SU came across this interesting read on today’s The Athletic regarding possible rules changes for NFL overtime games. I thought some of these were pretty interesting… and a bit out there. Btw, The Athletic is a great read for the money and SU is a big fan. Chris Branch puts out a daily headlines review which is a quick read and well-packaged. Just saying.
Anyway, check it out:
Easy fix: One possession per team. Simply guarantee that both teams have the ball in overtime, then make it sudden death after that. No one needs a big briefing on rule changes after this tweak. Medium fix: Spot and choose. This was proposed by the Ravens recently. In this scenario, the team that wins the coin toss (Chiefs) would select the yard line of where to place the ball. The toss loser (Bills) would then decide whether to play offense or defense, depending on the ball placement and faith in its offense or defense. It’s a little confusing but fun once you process the possibilities. Say the Chiefs put the ball on the 10-yard line. Does Buffalo have confidence in driving 90 yards for a game-winning touchdown, or faith in its defense that it could hold the Chiefs and get good field position on a punt? Chaos fix: Silent yard auction. The auction concept has been around for more than a decade at this point, with myriad permutations. It even reached the halls of academia (NYU published a study, as did Cal). I prefer the Cal edition, which proposes that each team submit a bid at the beginning of overtime on the yard line where it would like to start. The team with the closest bid to its own end zone wins and receives the ball first, at that yard line. Overtime is sudden death from there. The auction system successfully eliminates the randomness of a coin toss while adding a fascinating layer of strategy. The closer you get to your own end zone, the more you compromise potential field position. The farther away you get, the higher the chance of the other team getting the ball first. A fun wrinkle the researchers include: giving the ball to the team that bids closest to its own end zone, but making the yard line the average of the two bids. Interesting, but maybe a little complex. Feel free to hit the reply button and tell me I’m wrong, or send me any good ideas I missed. |
Sports Update Intergalactic 
I would go for the “easy fix” listed above. Just make it simple. I don’t recommend going to what college football does for overtime – and in fact would like to see college football go to the NFL overtime with both teams guaranteed one possession. Perhaps make each team’s first possession untimed (with no timeouts) and then if the game is still tied put 10 minutes on the clock and give each team a timeout.
I’d just do what colleges and high schools do, with a slight variation. Each team gets an opportunity (yes, I know the team that goes last has the advantage in the first round). Then it is goes to round 2, move the line of scrimmage back 5 yards for each team, and flip flop who goes first each time to make it a little more fair.
I’m with Pbok, it needs to be simple. We’ve all seen the NFL screw up a coin toss, I can’t imagine a bid/auction/game theory scenario.
If it goes to 5x overtime, that’s great. Everyone loves the college format (if their team wins) and multi-OT college games are really memorable. It’s like soccer penalty kicks…purists whine about it, but to everyone else, there is much more excitement.
Football players are not known for their higher cognitive function. Go with the easy fix and be done with it. The other options are more interesting but I already have a headache envisioning trying to explain what is going on to the non-football watchers of the world.
I’d go with an extra 15 minute OT period and a coin flip for possession. This is the playoffs and we should stick with regular football rules. If you want to do a college style shootout for the regular season fine but nobody is going to change the channel because the game is taking too long in the playoffs. Let them fight it out until the finish.
Looking forward to SUs Baseball HOF coverage. Has your vote been made public? Only Ortiz this year would be a bit of a bummer. Just read that for those that are in their 10th and final year on the writers ballot hope is not lost. The modern era committee can vote to let them in as soon as next year. So all those sanctimonious writers may be disappointed when Bonds and Clemens get in in the near future. Both top 10 of all time and never officially broke the rules, unlike ARod who knowingly cheated and lied multiple times. That’s my line of demarcation. McGwire should be in too IMO.
And as baseball and all other sports embrace gambling and the extra revenue $ it brings in is it time that Pete Rose is allowed in the HOF? He is an obnoxious prick and clearly was a rule breaker when gambling on mlb games (although he never bet against his own team). Just seems a wee bit hypocritical to keep him out. What do you think?