“What we’ve seen in our statistics is that historically, about 30 percent of the games in overtime are decided with a team who wins the coin flip scoring on the first possession. That number has risen to about 47 percent. That’s significant, and I think it’s something our committee needs to look at.”
That’s the commissioner, Roger Goodell, speaking about NFL overtime.
I’m fine with the way overtime is decided, but I heard ESPN’s Mike and Mike discuss an interesting twist this morning. The idea they mentioned would change the rule so that the first team to six points would win the game. The goal there would be to eliminate games from being decided on a 50 yard field goal.
It’s not horrible. It would increase the chances of both teams getting the ball in a way better than the college rule.
I still think that your defense should just stop the opposition. If you can’t prevent a big runback or keep the opponent pinned on their own twenty, why should you win the game anyway? You had three hours to win.
Other considerations are eliminating field goal tries on the first possession (silly, that’s not football), or just placing the ball on the twenty yard line.
The NFL ain’t broken, other than a Super Bowl matchup that has many folks underwhelmed, don’t fix it.
http://www.examiner.com/x-2643-NY-Sports-Examiner~y2009m2d1-NFL-considering-change-to-overtime-rule
www.metspolice.com
