NFL reduces overtime period from 15 minutes to 10, but why?

Yahoo ^ | 05/23/2017 | Eric Edholm

[Phlap]

CHICAGO — Beware standings tiebreaker person … an 8-5-3 division champion could be coming to the NFL soon.

The league reportedly has passed a rule at the owners meeting on Tuesday that will shorten the length of regular-season overtime games from 15 minutes to 10. There were two ties in the NFL last season, as many as there had been in the prior three seasons combined.

But this feels like a solution looking for a problem to us. How is this going to help … with anything? The NFL is expected to officially announce the changes later on Tuesday.

[dfwgator]

This is American Football...Not soccer, NO F’n ties!!! It feels the same, but you know it still isn’t right, it’s un-American!!!

Un-American is equally sharing the revenues amongst teams, even amongst the ones who suck. In soccer, if you suck, you get relegated, and good teams get promoted. Now THAT'S American.

[Trump20162020]

No white person in the Western Hemisphere cares about soccer.

[dfwgator]

Gaelic Football is awesome.

[hanamizu]

Been watching English pro rugby on NBCSN. Very interesting game—like football but players wearing what amounts to soccer uniforms. Anyway, their standings are on a point system. 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. But teams can get bonus points. 1 point for scoring 4 or more tries (like touchdowns), 1 point for losing by 7 or less. So winning teams are encouraged to score more tries for an extra point and losing teams can get up to 2 points if they can keep scoring and keep close. Seems to make them want to play to the end of the game instead of just going through the motions.

Was watching one game where one team had the game won as time expired (the game doesn’t end when time runs out, but only when the ball goes out of bounds), but instead of kicking the ball out of bounds to end the game, chose to keep play going to get the bonus point for four tries.

[Saltmeat]

There is a better way to solve the tie game situation. Change the scoring for field goals—goal line to 25 yards gets one point, 35 to 50 gets 2 points and any kick beyond 50 yards gets 3 points. This would change the game for the better and force head coaches to make some tough decisions. Never did understand why a PAT from the 2 yard line got 1 point, but a field goal from that same 2 yard line got 3 points.

[depressed in 06]

Ties make things more interesting.

[rfp1234]

If the game is tied after OT, they could have a field-goal shootout to decide the game [/sarc].

[Phlap]

I would (and do) think Robert Kraft cares almost as much about his soccer team as his football team .

[Alberta's Child]

I hate the NCAA overtime rule.

The NHL does overtime right -- sort of. I don't like the shootout but the 5-minute OT period of 3-on-3 hockey is very exciting and encourages the teams to play all-out to score.

[NormsRevenge]

The ‘Noodles For Lunch’ crowd strikes again.

whatever happened to “Just Win BaBY!!!” *-?

[Dr. Sivana]

This is American Football...Not soccer, NO F’n ties!!!

For most of the history of the NFL, and in college football, ties were quite common. Not as common as in pre-overtime NHL hockey, but common.

Here is an arbitrarily chosen year 's standings:

NFL Standings Table

Tm	W	L	T	W-L%	PF	PA	PD	MoV	SoS	SRS	OSRS	DSRS
American
Cleveland Browns*	11	1	0	.917	331	152	179	14.9	-0.3	14.6	6.9	7.8
New York Giants	9	2	1	.818	254	161	93	7.8	-2.0	5.7	-1.6	7.3
Washington Redskins	5	7	0	.417	183	296	-113	-9.4	1.6	-7.8	-5.1	-2.7
Pittsburgh Steelers	4	7	1	.364	183	235	-52	-4.3	0.2	-4.1	-5.9	1.7
Philadelphia Eagles	4	8	0	.333	234	264	-30	-2.5	1.0	-1.5	-0.4	-1.2
Chicago Cardinals	3	9	0	.250	210	287	-77	-6.4	2.5	-3.9	-1.9	-1.9
National
Los Angeles Rams*	8	4	0	.667	392	261	131	10.9	-1.8	9.1	9.2	-0.1
Detroit Lions	7	4	1	.636	336	259	77	6.4	-2.1	4.3	3.7	0.5
San Francisco 49ers	7	4	1	.636	255	205	50	4.2	0.1	4.3	-2.3	6.6
Chicago Bears	7	5	0	.583	286	282	4	0.3	-1.5	-1.2	-0.2	-0.9
Green Bay Packers	3	9	0	.250	254	375	-121	-10.1	0.0	-10.1	-1.5	-8.5
New York Yanks	1	9	2	.100	241	382	-141	-11.8	2.3	-9.4	-0.9	-8.5

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/23/2017.

For the record, the Rams beat the Browns for the Championship, the second of three Rams championships, and the only one in L.A.

[Alberta's Child]

It's pretty much 50-50. The reason is that if the team that gets the opening KO doesn't get a first down, odds are the other team will get the ball in good field position, and only would need a FG to win.

Exactly. The other thing to remember is that the team kicking off in OT gets to pick the end zone to defend -- and wind is often a factor in these outdoor games.

[areukiddingme1]

Thanks for the fact sheet...still doesn’t change the fact that I do not want to spend 3 or 4 hours of my life watching a game only to end in tie...One more reason why I seem to be spending more time watching UFC and MMA.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

And soccer has many more feigned injuries than the NFL

There. Fixed it.

[dznutz]

Someone gets bumped on the soccer field and they go down like they were shot.

[Dr. Sivana]

I do not want to spend 3 or 4 hours of my life watching a game only to end in tie

Fair enough. My point was only that ties in football are plenty 'merican. Now, if you want to be a good American and not deal with ties, then BASEBALL is your sport. Normally, no ties there.

[dfwgator]

Someone gets bumped on the soccer field and they go down like they were shot.

Like a receiver who gets breathed on and then begs the official to throw a flag.

[Alberta's Child]

You may end up changing the game completely in a way that you may not like. In the scenario you presented, I can already tell you that coaches will do their best to avoid attempting 25-yard and 50-yard field goals. They'll take a penalty or deliberately lose a yard or two on a play just to get beyond the threshold for the additional point on a longer field goal.

The NFL has already made some rule changes over the years that are designed to encourage coaches to push for TDs instead of settling for field goals. There was a stretch back in the 1990s where offensive numbers seemed to drop off a lot because coaches were playing for field goals rather than taking risks for TDs.

[Alberta's Child]

LOL. See the link in Post #19.

[discostu]

The funny part is they could have easily shortened overtime just by getting rid of that lame “everybody gets a turn” rule, most of these games that end in ties actually have both teams getting touchdowns.

I think Americans have a weird complex about ties. They should just end in regulation. More ties would actually help simplify the standings and make the league less reliant on that increasingly bizarre list of tiebreakers.