REALLY glad to see this change, and frankly I don’t think it should be limited to the playoffs. I hate seeing a team win the toss, kick a field goal and go home. The change in a nutshell goes like this:
The team that wins the toss gets the ball. If they score a touchdown, game over they win. If they kick a field goal, the other team gets the ball. If the other team scores a touchdown, game over they win. If they fail to score, they lose. If they kick a field goal, the first team gets the ball back and we go back to standard sudden death rules.
Excellent move by the NFL, and this is one reason why it is such a great sport - they aren’t afraid to tweak their core rules to improve the product. Unlike, say baseball (which I still love, dammit), which is so beholden to tradition that they cling to it despite its glaring flaws.
ETA: Crap I screwed up the title. I meant to say “New NFL playoff overtime rules”. Hopefully a helpful mod will fix this
It didn’t say what happens on a safety, I would assume the team who gets the 2 points from the safety would win. If the first team fails to score & the other team scores an FG, the other team wins.
The idea behind the rule is that if you get the ball first, then the onus is on you to take care of business, score a touchdown and win the game. If you can’t even muster a field goal, and can’t prevent the other team from kicking a field goal, you deserve to lose. I agree with those sentiments. I do agree that having a different system in the playoffs is kinda lame, which is why I think it should be a global change. I think the current sudden death system, however, stinks.
Terrible change. Of course, we can’t really say for sure, as the NFL doesn’t let anyone see their rules. But what happens if the first team kicks a FG, and then recovers an onside kick? Is that ok? And it doesn’t guarantee the second team a full possession: The clock will still end the game at 15 minutes. Unless the FIRST team is still in possession. What happens if the defense intercepts, but then fumbles? Is that a possession?
I do think it’s a good change, but it should apply to all games - not just playoffs. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but it was something like 70% of the coin toss winners ended up winning the game. That tell’s me that there’s something wrong with OT and should be addressed.
If the game is tied at the end of regulation, it pretty much just comes down to a coinflip the way the current rules are.
I do think the rule needed changing, I don’t think this was a good change, and I don’t like having different rules for the playoffs.
I would imagine that recovering an onside kick after a FG just wins the game, and that if the defense intercepts and then fumbles that is considered a possession for them, but who knows.
I’m not really bothered by your other issues, which seem like extreme edge cases, but this is one I didn’t think about. I would assume that would mean a win, but I dunno.
My NFL OT rule, if they had to change it: First to lead by 4 points wins. If the lead is less than 4 at the end of 15 minutes, the score at that point stands. If it’s still tied, continue on with the same rules: A 4 point lead ends the game, otherwise, play on till the end of an OT period.
Teams are not guaranteed a possession, just the opportunity for a possession. So a field goal/onside kick combination would seem to end the game. Some clarification
I kind of like the “Win by 4” thought, though maybe they should allow a safety to end the game as well since safeties are fairly rare and kind of awesome to get.
Then again the team that generates a safety gets the ball back as well as 2 points, but how lame would that be to get one and then lose by a TD?
