139 on Jun 30, 2009 4:03 PM EDT reply actions
Give each team one possession. Keep the 15 minute OT clock.
If the team with the ball first scores, then they kick off to the other team, which must match or better the first team’s result.
If still tied after each team has one possession, it becomes sudden death. Then there’s no complaining about one team not getting the ball and it’s still in the context of a real football game, not some goofy (edit) gimmick which looks more like the home run derby or a shootout
If there’s a turnover resulting in a score on the first possession, the game is over.
I’m sorry, but college’s OT is just as horrible as the NFL’s OT.
Half joking, but the silent auction idea isn’t horrible……
by msgg139 on Jun 30, 2009 4:03 PM EDT reply actions
and if both coaches hand in the same starting point, posession will be awarded via coin flip.
o, wait, nevermind.
by psudrozz on Jun 30, 2009 4:17 PM EDT reply actions
Have two pitbulls (wearing respective team jerseys) fight to the death at the 50 yard line. This would also replace the coin flip.
by L'etat, c'est moi on Jun 30, 2009 7:06 PM EDT reply actions
since defense wins championships, why the hell would anyone have a problem with defense winning overtimes???
by sorum84 on Jun 30, 2009 8:30 PM EDT reply actions
I too agree, one possession each. It’s only fair.
by CUSHjc on Jun 30, 2009 9:22 PM EDT reply actions
I really like the idea of the auction format but what if both coaches want the ball so badly that they both write down the 1 yard line. What happens then?
by cocktaildale on Jul 1, 2009 4:15 PM EDT reply actions
I think the NFL overtime rules are MUCH better than college. In college, if you are the second team with the ball, you are basically working with an extra down, knowing what you need to at least tie. In the NFL, overtime is structured as an actual game. If the team that gets the ball first wins most of the time, who cares?? The point of overtime is to declare a winner. If nobody could win in regulation, the first team to score should win, in my opinion.
If the overtime rules are to change, they should be something like: there’s 15 minutes placed on the clock, whoever wins the coin toss can choose if they want the ball or the choice of end zones, but you need a touchdown to win (or even 6 points total, to account for the possibility of a safety). If the clock expires before this happens, the game ends in a tie, or, if it’s a playoff game, it continues until somebody gets 6. I actually like this idea.
by rmb421 on Jul 1, 2009 9:10 PM EDT reply actions
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