An Unexplored NFL Overtime Rule Change Idea

Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Noah Nichols. Follow him on Twitter@_NoahNichols

Earlier this week, the Buffalo Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime, in perhaps the wildest playoff game of all time. The game, as we all know, went into overtime where the Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes, promptly marched down the field and scored a touchdown.

Because of current NFL overtime rules, the Bills never had a chance to get the ball into their star QB Josh Allen’s hands.

This scenario happened recently in the playoffs, aside from Sunday. When the Chiefs and Patriots played in the AFC championship in 2018, the Patriots won the coin toss, received the ball, scored -- and Mahomes never had a chance to try and respond.

Sunday’s game sparked waves of frustrating conversations about the current NFL overtime rules. Through the uproar, I’ve done some research, and found a few interesting tidbits that influence my opinion on what, if anything, should change regarding the current overtime rules. Beginning with the most controversial part of overtime: the coin toss.

Current Coin Toss Rules and Win %

The current coin toss rules in overtime work the same way as they do in regulation: away team calls a side, and if they call it correctly, they can choose to receive or kick. Most of us would figure that the team that receives the ball first in overtime, usually wins.

As it turns out, it depends on if you are talking about the playoffs or regular season. In the regular season, the team that receives the ball first has a winning percentage of 52%. However, in the playoffs, teams that receive the ball first have a record of 10-1 and a winning percentage of 90%. A drastic difference from the regular season. Why the difference? The teams in the playoffs are going to be much better offensively than teams in the regular season.

That leads me to believe that only playoff overtime should change. Here are my thoughts on what that could look like.

Current Rules: Touchdown ends the game, even on the first drive. If no touchdown is scored on the opening play, then any score after that wins the game. The quarter is 10 minutes but will repeat if time runs out until a winner is found.

So, what ought to change? Let’s start with how the coin toss/who receives the ball first in playoff overtime should work.

New Rule Proposal - Coin Toss: There will be no coin toss in overtime. Whoever received the ball to begin the game will kick it away in overtime. This is ONLY for the playoffs (but could be implemented to the regular season, too). I also think the play clock should be shortened from 25 to 20 seconds, to bring some urgency and prevent teams from hogging the clock. The play clock could be brought all the way down to 15, but that might be too drastic of a change. It would certainly make overtime much more exciting and fast-paced. On to the big complaint: should the team that kicked off the ball in overtime be allowed to possess the ball?

Yes, they should. However, that team did allow a touchdown and as such, has to do a little more to keep overtime going.

Here are my suggested changes: the second team (who kicked off) is allowed 1 possession IF the other team scores a touchdown on their first drive. That team must convert a 2-point try if they score a touchdown on their respective first try. If they do not score a 2-point conversion, they lose.

If they make the 2-point conversion, the other team (first team to possess it) will receive the ball again. And obviously, if they do not score, the 1st team will lose. At the same time, any score after the (potential) first two offensive touchdowns would end the game.

I want to point out that the other playoff overtime rules would stay the same; any defensive touchdown/safety would end the game.

Essentially: if the receiving team scores a touchdown, the kicking team is given a chance to do the same. They must try a 2-point play. If the 2nd team DOES score a touchdown AND gets the 2-point try, the game continues and the next points scored win the game. If the 2nd team does NOT score the 2-point try, the game is over.

Other sports like the NHL and MLB both have different overtime rules in the playoffs. So why not the NFL?