How To Fix the NFL's Overtime Rules

I like the NFL more then college football. I have to say that because the NFL usually gets things right as opposed to college football, but college has it right when it comes to overtime.

In the NCAA, they at least give each team an equal chance when overtime occurs, or at the very least, you don’t lose because you lost a coin toss.

I have found out that since the year 2000, 60 percent of teams who win coin tosses before overtime end up winning it. Now, according to that stat, the problem isn’t that bad.

My problem is more with the sudden death rule. I am not a fan of it in any sport. After all, someone needs to start the overtime.

In soccer, FIFA introduced the “Golden Goal” in 1993 and it took nine years for them to decide that it wasn’t fair and by the end of Euro 2004, sudden death was taken out of the soccer rulebook.

The NFL means a lot to people in America and there is nothing more annoying then losing the coin toss, and having a tired defense getting run over by the opposition’s offense and not having your team’s offense even have a chance to do anything.

I mean, imagine in soccer someone winning the toss up before the penalty shootout and if they score the shot they win the game. I would think that you need to at least give an equal chance to each team.

Now, I also think that the college system of starting on the 25 cannot work in the NFL, due to the reason that a 42-yard field goal is the automatic kick in the NFL unless it’s Pittsburgh or Buffalo or Giants stadium in December.

I would suggest that you would use college rules but starting at midfield instead of the 25 yard line.

To save time, I would give no time outs, unless you choose to kick a field goal, so your kicking team can go on the field.

One of the biggest reasons they like the sudden death is because of the time and the league doesn’t want the games to go deep into the second game's time (talking about 1 p.m. games on Sunday mainly).

I do not think that it would take much longer then sudden death and if it does at least you would be watching a classic game instead of 15 minutes of 0-0 football that makes you miss the first quarter and more of the 4 p.m. games.

I think that it’s time for Roger Goodell to stop adding punishment on court decisions and start changing things that could make the game better, because after all, this rule doesn’t change just a single play in the game, this one could mean a win or a loss.

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