San Jose Bills Fan Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 there should be a winner and loser at the end of the game not a tie. At the end of 15 minutes they should bring out the Kickers put the ball at the 30 yard line and kick a field goal. if they both make it, then they move back 5 yards first person to miss their team loses. Interesting. A shootout approach to OT. Buffalo Barbarian loves the kicking game. He'd love this. The NFL is strange in that they are the only professional sport in which the overtime rules differ from the way the game is played during regulation. In the NHL, they play until someone scores a goal, and its fair. In MLB, they play as many innings necessary until a team comes out ahead. And in the NBA, they play 5 minute periods until a team wins. The NFL needs to adopt one of two policies: The first one, which I favor, is to embrace ties. For some reason, they are looked at as terrible in American sports. This baffles me. They are half a win, and for two professional teams battling for 60 minutes, sometimes half a win is a win. For instance, this season, the Bills would have had a half against the Bengals, the Jets would have a half win against the Patriots, and the Dolphins would have a half win against the Bengals as well, making everyone at the bottom of the East 4-6-1. It adds complexity to the playoff race, and makes strategies in the fourth quarter much more interesting. The second one, which I feel should be used in playoffs, is to just play another 15 minute quarter. This adds the element of comebacks and clock management to the overtime period, something which is lacking. Imagine a team going up 14-0 in overtime and then losing? Again, I think that this scenario should only be used in the playoffs, but I would love to see it. I don't disagree with your opinions in the last two paragraphs. However as GG has pointed out, the bolded above is an apples to oranges discussion. Football is not comparable in any way to hockey or basketball but is somewhat similar to baseball in that the possessions are very well-defined. And of course baseball in theory gives each team an equal chance to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibs Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 (edited) Still don't like it. I had a hard time explaining it to one of my friends and it seems that even I got it wrong. Reinforces my point that it is confusing. I don't recall anyone complaining about the old rule. Sudden death creates a sense of urgency right from the get go. This way one team can just settle for trying to hold the other team from scoring a touchdown, whereas before they had to be more on top of their game defensively. Don't like it at all. I don't think that complexity is in any way out of place for the game. Have you ever tried to explain the basics of Football to somebody who has no idea of the rules? "You get 4 attempts to get 10 yards. If you don't succeed the opposition gets possession of the ball at the spot where you failed. Most teams will chose to punt the ball away or attempt a field goal if they haven't got the 10 yards needed in their first 3 attempts." "What's a punt?" "Kicking the ball. .....they will chose to punt the ball away if they don't have the 10 yards by third down." "What's a down?" "The 4 attempts are called downs. 1st down, 2nd down etc." "But I saw the ball thrown on the 2nd attempt and called a 1st down." "There is two definitions for the word down. Getting the 10 yards needed from the 1st down spot, even achieved on any down, is called getting a 1st down." "Ummm.....okay. What if they get the 10 yards?" "They get a new set of downs." "Ahhh....so the ball is moved in 10 yard increments down the field!" "No....if the ball moves further than 10 yards then the new set of downs starts from where the ball has moved to." "What if the ball only moves 5 yards?" etc, etc, etc. The game is not the easiest to explain at the best of times. Edited November 29, 2013 by Dibs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wnysteel Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 The number is 60%. I just saw a study from 8 nfl seasons and if you lose the coin toss you have only a 40% chance of winning. It was from 124 OT games. Most people, including me, feel that flipping a coin shouldn't play such a big role in a football game. You and Tucker think it should. I'd rather put the result on skill and playing the game instead of how a referee flips a coin. but playing defense is part of the game! also, your 60/40 stat is skewed i believe. you need to look at how many times a team won the coin toss, and on the first drive in OT, drove the length of the field and won. maybe 60% of the time the coin toss winner won the game, but NOT on the opening drive. could be the 2nd or even 3rd drive. so that stat is not entirely relevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prissythecat Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 but playing defense is part of the game! also, your 60/40 stat is skewed i believe. you need to look at how many times a team won the coin toss, and on the first drive in OT, drove the length of the field and won. maybe 60% of the time the coin toss winner won the game, but NOT on the opening drive. could be the 2nd or even 3rd drive. so that stat is not entirely relevant. The Advanced NFL Stats site did a study on this. They said that in about 30% of all overtime losses in their sample , the losing team never got to touch the ball. That is a lot. http://www.advancednflstats.com/2008/10/how-important-is-coin-flip-in-ot.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 But back before the kickoff was moved to the 30 the split was pretty close to 50-50. IIRC, it was 48%-52% with the team getting the ball winning slightly less than 1/2 the time. This is an elaborate solution, beyond what was neccessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 The Advanced NFL Stats site did a study on this. They said that in about 30% of all overtime losses in their sample , the losing team never got to touch the ball. That is a lot. http://www.advancednflstats.com/2008/10/how-important-is-coin-flip-in-ot.html What's the percentage these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 What's the percentage these days? I'm thinking that since the rule has been in place less than two full seasons that the sample size isn't really large enough for valid numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 I'm thinking that since the rule has been in place less than two full seasons that the sample size isn't really large enough for valid numbers. right. i guess my point is, it can still happen - so 30% isnt the true advantage compared to the current system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 I like the new OT rules...a lot. So do I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 I guess I'm the only one that loves college overtime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatloaf Sandwich Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 (edited) This is the best situation it gives your defense a chance and the offense a chance to win it for you. If one can't do it oh well. I love it. Edited November 30, 2013 by Meatloaf Sandwich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artmalibu Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 OT periods should not be sudden death!! 8 minute ot periods till the game is won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
section122 Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I guess I'm the only one that loves college overtime. Nah count me in as well. I do wish they started outside of fg range though. The 50 in college and adapt it to maybe the other 40 in the pros Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leelee Phoenix Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 College OT won't work for the pros because it could take too long. The DAL/NYG "America's Game of the Week!" was funny. There were like no commercials in the 1st quarter while the GB tie was going on. Dear Leader Goodell can't have such nonsense. I think OT will be scrapped altogether soon. And I wouldn't mind that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Nah count me in as well. I do wish they started outside of fg range though. The 50 in college and adapt it to maybe the other 40 in the pros I like it, too, but that would be a very good tweak. Like Ms. Phoenix above me said, though, it won't work in the NFL - 60 Minutes isn't waiting THAT long to go on the air! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metzelaars_lives Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I agree . The new rules are pretty straightforward. Not sure why there are a lot of folks out there complaining about them. Its a lot fairer than having a team win based on winning the coin toss and then kicking a FG. Because no matter what, some people will always argue with everything. Example: the first lady says that kids should try and eat healthy. Who could argue with kids eating healthier? Plenty of people. And at the end of the day, after a decade or so has passed and we have a fair enough sample size, you will see that your odds of winning the game after winning the coin toss will be much closer to 50% than they were when it was first FG wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Anybody see the Packers-Vikings tie? Did the new rules have a factor on that? I wonder if we will see slightly more ties or that was a blip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah John Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I have never understood why having ties was bad. The NFL and AFL did it for years and it was just part of the game. My first choice would be to eliminate OT completely. My second choice, assuming OT will continue, is to allow only touchdowns to win in OT, while continuing the rule that each team gets to have the ball at least once. If both teams or neither team scores a TD on its first possession, the next TD by either team wins. My third choice is to keep the current system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagentqb Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I'm probably the only person on this planet who wants the game to just continue into a 5th quarter with sudden death. No coin flip. The team who had the ball keeps the ball right where it was when the 4th qtr ended. They just continue play till someone scores. Thus overtime is just an extension of the 4th qtr. Seems to be the simplest and fairest way to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 29 years of fanhood Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Why not just add a quarter if it's tied, highest score at the end wins. If it's tied add another Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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