It’s not very often an NFL game ends in a tie. Every time one does, we are reminded of how much most of us hate ties. The NFL needs to change their overtime to fix it for good.
Of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, the NFL is the only one that has it possible for their regular season games to end in a tie. The National Hockey League was the last league to eliminate ties, implementing the shootout after a five-minute overtime period after the lockout that canceled their 2004-2005 season.
It is uncommon for NFL games to end in ties. In fact, it’s so uncommon that there are players and media analysts that constantly forget or claim they didn’t know NFL games could end in a tie.
It didn’t take long for the NFL’s 2018 season to see it’s first tie, where the Steelers and Browns played to a 21-21 draw. It was a nasty, ugly game where both teams had plenty of reasons to not win the game. In fact, it would have been better to see one of those teams lose that game, because both deserved to in their own ways.
The NFL has made changes to their overtime rules recently. Overtime used to be sudden death, first score wins (touchdown or field goal). Fans and NFL executives alike grew tired of the team that got the ball first being able to go down and only have to get in field goal range to kick a game-winning field goal without the other team ever getting a chance to send their offense onto the field.
The change they implemented took away the field goal as a means of sudden death in the first possession of overtime. If the first-possession team kicks a field goal, the other team gets a chance to answer with a score of their own. A touchdown can still be a sudden death blow.
A sudden death overtime does aid the NFL in the length of their games, which is a football issue in general, college or professional. Surely, it’s something for the NFL to monitor, but the fans of the NFL deserve for their games to end with a victor and a loser.
As a fan of college football myself, I love the college football overtime. It’s exciting, nerve-wracking, and could be a catalyst for even better ratings.
For those of you that don’t know how college football overtime works, here’s a quick summary:
- Each team is guaranteed one possession. Each period of overtime requires a possession from each team, much like the way innings work in baseball.
- There is no game clock, only a play clock.
- Each team begins their possession on the opponents’ 25 yard line.
- If the first team scores a touchdown, kicks a field goal, or fails to score, the other team gets the chance to outscore or match the first team.
- If the teams remain tied after one overtime period, the teams swap order of possession, so the team that had the last possession in the first overtime period starts with possession in the second overtime period. Team will continue to swap order of possession for every period of overtime necessary until there is a winner.
- If the teams remain tied after two overtime periods, when a team scores a touchdown, they are forced to go for a two-point conversion. This is to help speed up the overtime process if it getting lengthy.
Tell me how this is bad for the NFL. You get a clear-cut winner, so no more ties. The potential for more scoring/offense is huge, which is what the NFL wants anyway, plus it’s a great boost to the fantasy football market.
If the NFL wants to please their fans, they will get rid of ties. Nobody likes them and nobody learns from them. Unless you like soccer, then draws are very status quo.
You may or may not like college football overtime rules, but right now, it’s the more exciting way to end a tie game. It really could only help the NFL, not hurt it.