How long have we seen this coming?
Whew. I gotta take a breath before diving in. The news is simply not as good as the headline suggests.
After seeing a significant increase in advantage to teams that won the overtime coin-toss, the NFL is finally considering a change. Sure, it would only make sense to have the best overtime rules in the world of sport, being the premier, professional sports league in the United States; yet for 35 years the league has relied on a coin-toss to determine possession in a sudden-death overtime system.
When I caught wind that the league was actually considering a change, I was ecstatic, but then I had to face palm, upon learning the new rules the NFL is scheming.
These new rules would only take place in the playoffs, and possession would still be determined by a coin-toss. If the team receiving the first possession could only muster a field goal, they would have to kick-off to the opposing team. If the opposing team could only then hit for 3, to tie it again, regular, sudden-death overtime rules would come back into play.
Help me out, here, people–is this not the stupidest thing you have ever heard? Maybe I’m alone in my thinking, but the college overtime system is so exciting. Both teams get the ball, and have the opportunity to score. Sure, there would be some multi-overtime games, but who’s complaining about that? The league office, that’s who. They would be giving away extra football for free.
Roger Goodell is absurd. You may admire the way he has cracked down on behavioral issues, but in terms of making the game better for the players, and more exciting for the fans, the guy is a schmoo. He even decided which of the New York teams would play the opener in the new Meadowlands Stadium by flipping a coin–with neither team present! And he did this after scoffing at the suggestion that it should be decided by a coin flip in the first place. Seriously. Schmoo.
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