Should the NFL change its overtime system?

but ur right, 3 would interfere with the tv stations; solution 4 would be very entertaining

with group therapy on the side for the losers…

really why does it need to change… last time i checked every team in the NFL has some form of a defensive unit and they take the field each and every game.

the college system is a joke… and unwatchable on top of that…

if you give each team the ball – well then I’ll kick off and throw 9 man blitzes knowing that the offense will get a shot if it fails…
changes the game, while not as much as the college system, likely as much..

now if you wanted to move the kick offs up, so the receiving team gets worse field position then i’m good with that, but otherwise, i don’t have issues with the structure of overtime… if you are so worried about OT then win in regulation.

No huddle fast past who’s go the gas make or break it.
Then go to who ever wins the toss.

Don’t belittle the defense and special teams. But if you HAVE to change it I guess #2 is the best since you keep it closest to how it is now. Also I don’t understand give the team the ball at a certain spot, what happened to kicking it off and playing great special teams? This is a professional league and all three phases of the game need to be included and are just as important.

And your defense cant stop the other team you dont deserve to win

Personally, I think there should only be one possession. The team that wins the toss gets to choose whether to play offense or defense. If the offense scores, that team wins. If the offense fails to score, then the defensive team wins. This makes both offense and defense actually count, while also playing within the scheduling constraints.

As for field goals, I don’t think they should count in this system, but it’s open for discussion.

after 1 possession from each offense. Sudden Death. It’s as easy as that. The Coin Toss system is a big joke. Maybe worst than penalty kicks in the world cup. “Let’s bust our asses for four years for a tie game to be decided by each other’s goalie” Classic FIFA

it would gaurantee teams would play for a TD and not for a FG. Since no matter what the other team gets a chance to match or better your score. but it has to have a clause for defenesive turnovers. maybe 20 yds down the field. then the coach would decide whether to take it at own 30 or 20 yds down the field from the TO.

then what’s with the Animal House float in the picture?

hates NFL overtime, you have 60 min. to win the ball game, if not you go to sudden death, yes decided by a coin toss who STARTS with the ball, but its by no means over, the team that starts with the ball in overtime wins only about 60% of the time, and only about 40% on that first series. Overtime has been this way forever, and has always worked, why does eveyone over the past 5 years suddenly seem to believe that the NFL’s overtime system is so flawed.

If it’s 10 minutes or even just 8 minutes, I think that’s better, and it’s still football. College and the NFL’s playing for a FG isn’t football. If you remain tied at the end of regulation, you are tied – in the postseason, play another quarter. If you want to play more quarters in the regular season, that would be fine, but like you said, you have TV issues to worry about.

I’ve heard a lot about the 6 point idea, and I don’t mind it, but it still could lead to a situation where the Saints win the toss, drive for the TD and Peyton Manning can just sit on the sideline and watch. I think whatever the system, both teams HAVE to get the ball.

The Continuation rule.
Where ever the game is at when time runs out is where the game begins in overtime. If the Dolphins are tied with the Jets and have the ball on 2nd down and four at the Jets 35 when time runs out, then the overtime begins at the same spot with 2nd and four. The Phins could then play out their last downs and try to score, instead of the game and even season ended by the leg a guy who plays a few minutes per game or a freakin’ coin.
This would mean teams could play to score not just kick long field goals. More teams would go for the TD, especially if you played an extra qtr. TD’s are infinitely more fun than FG’s. I want to see them play football!

And I can see #4 being fun, but #1 is what I have been hoping for since I became a football fan.

Other than in the final two minutes of a half, when do NFL teams play for a field goal?

I see overtime as just that, the last minutes of a game without worrying about the clock and the possibility of the other team getting the ball back if you score with too much time left. That’s fine with me.

Sudden Death overtime is perfectly fair in my eyes… even with the NFL advancing a game these days that favors offensive productivity. In the Packers/Cards playoff game, the Packers won the toss. But they didn’t waltz down and kick a 40 yard field goal to win without the Cards touching the ball…. instead Arizona’s defense took it in their own hands to make one hell of a play to force a fumble and score a defensive touchdown. In the Vikings/Saints playoff game, the Vikings had the ball in field goal range and the game tied with 19 seconds left. After a dumb penalty they attempted a pass that was intercepted, giving up the opportunity for the game-winning field goal. In the 2007 NFC championship game, the Packers won the coin toss in overtime. Did they march down the field and kick a field goal without the Giants touching the ball? Nope, the Giants intercepted the ball and won the game.

The overtime rules are fair. Everyone knows what they are going in, and it’s certainly not a given that the coin toss winning team is going to kick a field goal without the other team touching the ball (I’ve seen stats floating around saying that happens around 30% of the time). There are more than enough opportunities in a 60 minute game for a team’s offense, defense, special teams, and coaching to beat the opponent, by the widest or narrowest margins. If you can’t do that in 60 minutes, these are the overtime rules. If you lose the coin toss, it’s up to the other team to not make a costly mistake and it’s up to your defense to earn their multi-million dollar salaries and make a play.

I like this one, however if there is a defensive TD then the game is over as well. Overtime should not be a long drawed out process but it needs to be better than it is. A whole fifth quarter is too long, the first team to 6 in a defensive struggle can be very long based on FGs.

My question with one possession each is if Team A scores then Team B scores then Team A scores, does Team B have the chance to score again… or is that similar to College?

a modified college system. Have each team swap posessions until one outscores the other. I hate the rule that is in place now, especially in an offensive game that has the two teams tied at 45, which would mean neither teams defense is worth a #$%@ so the coin toss decides the game. If one team scores and kicks the extra point, the other team would be forced to score and go for 2, that would eliminate the tie problem. Just one fans opinion!!

most part it needs to be left alone. I don’t think anything radical will ever be done as the NFL will continue to do what they must to keep their primary cash cow (the networks) happy. Anything that will make the games longer is going to come up against resistance.

Especially if the league is going to more teams in the future, and time constraints. Just use the tied record in the computation for playoff teams.

What’s the purpose of the “tied” column in team’s records? I mean, how many overtimes do they do until it’s officially a tied score?

It’s like a tied record is taboo…

(I feel real stupid just commenting this.)

1 badass from each team go to the 50 and beat the hell out of each other (winner takes all) lol.

2. First to 5 kills the lame FG to win thing which I hate.

3. First to score, but field goals aren’t allowed in the first ten minutes works for me. Go down and score a stinking touchdown or burn ten minutes off the clock.

4. No overtime. Win it in regulation or walk away with a tie (except in the playoffs).

have them rite it down as a rookie 500 time’s please!!!

but that would never happen.

if you had won in regulation, then you wouldn’t need overtime. of course, my opinion could change depending upon the outcome of a dolphin game.

Here is what I suggest. The current overtime is a 15 min period. I would make this two 7 min 30 second periods. Here is why:

1) Flip the coin in overtime to determine who receives the ball. Team “A” kicks off to Team “B”
2) Play the full 7 min 30 second period, just like a real game.
3) The team winning at the end of the period wins the game.
4) If the game is tied at the end of the shortened period, the teams switch sides of the field.
5) The 2nd 7 min 30 second period begins with Team “B” kicking off to Team “A”.
6) The game is now sudden death.
7) First team to score in this period wins.
8) If the score is still tied after the 2nd period, the game goes into the record books as tied.

I’ve seen some posts stating that OT was 50/50. That is not correct. The stats below show that the coin flip gives a major advantage to the team winning the toss. There is a good reason to change OT.

Total no. of overtime games (1974–2003) 365
Both teams had at least one possession 261 (72 %)
Team won toss and won game 189 (52 %)
Team lost toss and won game 160 (44 %)
Team won toss and drove for winning score 102 (28 %)
Games ending in a tie 15 (5 %)
  
Overtime games in 2002 26
Both teams had at least one possession 15 (58 %)
Team won toss and won game 16 (62 %)
Team lost toss and won game 9 (35 %)
Team won toss and drove for winning score 10 (38 %)
Games ending in a tie 1 (3 %)
  
Overtime games in 2003 23
Both teams had at least one possession 16 (70 %)
Team won toss and won game 12 (52 %)
Team lost toss and won game 11 (48 %)
Team won toss and drove for winning score 6 (26 %)
Games ending in a tie 0 (0 %)

Option #2 keeps OT competitive without over extending the game. Each team gets one position. Fans get to see all aspects from both teams – offense, defense and kicking. The game can’t be won on a single busted coverage or kickoff return. Overtime games become more dramatic and involves a lot more strategy from the coaches. If a coach settles for an easy field goal on the first position the other team could win with a TD. Everything that makes football exciting is included is option #2.

The reason the OT rule is what it is today is in part because the NFL doesn’t want 4 hour games. Options 3 and 4 are impractical if the NFL wants to keep games within a reasonable time. Option one doesn’t allow teams to use the kicking game which is an important part of football.

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Something about its the way I’ve always remembered it says, leave it be…

there’s nothing wrong with the OT system. Everybody makes such a huge deal about the coin toss deciding the winner, but every single statistic argues with that. Unless you can come up with a way to award possession within the context of the game (or like hockey and basketball do with the faceoff/jump ball) than that’s the only fix needed. It can’t be something like “whoever has more yards” because the game is tied, therefore all the stats can be thrown out the window, both teams managed to score the same amount of points, and thats the only stat that matters..

My solution is have 2 captains play a best of 3 Rock/Paper/Scissors, winner gets choice of possession. The sudden death aspect can stay, because you have to play offense, defense, and special teams. The game isn’t automatically over when one team gets the ball first. Here’s what you need to know:
The average NFL drive starts between the 25 and 30 yard line.
The average NFL drive lasts about 30 yards.
If you start at the 30, and go 30 yards, you set up a 57 yard FG.
In 2009, Kickers hit 52% of FG’s over 50 yards.

Bottom line, it is FAR from a sure thing that a team will drive down and hit a FG on the first drive of overtime, despite what many writers will have you believe. If you’re defense can hold a team to the NFL average of starting field position and drive length, then it’s about a 50/50 chance of that team missing a long FG (or not even attempting it). 50/50, the same odds as that coin flip everybody bitches about. There’s nothing broken with NFL OT. There’s no need to try and fix it.