Changing OT in playoffs

[Scott Dierking]

2 minutes ago, More Cowbell said:

Well here is another reason it won't  happen. It exposes player to more injury risk. After a full game these players are not just physically  fatigued,  they are mentally fatigued as well and that is how injuries happen, when you aren't  alert. In your scenario, a team can score more than once. Can you imagine if a team in this extra period is down two TD's and a player sustains a career ending injury?

Don't think you read my proposal. In mine, there is a mini-halftime. A 10 minute break for teams to regroup.

[More Cowbell]

2 minutes ago, Scott Dierking said:

Don't think you read my proposal. In mine, there is a mini-halftime. A 10 minute break for teams to regroup.

I don’t  think sitting around for 10 minutes drinking gatorade will help all that much. They still just player a full game. Your whole premise is based on this one game. What we saw is not normal. 

[Scott Dierking]

Just now, More Cowbell said:

I don’t  think sitting around for 10 minutes drinking gatorade will help all that much. They still just player a full game. Your whole premise is based on this one game. What we saw is not normal. 

You really are all over the place here. You don't think an entire team taking a 15 minute respite from activity is resting? Heck, during a game defensive players come out for a series of downs and come back in. 

As I previously reported in this thread, the league is actually looking at changing the rules through the competition committee. So this is not that off base.

[Sperm Edwards]

45 minutes ago, Scott Dierking said:

In my scenario, the coin flip would still exist, and the winner of the flip gets to choose same as beginning of the game. Good read though, but I felt the movie may be better.

Bah, with the movie you get the director's influence more than the author's. Did you learn nothing from Hotlips making her dinner speech in Back to School?

If the coin toss still exists, then just have a coin toss. The only way to truly even it out is to play two OT periods, and switch sides in between like a second halftime. Otherwise there's still an inherent disadvantage for one team, which defeats the purpose. If the wind is so extreme, as it is from time to time, it's no less of an advantage than first possession.

Four quarters, where they switch sides at halftime, is more than enough for anyone to sort out complaints of unfairness. Buffalo could've kicked it to the ~5 and/or they also could've just not given up 50 yards in 2 plays, with :13 seconds left, on obvious passing downs. They have themselves to blame far more than a coin toss.

[Snell41]

It's ridiculously unfair. Games should not be decided by a coin toss.
Play a full extra quarter with sudden death implemented if there's no winner after that. Let the team's control who had possession entering that phase by going straight into sudden death from the previous play. 

The game wasn’t decided by a coin toss, it was decided by a defense that couldn’t make a stop. And if BUF won the way they should have (not even going to overtime) then the narrative would have been KC didn’t win because the D couldn’t get a stop. BUF lost the game because they kicked it into the end zone and because they completely abandoned their defensive philosophy and went prevent for KC’s last 2 drives.


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[Scott Dierking]

22 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

Bah, with the movie you get the director's influence more than the author? Did you learn nothing from Hotlips making her dinner speech in Back to School?

If the coin toss still exists, then just have a coin toss. The only way to truly even it out is to play two OT periods, and switch sides in between like a second halftime. Otherwise there's still an inherent disadvantage for one team, which defeats the purpose. If the wind is so extreme, as it is from time to time, it's no less of an advantage than first possession.

Four quarters, where they switch sides at halftime, is more than enough for anyone to sort out complaints of unfairness. Buffalo could've kicked it to the ~5 and/or they also could've just not given up 50 yards in 2 plays, with :13 seconds left, on obvious passing downs. They have themselves to blame far more than a coin toss.

I am fine with everything you say here, and agree that would be better than what they have today. My personal solution took into consideration that the NFL supposedly cares a bout injuries. Not that I believe that for one second, but I tried to eliminate that argument.

All good, and I still like you. 

[Sperm Edwards]

16 minutes ago, slimjasi said:

I don't love the OT rules, but the Bills have no one to blame but themselves, Inexcusable coaching and defense in the last 13 seconds. 

When you kicking off up by a FG with 13 seconds left in the game, you are supposed to win.

100%

Look, I find it an interesting discussion (other ideas to fix it) but there's always going to be something wrong with any system.

Even if another quarter or two seems fair on paper, it's too much football for one game. We like more football as fans, but it's too exhausting for too many key players. It's not a video game, where players don't get tired (or where an early lead, which lasts for 2+ OT possessions, is negated because they play a full quarter or more). There's always a downside, and we don't see it until a game presents itself to show that unaccounted-for downside. 

Bad officiating (all game long) - bad calls, bad non-calls - is far more often the determinant of who wins than OT coin tosses anyway. What to do? Put more refs on the field, to get those calls right, and now the refs are in the way. Again, there's always a downside, and there is no perfect system.

Win the game in regulation, where each team has equal halves with the ball and/or with the wind.

Buffalo had the opportunity to stop them with less than a TD in OT, and even more so with less than a FG at the end of regulation. For the #1 defense, more than 9x out of 10, burying that kickoff or not doesn't matter, and this is a moot discussion anyway. At the same time, had he not buried it and the KO was returned for a TD then I'm sure McDermott would've been killed for that, too. 

[Beerfish]

Just one more of a never ending set of NFL rules that you know is going to blow up one day sooner or later and then the NFL will make a change, totally predictable.

[FootballLove]

Both teams had a full 60 mins to make plays and AVOID OT.

How about sudden death OT like in hockey but with FGs? Any FG format you want. Say home team goes first, has 5 trys for a 50yrd FG. Away team goes next. Kicker with the most 50 yarders wins the game. Still tied? Move to 55 yarders. Bet we see kickers getting drafted before the 5th round!

[Warfish]

My preference:

1. Play a 5th Quarter.  Same rules as Regulation.  Highest Score at End Wins

2. If still Tied, Sudden Death Overtime:

Teams each get a possession from the opponents 20.  No Field Goals.  4 downs.  Score a TD or lose possession.

Possessions are always equal (both teams always get a possession to match their opponents possession). 

At the end of any set of possessions, if one team has more points, they win. 

 

[Hex]

I see why people say it should be changed, but honestly in a game like that the final score would be like 80-86 or something. It increases play injury chance, and exhausts both teams, including the winner. They would not be able to play the next playoff game to the same level.

[peebag]

Each team gets a possession in OT.  Still tied, sudden death.

[doitny]

4 hours ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

First off, if they're going to change the rule, make it consistent in both regular season and the playoffs.  If for no other reason, to make it easier on the fans to know the rules going in.  Heck, I wasn't even certainly yesterday if the regular OT rules applied.

Second, are we going to turn OT into "give each team the same number of possessions" a la baseball with the top and bottom of an inning?  I thought the idea was more "don't let a team win the coin toss and then have a short drive and win the game with a long FG".  Of course, even with today's rules, if a team wins the coin toss and gets a FG and the other team comes back and gets a FG to tie the game, it's back to "next score wins".  In other words, you can still win on a short drive with a FG.

In many ways, today's NFL is getting a little ridiculous.  It's far too easy to drive down the field plus kickers in general (not for us, of course) are getting too good (e.g. Justin Tucker hitting a 66 yarder to win a game).   They need the wide hash marks like in college football to make the angles on the kicker tougher.  Also, they need to bring back defense.  The #1 rated defense just got absolutely shredded.  Someone mentioned that the Chiefs had the #27 defense in the NFL, yet they're the top team.  Something is broken.

i think i like the baseball idea.

both teams get a shot. if its tied then if Buffalo scores its not over. KC gets last licks like in baseball. make there be an incentive for being home. so no matter how many times Buffalo takes the lead, KC has one last shot to tie or win it.

[More Cowbell]

53 minutes ago, Scott Dierking said:

You really are all over the place here. You don't think an entire team taking a 15 minute respite from activity is resting? Heck, during a game defensive players come out for a series of downs and come back in. 

As I previously reported in this thread, the league is actually looking at changing the rules through the competition committee. So this is not that off base.

Ok, now it's 15 minutes? Before you said 10. Yes, I agree 15 minutes of rest makes a difference.  

[slimjasi]

2 minutes ago, peebag said:

Each team gets a possession in OT.  Still tied, sudden death.

This does seem like the simplest way. 

[slimjasi]

28 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

100%

Look, I find it an interesting discussion (other ideas to fix it) but there's always going to be something wrong with any system.

Even if another quarter or two seems fair on paper, it's too much football for one game. We like more football as fans, but it's too exhausting for too many key players. It's not a video game, where players don't get tired (or where an early lead, which lasts for 2+ OT possessions, is negated because they play a full quarter or more). There's always a downside, and we don't see it until a game presents itself to show that unaccounted-for downside. 

Bad officiating (all game long) - bad calls, bad non-calls - is far more often the determinant of who wins than OT coin tosses anyway. What to do? Put more refs on the field, to get those calls right, and now the refs are in the way. Again, there's always a downside, and there is no perfect system.

Win the game in regulation, where each team has equal halves with the ball and/or with the wind.

Buffalo had the opportunity to stop them with less than a TD in OT, and even more so with less than a FG at the end of regulation. For the #1 defense, more than 9x out of 10, burying that kickoff or not doesn't matter, and this is a moot discussion anyway. At the same time, had he not buried it and the KO was returned for a TD then I'm sure McDermott would've been killed for that, too. 

How about what @peebag proposed? 

Each team gets a possession to do whatever they can, if it's still tied at that point, then the game becomes sudden death. 

[Lith]

3 hours ago, Scott Dierking said:

BTW, Tony Romo had it absolutely correct. You have to squib that kick-off.

Yup.  Never should have gone to OT.  All Buffalo had to to was squib a kickoff, clock goes from 13 to 8 or 9.  Then manage to prevent the Chiefs from gaining 40 yards with enough time left to kick a FG.  OT rules suck, I hate that the outcome of a game like this basically came down to a coin toss. 

But if you are Buffalo, you messed up by letting it get to that point.  We hve had some tough losses in our history, but nothing like that one last night.

[56mehl56]

24 minutes ago, FootballLove said:

Both teams had a full 60 mins to make plays and AVOID OT.

How about sudden death OT like in hockey but with FGs? Any FG format you want. Say home team goes first, has 5 trys for a 50yrd FG. Away team goes next. Kicker with the most 50 yarders wins the game. Still tied? Move to 55 yarders. Bet we see kickers getting drafted before the 5th round!

That's about as effective as having the 2 starting QB's arm wrestle at 50 yard line to determine the winner. 

[Scott Dierking]

8 minutes ago, More Cowbell said:

Ok, now it's 15 minutes? Before you said 10. Yes, I agree 15 minutes of rest makes a difference.  

10 minute period rest. 3 minute network commercials. Time for coin flip, pontification, etc.  Player action is stopped for around 15 minutes.

[carlito1171]

They already changed the rules. Remember when you could win the game with a FG on the 1st possession? How about Buffalo prevents a TD and we’re not even talking about this lol....

[Biggs]

There should be no overtime.  You lose the toss and you lose the game.   The should assign every team a Heads or a Tails before the season randomely.  

[slimjasi]

6 minutes ago, Lith said:

Yup.  Never should have gone to OT.  All Buffalo had to to was squib a kickoff, clock goes from 13 to 8 or 9.  Then manage to prevent the Chiefs from gaining 40 yards with enough time left to kick a FG.  OT rules suck, I hate that the outcome of a game like this basically came down to a coin toss. 

But if you are Buffalo, you messed up by letting it get to that point.  We hve had some tough losses in our history, but nothing like that one last night.

Bingo. 

Most obvious thing ever. We were all yelling "squib" the TV. Inexcusable what the Bills did there. 

[playtowinthegame]

Bills deserved to lose that game. No OT rule changes. They lost. End of thread. 

[THE BARON]

5 hours ago, CanadaSteve said:

First off....Game for the ages!  Probably one of the best football games played in the longest time I can remember.

That said.  This overtime rule in the playoffs.  I can understand (kind of) why they have it the way they do for regular season.  But when it comes to the playoffs, should both teams not get at least one possession?  I mean, it literally comes down to a coin toss.  Would have made that game even more exciting if Buffalo gets a chance to go down and score as well.

 

They should make OT a shortened time period.  10 minutes.  No sudden death.  With the rules that the league has now, it totally favors the offense,  Too much comes down to the coin toss.  It pays no mind to the body of work that was done by both teams for four entire quarters.  

[Hex]

20 minutes ago, peebag said:

Each team gets a possession in OT.  Still tied, sudden death.

Probably the best way. People will still complain, but at that point both teams have had chances to score without time expiring. I still think that the fact that both defenses allowed a combined 20 points in the last 2 minutes means that people shouldn't be complaining about the OT rules, but this idea seems like it would work

[playtowinthegame]

We have to change the OT rules because the Bills fraudulent #1 defense couldn't stop the Chiefs with 13 seconds left or in OT. Sounds like more pussification of the NFL.

[Sonny Werblin]

Frankly, I don't even get the coin toss. It is understandable for the Superbowl since it is at a neutral site, but it seems the more logical choice is to allow the visiting team to decide if they want the ball or will be deferring at the start of the game AND for overtime. The home team has every other advantage, why in the world are they given a 50/50 shot at getting to decide whether to take the ball? 

Also, why flip the coin in overtime at all? It is essentially the beginning of the third half. The team that got the opening kickoff should get the ball.

[Trotter]

14 minutes ago, playtowinthegame said:

Bills deserved to lose that game. No OT rule changes. They lost. End of thread. 

I agree although I am a little biased - I had the chiefs to win and Kelce anytime TD scorer.

The ending seemed fine to me

[Sperm Edwards]

15 minutes ago, slimjasi said:

How about what @peebag proposed? 

Each team gets a possession to do whatever they can, if it's still tied at that point, then the game becomes sudden death. 

It's better than adding a whole extra quarter (let alone two that'd be even fairer), but then there's still a built-in advantage of getting the wind without the balancing disadvantage of the other team getting a leg-up in opportunity. Also back in the day, unless the field had astroturf, the field used to be chewed up in some areas more than others, so that balanced things as well. 

It'd be a fine idea in a dome (or in perfect/no-wind weather), I guess, but that's not a solution for the rest of the stadiums and it has to be the same everywhere.

What I do like is it doesn't allow a tying-up team to get two possessions in a row and the game's then over. That's my #1 beef with the coin toss: when weather's not a factor, it's all about who gets the ball first. But if it's all offense no defense, where scoring a TD was a mere formality like this one, is it really any different? This game was far from the norm, though.

[More Cowbell]

20 minutes ago, Scott Dierking said:

10 minute period rest. 3 minute network commercials. Time for coin flip, pontification, etc.  Player action is stopped for around 15 minutes.

Ok, wait a minute, do you expect during the 10 minute rest period for the networks not to run commercials?I mean this is really goimg to a bizarre tangent now but after a 10 minute break, the break is over and you start the game. 

[Sperm Edwards]

2 minutes ago, Sonny Werblin said:

Frankly, I don't even get the coin toss. It is understandable for the Superbowl since it is at a neutral site, but it seems the more logical choice is to allow the visiting team to decide if they want the ball or will be deferring at the start of the game AND for overtime. The home team has every other advantage, why in the world are they given a 50/50 shot at getting to decide whether to take the ball? 

Also, why flip the coin in overtime at all? It is essentially the beginning of the third half. The team that got the opening kickoff should get the ball.

I touched on that (that many paragraphs I touch on everything. Hey now.). 

I just don't like the idea of different rules only for the Super Bowl. If this ending happened in the SB there are no fewer complaints.

[Joe W. Namath]

40 minutes ago, peebag said:

Each team gets a possession in OT.  Still tied, sudden death.

What does this scenario solve?  If the Cheifs score a td, then the bills come down and score a td, then you are right back at where you were when OT started.

Y should it now be sudden death?  So the cheifs get 2 possessions and the bills 1?  If you think what happened last night is unfair, then this scenario is just as unfair.  1 team got the ball twice, one team got the ball once.

[CanadaSteve]

4 hours ago, More Cowbell said:

That isn't  what I am saying. If the team kicks a FG, your D did it's  job to an extent,  they stopped them but the other team has a ceazy good FG kicker so they still scored. The other team should get a chance to do the same. If your D fails and allows a TD, game over. You have players on D that making 10's of millions of dollars. Step up and earn that money. 

Okay...but should not both teams get a chance to score?  That is my whole point.  How do you have a game of the ages like that get decided on a coin toss? Like, one team doesn't even get a chance to score?  To me, that is idiotic.  For me, it feels like one team getting to bat in extra innings.  

[CanadaSteve]

29 minutes ago, Joe W. Namath said:

What does this scenario solve?  If the Cheifs score a td, then the bills come down and score a td, then you are right back at where you were when OT started.

 

With your analogy, what is the point of allowing each team to hit in baseball?  They might end up tied.  

So be it with football.  But one team should not even get a chance.

[CanadaSteve]

45 minutes ago, playtowinthegame said:

We have to change the OT rules because the Bills fraudulent #1 defense couldn't stop the Chiefs with 13 seconds or in OT. Sounds like more pussification of the NFL.

Thanks for that well thought out post.  Here's a GIF with you in mind: