The team that wins the coin toss in over time in a playoff game will get the ball, if that team elects to kick a field goal and makes it then the opposing team will get 1 possession to match or better that. If the opposing team succeeds in matching that field goal then for the remainder of overtime the rules revert back to sudden death. However, if the team that wins the coin toss scores a touchdown on their possession, overtime is over and the opposing team does not get the opportunity to match them.
Here are the positives about this rule change:
1) It gives the team that loses the coin toss an opportunity to win the game, therefore the coin toss no longer "decides" the outcome of the game.
2) A teams overtime strategy will be more complex and more encompassing than "get into field goal range".
Here are the negatives about the changes:
1) The team that wins the toss can score a touchdown and still keep the other team off the field.
2) The rules revert back to sudden death after/(if) both teams kick field goals.
3) The new rules only apply to playoff games, not regular season games.
There are several major problems with the rule change...and its only a matter of time until other people start to realize this! Everyone I talk to and everyone I've heard in the media keeps telling me how good a thing this is, and how great it is that they finally did something about the awful overtime rules! Blah blah blah! What exactly did they do? What exactly did they fix? I'm not so sure that this rule change has much effect on anything at all. In fact...here is a breakdown of just how little this change will mean.
In 1965 the first (true) overtime playoff game was played between the Baltimore Colts and the Green Bay Packers, this is a famous game and everyone knows the Packers won 13-10. This of course was before the NFL was under the current system with the NFC and the AFC. At that time there was only two Divisions, an Eastern and a Western Division, the winner of each Division played against each other in the NFL Championship Game, not yet the Super Bowl. This system started in 1933 and lasted until 1967. Under that system there were no "playoff" games. However, if there was a tie at the end of the season between two teams in the same Division, there would be a one game playoff held to determine the team that would advance to the Championship Game. During the 34 years that this system was in place, only 9 times was it necessary to play that one game playoff, and of those 9 games only the final one went to overtime.
From 1967 to 1969 there were NFL Championship games before the Super Bowl, none of which were overtime games. Then the set up changed again to a more current form of playoff brackets. The Wild Card round was not inserted until 1978, therefore this is where we'll begin...
From 1978 to 2010 there have only been 7 Wild Card games that have gone into overtime out of a possible 110 games played. This means that in the history of Wild Card playoff games only 7.7% of the time is an overtime even relevant. And by the way...5 of those 7 have been played in this decade!
From 1970 to 2010 in the Divisional round games there have only been 9 overtime games out 180 games played. That means that there is 1 overtime game for every 20 played in this round of the playoffs. Again, 5 of those have been played this decade.
From 1970 to 2010 there have been 80 Conference Championship Games played...only 4 overtime games. That is an extremely low amount of games that have gone to overtime, in fact it is only 3.2% of the time that a Conference Championship round game ends up in overtime.
There has never been a Super Bowl go into overtime.
There are quite a few regular season overtime games. In 2002 the NFL set a record with 25 overtime games in one season. But here's the problem with this "rule change"...us fans have been waiting for years and years and years for the sudden death overtime rule to be changed to "fun and entertaining" overtime rules! And this is what we get? This is such a tease...I feel like the league/Roger Goodell rushed to get this done this year and is just forcing this on the rest of us. I do not believe this is the best thing for the NFL to do, and the only reason that something is actually getting done about it right now is because the Vikings didn't get their shot last year. It was a travesty, but at the same time, isn't it a travesty when a team loses in the regular season and doesn't step on the field in OT? Does that not affect the standings and the win/loss column too? Why is this change exclusive to the playoffs? Why is this change only for field goals? And why does it only last (maybe) a maximum of three possessions? How come the Vikings...the main driving force behind the 'something getting done' attitude DID NOT VOTE FOR THE CHANGES?!
The changes should have encompassed all NFL games, pre-season, regular season, and post season! And the "touchdown wins it" thing should not be! Each team should get a possession...the coin flip should determine which team gets the ball and which team gets the ball second. Whoever wins can pick, which would lead to the gamesmanship of, should we kick and get the rebuttal or receive to make our statement? Then, if the first team scores they have to kick-off to the second team, and if the first team doesn't score then they can punt, or kick a field goal, or go for it just like in regulation. But if both teams score a touchdown or kick field goals, just keep it going until some defense makes a play and changes the outcome! How much more exciting would that be? The intensity and the coaching would be great TV and great football, especially in the playoffs.
Hockey has an awesome overtime situation, it makes for exciting and very compelling games. Basketball is fun to watch because its 5 more minutes of the most exciting part of a basketball game! Especially college basketball, great stuff! I just watched Xavier and Kansas State go Double-OT yesterday, and it was awesome! And I could care-less who won, but it was fun to watch. Baseball, its not as exciting but at least it can't end in a tie and its not whoever gets the first run wins. Each team has a shot. College football is probably some of the most exciting with their system, which would not work in the NFL but is unbelievably satisfying to watch in college games. My point is, that the NFL really did a disservice to its fans and to its teams; this change is not satisfying, does not fulfill the needs, and quite frankly is disappointing.
I believe that this was done not for the good of the NFL or the good of the sport, but for hastily appeasing the critics. This thing was thrown together to shut people up and get it off the agenda for the rest of Roger Goodell's dictatorship. I believe we've seen the last of overtime rule changes for a very long time, but you know what? I don't think we've seen the end of complaining because the outcomes of games were tainted, un-fulfilling, and not quite fair.
No comments:
Post a Comment