link Didn't see this posted. A slight tweak to give each team a chance of possession while preserving a bit of sudden deathness.
From what I saw on ESPN's crawl it's something to the effect of... if the team who wins the coin toss makes a FG on the 1st possession the opposing team gets a possession to win, lose or tie. Change the rule or don't change the rule, but don't do this ***** move.
Yea, it's sort of a half-hearted attempt. It's also only for the playoffs, regular season still has the old rules.
I still don't see where it accomplished much because if a team wins the toss and moves in for a td they still win without the other team getting a chance at moving the ball.
I guess its aim is to prevent whoever wins the coin toss from being able to win via a fg after having a mediocre drive in OT. Or for instance if the kickoff return goes to say the 40, then there are a couple controversial penalties that moves the ball to FG range etc. I understand the intent, but it should at least apply to all games, not just playoff games. Personally I would favor the college rule, but have them start at the 35 or 40 yardline, instead of the 25.
They should make it like hockey or soccer. After the first overtime, if it still tied, then each team sends out a kicker and FG team. 5 FG attempts starting at the 20 and backing up every time 5 yards. Blocks returned for TD count as points for the defense. It's be awesome.
I would like to see the rule changed to be more like Soccer in that you play a full overtime period and get rid of the Sudden Death. If its tied after regulation then you play another full quarter. Take out the who scores first part and just play an entire quarter. Whoever is winning at the end of the quarter wins. If its the regular season and its still tied after one overtime quarter just leave the game tied, if its the post season you play extra quarters until someone wins.
NFL has same OT rule for 50 years and they change it for some bs sense of "fairness." Teams have a chance to win the game in 60 minutes, if they cant win, the same ot rules as before should apply.
Will make for some interesting strategy. If I were coaching and my team had the ball 1st. We are within FG range but it is a long one. Do I go for it simply knowing if we make it that the other team will still get a chance to possess the ball and either kick a FG themselves to keep the game alive or score a TD to win........or.......do I pooch punt it close to the goal line and hop our defense can hold them. Then if we get the ball back we can score a FG to win it. Risk if you kick the initial FG too is that if you miss it then the other team gets great field position and can kick a FG to win it outright. Risk/Reward ration of kicking that deep initial FG seems high.
They should make it like a soccer or hockey shootout. You get 5 chances to score starting at the 4 yard line (or wherever). You get 1 pt for each score. The other team does the same thing. Repeat if tied. There's no big deal with order, since you want to score each time, and there's no benefit to being conservative.
Did anyone else find it interesting that the Vikings voted against the rule? If this rule was in place last season they would have gotten the ball back in the NFC Championship.
So an opening drive field goal has been downgraded from "sudden death" to "sudden near-death experience." Got it.
This is definitely a step in the right direction. I would favor an extra 8 to 10 minute period provided that any and all touchdowns must be followed by a 2-point attempt. Otherwise, it would seem that the likelihood of being tied at the end of the extra period is too high.
I always thought that both teams should be able to have at least one chance in OT. I think that if the first team to get the ball scores on that drive (TD or FG) then the other team should get one possession. That said, I prefer the college OT.
