The Worst Rule in Professional Sports
Written by B-Dub, Monday January 25 2010
After the outcome of the NFC Championship Game between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings was decided by the flip of a coin, there is no longer any doubt that the NFL overtime rules are the worst in all of sports.
There are already some people out there blaming the loss on Brett Favre, but those people are just drinking too much Hater-ade. They are also completely disregarding the phenomenal year that he just had. Yes, he threw a bad INT at the end of regulation, but when he did so, the Vikings were not already in field goal range. They weren't in FG range because the Vikings had 12 players in the huddle and were penalized five yards on the preceding play. Favre actually noticed this in the huddle, but there was nothing that he could do about it, since it is also a penalty to call two timeouts in a row and the Vikings had just called one. This pushed the Viking back to the Saints 38 yard line for a 3rd and 8 play. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that Vikings head coach Brad Childress used to be an assistant coach for the worst coach in the NFL, the Eagles' Andy Reid. I am not surprised by that in-game mistake.
On third and 3 from the Saints' 33, the Vikings may have run the ball and possibly had to settle for the nearly 50 yard FG attempt by Ryan Longwell. But with 3rd and 8 from the 38, the smart play was to attempt a pass. Now Favre should not have thrown the ball into coverage across his body and he may have been able to scramble for a few yards, but he did not cost the Vikings the game. Neither did any of the six fumbles the Vikings coughed up during the game, including the three they lost. All of those made the game close, but they only added to the drama of one of the best Championship Games ever.
The Vikings completely outplayed and outgained the Saints, but it was those turnovers that kept this game close and sent it into overtime.
Unfortunately when the game went into overtime, all of the drama of the previous 60 minutes was quickly removed. That's because the NFL's rules for overtime are just plain stupid. How can you possibly let a game be decided by the flip of a coin? Especially a game as important as one that decides which team gets to play in the Super Bowl? It shouldn't have happened this way.
The Saints won the coin toss to start the overtime and the Vikings never got the ball. How is that fair? The answer is that it isn't.
The Saints' Pierre Thomas returned the OT kickoff 40 yards, to the Saints 39 yard line. That meant that the Saints only needed to gain about 30 yards to get into long FG range. To make matters even worse, the refs made a horrific pass interference call that shouldn't have been a penalty. Not only wasn't there any obvious contact between Saints TE Dave Thomas and Vikings LB Ben Leber, but the pass was thrown out of bounds and therefore uncatchable. But that's all beside the point.
The point is that the rules to determine a winner in overtime of an NFL game are stupid. I propose that the rules be changed to make it fairer. Under my rule changes, a real winner will emerge in OT.
I'm not proposing a bastardized version of football like they play in college overtimes. Why would you change the entire way you play the game in overtime to determine a winner? That's what college does by giving each team the ball at the 25 yard line. That doesn't make any sense. That's as dumb as deciding the winner in some sort of shoot-out. Only a joke sport would do that.
My solution is simple. If an NFL game ends in a tie, the winner is determined by playing an entire additional 15-minute quarter. In the regular season there could still be ties if the score is tied after that additional quarter (much to the confusion of Donovan McNabb). In the playoffs the game would continue on until one of those additional quarters ends with a winner. Simple.
I know what you're saying. The games could go on forever. True, but they could go on forever under the current rules too, so that's not an excuse. Plus what do you think the ratings would be for an overtime playoff game? I'm betting this one broke a few records, even though it ended too soon. And the networks learned their lesson a few decades ago in the infamous "Heidi Game", so the network covering the game would definitely stay with the game until its conclusion.
Imagine the excitement if we knew that there was still 10:15 left in the game when Hartley kicked that FG. And image how much better any OT would be if a team knew it couldn't just get into FG range to win. Teams would play more like they normally would, instead of running a play to set up in the middle of the field or kicking it on 3rd down, just in case there is a fumbled snap. How exciting would it have been if Drew Brees continued to go for the TD instead of not taking any chances? How exciting would it have been knowing that Brett Favre was going to get a chance at redemption? Too bad we didn't have a chance to find out.
I would like to say that I am actually happy that the Saints won this game. Not because I wanted them to win, but I just got so damn sick of seeing Brett Favre's wife every other play. I don't think I could have watched the Super Bowl knowing that she was going to be posing for the cameras every time Brett did anything. As it is I'm assuming we'll all get sick of seeing Archie Manning about 50 times during the Super Bowl. Hey, that would be a great prop bet. I'm taking the over.
Anyway, under my new overtime plan we would finally get to see a real winner determined on the field of play. No longer would a game be decided by the flip of a coin. No longer would one team lose a game without its offense ever getting a chance to get on the field in overtime. No longer would every single overtime be decided by a scrawny little kicker. Kickers aren't football players and they shouldn't get to decide who gets to go to the Super Bowl. Under my proposed rule change that will become far more unlikely. And with all the publicity from a rule change like this, maybe even Donovan McNabb will know the rules. Maybe.
Tags:
Leave a comment
Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login
Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!
Click here to browse
17 comments
Please sign in to rate!
Looks like the NFL agreed with me that the current overtime rules are terrible. They didn't go far enough and adopt my rules, but giving both teams the ball if the first team with the ball in OT kicks a FG is better than it is right now.
Please sign in to rate!
Damn you MC Homer. You beat me to the stats. I was going to look them up and twist them to fit my point of view like everyone else always does. I agree that it isn't an overwhelming percentage of the time, but 37.5% of OT games ending in the first possession is a high enough percentage to constitute a trend. And the fact that all of them were won by stinkin kickers is enough to outlaw kickers altogether. Besides, when is MORE football not a good thing? As it was the ratings for that game were more than DOUBLE the next closest program last week. Apparently America loves Favre as much as the national announcers do.
Please sign in to rate!
Sorry Dub, that was a low blow, I take it back. I honestly like the rule though. I don't want to see it changed at all. Yeah, it sucked that Favre didn't get another chance, but over the span of 60 minutes, there are plenty of opportunities to make plays. I might jump on your bandwagon if there were more overtime games or more OT games that ended on the first possession, but check it out... In 20 weeks (17 weeks + 3 playoff weeks), there were 16 games that went to OT. Out of those 16 games, only six were decided on the very first possession by the offense (all by kickers). I will agree with you that the vast majority of OT games are decided by kickers, but less than 50% of all OT games in 2009/10 ended on the first possession, by the offense. That's not a very good percentage for "the worst rule in professional sports."
Please sign in to rate!
Ouch. Come on Homer, you know that the overtime rule needs to be changed. Everybody wanted to see what Favre would do when he got the ball back. He had a great game until that last bad throw. And now he won't retire, or he'll retire and then un-retire, because he won't want to end his career like that.
Please sign in to rate!
Okay Bama.
Please sign in to rate!
OK MC Homer, then why even have an offense AND a defense. Why not just decide that your team wants to have a dominant defense and not bother putting your offense on the field at all during the game. You can block a kick, kick lots of FG with the kickers you seem to love so much, intercept a pass and return it for a TD, cause a fumble and return it for a TD, get a safety, or even return a kickoff or punt for a TD. So you're right Homer, I think half the teams in the NFL should stop wasting their salary cap space with those useless offensive players. Thank you for changing the way we all look at football.
Please sign in to rate!
Okay, I read it, and you come off just as soft, insecure, and sensitive as you did when I read only the title. The defense has just as much of a chance in overtime as the offense, like you said, it's not like they change any rules. Block a kick, force a fumble, intercept a pass. There are lots of ways for the game to end in overtime as opposed to your ignorant assumption that, to quote you, "...every single overtime..." ends with a field goal, besides, I know you were just being fecicious. I harbor no ill-will towards you, hell, I don't even know you, but I think you are WAY off base with this one. Sack up, you sound like a woman with your "fairness and equality" belief.
Please sign in to rate!
Shocking that you would comment on something without any knowledge of the facts or effort at all MC Homer. Kind of explains your wife's disappointments in the bedroom though. Guess you fail that "Tail", huh?
Please sign in to rate!
Besides, had the Vikings gone with tails, they'd have had the ball. Everyone knows tails never fails.
Please sign in to rate!
I'm not gona lie Dub, I didn't read the article but I'm going to comment on the NFLs overtime rule anyways. I like the rule. This is a perfect example of how emotonally weak people have become. Everything has to be politically correct. Everyone always has to be given a fair shake, an equal opportunity. Screw that shit. First of all any team who turns the ball over 5+ times doesn't DESERVE to win the game. Second, they didn't lose the game because of the "dumb" overtime rule, in fact, it had nothing to do with the rule. The Vikings defense had smothered the Saints all game, whats one more drive? Where was the special teams? Quit your bitching about how it isn't fair, you sound like a two year old.
Please sign in to rate!
Chriso, the NFL overtime rule is worse than the MLB rule, because football is now the American Pastime, so more people care. If you don't believe me, just check the ratings. The two Championship games last weekend were the highest rated programs on TV in the last few decades. That's excluding Super Bowls of course, since 9 of the top 10 rated shows of all time are Super Bowls. The other one is the final episode of MASH when there were only like 6 channels to choose from.
Please sign in to rate!
lindemrm, the point is that you MISSED the whole point. Like BigGame said, the Vikings special teams came up small and the Vikings defense DID stop the Saints in OT before they could score a TD. Even the greatest defense in the history of the NFL, the 1985 Chicago Bears, gave up a few points here and there. Did I miss something or do they suck since they let a team score? How many OT games are decided on the coin flip because only one team gets the ball? At the very elast kickers should be outlawed by the NFL. Send those "foot sissies" back to soccer where they belong.
Please sign in to rate!
The rule if fine. If you cannot win the game in 60 minutes, flip a coin and start sudden death. Half of football is defense. If the defense cannot stop them for a possession, tough. Stop the offense to get the ball back. Both teams do not have the right to have the ball in a sudden death overtime. They had the right for 60 minutes in regulation.
Please sign in to rate!
Another thought, which rule is worse, a coin toss rule which helped a team make it to the championship, or a rule about an exhibition game that determines the home field for the championship (baseball)???
Please sign in to rate!
Did the Vikings Defense not have the opportunity to take the ball away from the Saints prior to the score? I must have missed that change in ruling. Point being a truly great defensive team can win an overtime game, even if they don't win the toss.
Please sign in to rate!
I agree with some of your thoughts. But the Vikings special teams blew the game in overtime. They had a chance to .make the drive a lot harder for the Saints but they failed. Ask the Packers if winning the toss win the game in o.t. My preference is to only change the coin toss itself. I look to baseball and say the home team gets the ball first in o.t. Home field advantage is more than the crowd in your favor. Plus the visiting team would make there decisions based on the fact that they already know who gets the ball if we go to o.t. Just like MLB play for the tie at home and go for the win on the road.
Please sign in to rate!
Great points b-dub... it looked like Favre had an open receiver up the sideline, in addition to the contention he could have rushed to make up the yardage lost in the penalty.... will the INT be the last play by Favre? changing OT rules ending with a coin toss should happen immediately...