Expert Article - Final

Rock, Paper, Scissors: The NFL’s New Tie Breaker

An in-depth analysis of the NFL’s over-time rules and solutions for the future

By: Jack Perez

It is pretty hard to disagree that the National Football League (NFL) has faced a fair amount of controversy when it comes to settling a game that has ended in a draw. People seem to think that it’s unfair that only one team may have the opportunity to touch the football on offense. I say we just get rid of over-time completely so there won’t be an issue. I mean a game of rock, paper, scissors is pretty fair—is it not? If people want fairness, then why not just make it as simple as that and then nobody will get upset, right? Forget about playing just end it with rock, paper, scissors and then we all go home

The reality is that people really don’t want fairness. Let’s take a step back and look at what we’re talking about here. 
  • The current O.T. (over-time) rule goes like this: the game ends in a tie after 60 minutes of play and then there is a coin flip where the winning team may elect to receive the kickoff. Once the ball has been kicked, the receiving team may end the game immediately with a touchdown or kick a field goal which gives the other team the same two options (Battista).
That may seem a bit weird and hard to wrap your head around, but I’ll tell you it isn’t unfair.


O.T. is fair it’s just not right

From an academic point of view, the NFL’s over-time rule is unbiased. Each team has a 50/50 chance at winning the coin toss and getting the ball first (Life). Whatever happens after that is irrelevant in the sake of arguing for fairness because each team is treated exactly the same and afforded the same chance to win the flip. The real reason critics call this unfair is simply because it feels wrong. After all, the point of sports is to exhibit your abilities to the audience as best as you can in competition of a component (Steinberg). The disruption that the audience feels in the NFL’s current O.T. rule occurs because we as the spectators want to see more. The fans don’t want a cliff hanger after just one team scores. They want the reaction. They want to see the action elevated like never before, and that’s what O.T. can offer.

What about OT makes it special?

For starters, a game that ends in a tie not always but typically has three ways of how it got there.
  • First, there is the back-and-forth type of game in which one team scores and then their opponent does and so on. 
  • Second, we have the close game where maybe each team has scored a couple of times or maybe not but regardless the score stays low and does not change much. 
  • Third, there is the comeback game where one team manages to catch back up right at the end but can’t quite take the lead. 
All three of these types of games are exciting and widely considered to be the best games there are to watch. The greatest part about these games though comes after regulation time is over. Once in O.T., the game becomes even more intense than it ever previously was. No matter whether you’re at home watching or in the stadium itself, the atmosphere around you is almost tangibly different. This is what the players have lived for (Morse). It is their time to show the greatest effort they have given all day or night and in turn it is the most memorable moment fans dream of. With this in mind, how could the NFL possibly think limiting O.T. would add to the sport when it is hard to argue that these games are the best ones to experience regardless of who you are— player, coach, fan, or just a simple spectator for the day.

Why should the NFL make a change?

The rules must be adjusted because the fans are calling for it and progressing at the demand of their audience is what’s made the NFL so successful thus far. Looking at the past, the O.T. rules have changed a fair amount over the years.
  • 1941: Starting in the 1940’s, the league introduced the sudden death rule for tie games in the playoffs where the first team to score, no matter how, wins (Camenker).
  • 1974: It took a surprising 34 years for this rule to be expanded to regular season games as well (Camenker). 
  • 2010: After yet another 30 plus years, the league altered the guidelines again by implementing a “modified sudden-death” for the playoffs in 2010 and then added this to the regular season in 2012, which about leaves us where we are now (Camenker). 

As clearly seen above, O.T. has certainly progressed over time to improve the league, and now a new wave of progression has come. Initially these rules, were made to help the tempo of the game but in this day and age with the NFL being by far the most watched sport in the U.S., people want to see more football not less. Fans have gone as far as asking President Biden to step in and change “the worst rule in sports” with players as well making more and more comments (Bender). A clear example of this frustration comes after a recent playoff game between the Chiefs and Bills where former NFL star, Greg Olsen, Tweeted, ‘“If you are still arguing, in a game like that, it’s not in best interest of EVERYONE that both Mahomes and Allen get the ball in (overtime) I don’t know what to tell you”’ (Morse). Not alone, there have been numerous high-profile people in football—on top of the countless fans—saying the same thing yet the NFL has remained reluctant.


What’s Next?

My recommendation for the NFL is to take the O.T. rules from college football and with some minor tweaks adopt them for their own. Currently, the NCAA rules say that each team gets a single possession to score starting at their opponents 25-yard line, which I believe should be the 50-yard line for professionals (Camenker). The rules then state that for double O.T. both teams must go for a two-point conversion once they score just as I think the NFL should do too now also starting at the 25-yard line.  For triple O.T., the rules next say that each team simply starts at the two-yard line for a conversion where once again the NFL should follow suit (Camenker). By putting these suggestions into effect, the league would be maintaining its fairness as well as pleasing the wants of the players and especially the fans. The "three-step" over-time has been received very well by most if not all parties in college football and everything suggests it would be approved just as much in the NFL.








































Works Cited

Armour, Nancy. “Opinion: Coin Flips Are No Way to Determine Game Winners, and NFL Needs to Change Its Overtime Rules.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 6 Jan. 2020, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2020/01/06/nfl-overtime-rules-unfair-and-need-fixed-league/2821929001/. 

Battista, Judy. “N.F.L. Votes to Change Playoff Rules for Overtime.” Nytimes.com, The New York Times, 24 Mar. 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/sports/football/24nfl.html. 

Bender, Bill. “NFL Overtime: 13 Playoff Games That Have Fueled Call for Change in OT Format.” Sportingnews.com, Sporting News, 24 Jan. 2022, https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-overtime-playoff-games-change-ot-format/10qgm9cow85w71txeylsqt38r7. 

Camenker, Jacob. “College Football Overtime Rules 2021: Explaining How the New OT Format Works.” Sportingnews.com, Sporting News, 27 Nov. 2021, https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/college-football-overtime-rules-2021/1lf235z8s976v1wkvuvoyn9qff. 

Camenker, Jacob. “NFL Overtime Rules: A Timeline of Every Failed NFL Team Proposal to Change OT Format since 2010.” Sportingnews.com, Sporting News, 25 Jan. 2022, https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-overtime-rules-change-history/6pvqnjap550d1hkwrth6mphww#:~:text=In%20the%20five%20years%20prior,of%20slightly%20more%20frequent%20ties. 

Editors, History.com. “NFL Adopts Overtime for Regular-Season Games.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Aug. 2021, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nfl-overtime-rule-adopted. 

Life, Sporting. “The Old NFL Overtime Rule Was Not Unfair.” Thissportinglife.com, This Sporting Life, 8 Mar. 2019, https://thissportinglife.net/2010/03/23/old-nfl-overtime-rule-not-unfair/. 

Morse, Ben. “The NFL's Overtime Rule Explained and Why Fans Want to See It Changed.” Mercurynews.com, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2022, https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/01/24/the-nfls-overtime-rule-explained-and-why-fans-want-to-see-it-changed/. 

Sherman, Rodger. “Shortening the NFL Overtime Is a Band-Aid Solution to a Problem the League Created.” Theringer.com, The Ringer, 24 May 2017, https://www.theringer.com/2017/5/24/16045438/nfl-overtime-rule-10-minutes-problem-3d457f5b0478. 

Steinberg, Leigh. “What Defines a ‘Sport’?” Forbes.com, Forbes Magazine, 28 July 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/leighsteinberg/2018/07/28/what-defines-a-sport/?sh=561e2ec12d66. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2022 at 2:22 PM

    Hi Jack,

    I am very happy that you chose this topic because I think that the NFL OT rules are so wack. It is very interesting that you think it should be decided via rock, paper, scissors. How funny is it to think of Tom Brady facing off against Patrick Mahomes in a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who wins the superbowl.

    Mason

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 9, 2022 at 5:14 PM

    Hey Jack!

    Overall, great start to your article. By adding more bullet points your information will be more informative and help the reader understand why the current OT system isn't working. You can really hear your enthusiasm for the topic in your writing, which is really nice.

    - Ellie

    ReplyDelete

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