Don’t look now, but the NFL is once again considering changing their overtime rules format.
Specifically, the league seeks consistency in resolving its tie games by making the regular-season and postseason overtime rules the same.
“In the postseason, overtime is considerably different. Postseason overtime periods are 15 minutes long, and both teams are guaranteed a possession. If the game is tied after both teams possess the ball, the next score wins.”
Since 2011, the team winning the overtime toss has won the game over 56% of the time, so the game’s outcome has become increasingly determined by a coin flip. This scenario isn’t acceptable to most fans, players, coaches, and owners, who have millions of dollars and thousands of hours invested into the outcome of regular-season contests, which go a long way toward determining postseason qualifications and seeding.
It’s good to see the league finally doing something about it,
