Posted on 02/27/2025 8:52:11 AM PST by Red Badger
INDIANAPOLIS -- The NFL is considering changing overtime rules in the regular season to decrease the advantage for teams that win the coin toss.
"It's time to rethink the overtime rule," league executive Troy Vincent said Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine.
Vincent said the competition committee agrees overtime rules need to be addressed. Receiving the ball first has become more of an advantage than pre-2011 when overtime was a sudden-death period. Receiving teams won 56.8% of games in overtime from 2017 to 2024, up from 55.4% from 2001 to 2011.
Current rules give both teams an opportunity to possess the ball in overtime unless a touchdown is scored on the first possession.
The rules are different in the playoffs. Both teams get a chance to have a possession even if the offense scores a touchdown on the opening drive. That postseason change came after the Buffalo Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional round game in January 2022.
Making the overtime rules the same in the regular season is a possible solution, along with extending the period to 15 minutes.
Among other changes, the NFL plans to use its virtual measuring system to determine first downs in 2025. This wouldn't eliminate the officials who manually spot the ball and use chains to mark the line to gain. The optimal tracking system notifies officiating instantly if a first down was gained after the ball is spotted by hand.
"We used this in the background last season," said Kimberly Fields, the NFL's senior vice president of football operations. "The goal for 2025 is to continue to train our techs, who are the ones who will be utilizing the technology, finalizing all of our officiating processes and procedures around virtual measurements and testing the graphics for the broadcast and in-stadium, so fans in the stadium and fans watching on television can see what we're doing. The chain crew will still be there as backup."
The competition committee also will review expansion of the replay assist to include more fouls, but Vincent said "there was no appetite" from the committee to use video replay to throw a flag.
A team could still propose a rule change to do that. For now, if officials miss an obvious penalty such as a face mask, replay assist can't throw a flag.
Replay assist was used in 2024 to pick up flags thrown for roughing the passer (contact with head/neck), unnecessary roughness (runner out of bounds), intentional grounding and ineligible player downfield.
Expansion under consideration for 2025 would include roughing the passer (hit below the knee), unnecessary roughness (defenseless receiver/player), face mask (contact of hand with face mask), tripping, illegal crackback block and horse-collar tackle, among others.
Vincent said the league wanted to find a way to bring back onside kicks while also installing a permanent kickoff rule after a one-year trial with what was called the dynamic kickoff.
The trial made kickoffs more exciting with higher rate of returns. Vincent said he anticipated the spot of the touchback on kickoffs being moved from the 30- to the 35-yard line.
But the changes affected the onside kick. Teams were 3 for 50, the lowest recovery rate since 2001.
"Universal consensus that we know we need to do something with this play," Vincent said.
He added there wasn't much conversation around a fourth-and-long option to keep possession, though those discussions could occur next month.
The tush push play mastered by the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles has been a hot topic this week because the Green Bay Packers proposed banning it. Some opponents have argued the play is dangerous, but Vincent said the league found no injuries on the play in 2024.
I am with you. The only time OT would be used would be in a game that affects playoffs. What happened with the bye for division winners as in past years? Super Bowl in february? How about in January, start the overlong season in August.
Whatever...
It’s all geared toward the Fan Duel betting now.
It likely is the worst time for injuries, but the players injured were most often special teams players. Let em play, they are millionaires, I want to see ultimate contact ala NFL before the Pussy age.
Changing sports, I’ve started watching “Banana Ball” with the Savannah Bananas, I kind of like their approach, that if you win an inning, you get 1 point, and then in the ninth inning, every run is a point. It keeps the game short and interesting right up until the end.
Which brings up a question.
Team A starts the game. Second play, Team B intercepts and on the return, fumbles, Team A recovers.
Does that count as a Team B possession?
When Vegas bookies wanted more money?
I always thought NASCAR should have cinder blocks and oil slicks scattered around the track.
When Vegas bookies wanted more money?
I’m sure that had a LOT to do with it.
Yes. Mo’ money is a big incentive for nearly everything.
Yes. Defenses need to play better. But a lot of that is because today’s game is wiffleball compared to the pre-2000 game. It’s another subject, but the current OT rule would be just fine I suspect if the League would just stop with all these illegal contact rules.
That’s fine for a college bowl game — which for most of the country is relatively meaningless. Could you imagine the howling over a divisional rivalry game or a conference championship being decided by such a rule?
Yes. The NFL season is now 17 games... soon to be 18. There is ample room for ties with the longer season. In fact, anything that acts to prevent the arcane tie-breaking rules when teams end the season with the same W/L record should be seen as a ‘plus’.
I agree with Jack Lambert, they should make quarterbacks wear dresses.
“Which brings up a question. Team A starts the game. Second play, Team B intercepts and on the return, fumbles, Team A recovers. Does that count as a Team B possession?”
If it does now, why not? If it doesn’t, why should it?
What’s I’d do is have normal rules during the 10 minute OT period (no sudden death, play the whole 10). If it’s still tied then alternate 2 point tries till someone wins.
The way to get rid of the advantage is to get rid of the coin toss.
Rule could be:
1. Home team always receives first in O.T.
Or
2. Visiting team receives
Or
3. The team that had possession last in the fourth quarter receives (or kicks)
4. The team that scored last (creating the tie) receives
Everyone knows the rule before the game and there’s no arbitrary randomness.
And Jack was saying that nearly 50 years ago, when Don Shula and the rules committee tried to outlaw the Steelers and Raiders defenses.
Poor ol’ Don; he thought the changes would help his Dolphins. Meanwhile, the Steelers and Raiders won two more Superbowls each before Shula retired without winning another Superbowl.
And Jack was saying that nearly 50 years ago, when Don Shula and the rules committee tried to outlaw the Steelers and Raiders defenses.
Poor ol’ Don; he thought the changes would help his Dolphins. Meanwhile, the Steelers and Raiders won two more Superbowls each before Shula retired without winning another Superbowl.
Good point.
Unless the team winning the coin toss was able to work the clock down and score at the last minute.
Then you'd be back to the problem of the coin toss deciding the winner.
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