It seems that there is never-ending debate over the “fairness” of NFL overtimes whether in the regular season or postseason, and now the league is changing the rules for regular season for the first time since 2017.
At the annual league meeting in Florida, the Competition Committee approved a rule change that will allow both offenses to possess the ball. Previously, the game would automatically end if an offensive (or kick return) touchdown was scored on the opening possession.
Presumably, if the receiving team’s first offensive possession ends in a defensive touchdown or a safety then the game is over.
Teams that lose the overtime coin toss tend to lose the game, even if it’s not an overwhelming majority. While there isn’t readily available data on the rate teams score touchdowns on the first possession of overtime, presumably the league saw enough of a sample size to amend OT again.
While this new set-up matches the playoff OT rules, not everything will be identical. Regular season OT will remain 10 minutes instead of 15 and the game will end in a tie if the game is still tied after time expires.
It’s not unique to the NFL to have regular season and postseason rules differ for overtime (or in baseball’s case, extra innings). The National Hockey League has a 5-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period in the regular season and a shootout if the game remains tied, but in the Stanley Cup Playoffs they have full 20-minute, 5-on-5 OTs until someone scores. Major League Baseball has a runner automatically on second base in extra innings during the regular season and not at all in the playoffs.
There might be some fascinating new strategy at play with the new rules but keeping the 10-minute period. Unlike in the playoffs, where it looks to be advantageous to receive the ball second (like the Kansas City Chiefs in their Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers), a single OT, 10-minute session should incline teams to receive the ball upon winning the coin toss. There’s also the issue of drive length where a team can win the coin toss, score on a 9.5-minute touchdown drive, and leave the opposing team little time to respond.
I don’t hold any strong opinions about the OT rule changes but maybe you have something stronger. My proposal for soccer-style penalty kick shootouts where the field goal kickers kick from exceedingly long distances until a winner is declared must have been lost in the mail at the league office.
