N(o) F(air) L(eague) when it comes to OT rules
After a mostly lackluster Super Wild Card Weekend to open the NFL playoffs, featuring its share of blowout victories, the football gods rewarded NFL fans for their patience the following weekend.
Four divisional playoff games, all decided on the final play of the game. Three came down to last-second field goals, while the fourth featured a last-second field goal to tie the game before an overtime victory.
I’ve been watching the NFL for well over 40 years now and it’s the single greatest two days of football I’ve ever witnessed. I don’t know who it was, but there had to be some NFL league office executive somewhere that Frank Costanza-ed a lucky horseshoe, if you get my meaning.
There was only one problem with it all.
Four games like the four that played out on that Saturday and Sunday should have left everyone breathless and speechless. Instead, the ending of the Kansas City-Buffalo game, the final of the four contests, opened up a festering wound that the NFL has had for years — the completely asinine overtime rule.
Overtime in the NFL took center stage in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, a game named “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, even as recently as 2019. It was the first playoff game to ever go to overtime and, being on national television, was responsible for the NFL’s rise in popularity.
After winning the coin toss to start OT, the New York Giants failed to pick up a first down and were forced to punt. The Baltimore Colts then drove 80 yards in 13 plays before Alan Ameche took a third-down handoff from Johnny Unitas at the 1-yard line and plowed into the end zone to give the Colts a 23-17 win.
Yes, the “sudden-death” overtime rule — the first team to score, wins — has produced its share of memorable NFL playoff moments. There was Miami’s 27-24 win over Kansas City on Christmas Day, 1971 — the only playoff game to ever go to double overtime — and San Diego’s epic 41-38 thriller over Miami in the 1982 AFC playoffs.
The Chiefs have been on the wrong end of two more unforgettable playoff shootouts. In 2014, they fell to the Colts, 45-44, and in the 2018 AFC Championship Game, the Patriots won the coin toss and scored a
touchdown for a 37-31 overtime win in which KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes never touched the football.
Then there was Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022 against the Bills.
According to stats provided by The Sporting News, Mahomes and Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen combined for 221 passing yards in the final two minutes of regulation, including a combined five pass plays of over 25 yards. Those final two minutes saw three lead changes and 25 points scored, including the game-tying 49-yard field goal by the Chiefs that sent the game to overtime.
It was obvious that neither team’s defense could stop the other’s offense, which essentially meant that the only real drama in overtime hinged on the coin toss. It was apparent to me and everyone else watching that game that whoever won the toss was going to score a touchdown to win the game.
A quick primer on the OT rule. The NFL altered its overtime rules in 2017 to try and give each team an offensive possession, with “try” being the optimal word here. If the team that gets the ball first kicks a field goal, the other team will get a chance to match them with a field goal or win it with a touchdown (provided they don’t turn the ball over on the kickoff or in some other fashion during their possession).
However, the NFL didn’t go far enough to make sure both teams get a possession because if the team who receives the overtime kickoff goes on to score a touchdown on that first drive, the game is over right then, right there (the way it happened to the Chiefs in 2018).
So we all knew the winner of the coin toss was all but guaranteed to win the game on that first possession. Mahomes knew it too as he started pumping his fist and running off the field the instant his team won the toss. Deep down, I think Buffalo knew it too.
The rest was fairly anti-climactic. KC drove 75 yards in eight plays, including a great throw-and-catch from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill, and Mahomes hit tight end Travis Kelce moments later for a short TD pass that sent the Chiefs to their fourth straight AFC title game.
I’m sorry if you don’t agree with my next statement, but the Bills should have gotten an offensive possession. According to rules, however, they didn’t and I don’t think that’s right or fair.
Yes, I understand the argument — as it was brought up to me on social media after the game — that Buffalo had four quarters to win the game in regulation, so why should they get a chance in overtime? Fair point. The Bills did allow the Chiefs to go 44 yards and kick a game-tying field goal in the final 15 seconds when just one stop by their defense would have given them the win.
But I go back to what the head referee said just before the coin toss to start overtime. He told both captains “we’re essentially starting a new game here” (or something to that effect) when explaining the overtime rules. The problem is, that’s not an accurate statement.
A “new game” should feature BOTH offenses and BOTH defenses, they way it did for the previous 60 minutes, not just one of each. Any football game that goes overtime, especially a playoff game with such enormous implications, should be decided by the two full teams involved, not half of those teams.
Even in baseball, both teams get to bat one time each in extra innings, even though both teams had nine previous innings to try and win the game.
It’s such an easy fix too. You don’t need some kind of college football-type overtime rule with each team getting possession at the 20, or something like that. Just ensure that if Team A scores a touchdown to open overtime, Team B gets a possession to try and match it. Then, if both teams stick it in the end zone in OT, the game continues with sudden-death rules in place (next team to score in any fashion wins following a new coin flip).
That way, each team’s offense, defense and special teams will have all had an opportunity to impart some influence on the ending of the game rather than leaving part of it to chance.
The players and the fans deserve that much.