I would agree with the argument of unnecessary exposure to injury if an entire period was required (even though that could happen).
The rule of “Sudden Death” at the outset of OT means that the winner is very likely to be decided by the coin toss.
The rule should be “Sudden Death” as soon as the SECOND team gets the ball. From that point, whoever is ahead after a given team is done wins. Simple. Both teams get the ball. Can be a very quick OT. It’s up to the teams, not an arbitrary clock at that point. Basically the sensible college rules.
I can’t believe how stupid the NFL OT rule is. If the Bills had won the toss, the Bills would be moving on in the playoffs and the Chiefs would be going home. Unbelievable.
I’ll be surprised if this doesn’t get changed before next season starts. There’s no way such a great game should have ended that way because of a stupid NFL rule.
The problem is the team not winning the coin toss really should have the advantage of going second and knowing what they need to do.
So assume that they get a three-and-out, and they get the ball on a punt. Now they only have to score a Field Goal, that’s actually an advantage of not getting the ball first, assuming your defense can make the stop.
But pretty much at that point of the game, both defenses were so gassed, that neither was capable of stopping the other.
So more and more I am thinking doing it like they do in college. Have both teams start at the opponents 25, and make them go for 2 if they score a TD.