A Few Reasons To Keep The NFL's Overtime Rules

There has been much discussion in all forms of media about how the current NFL overtime rules decided the NFC Championship game on Sunday.  I'm not sure there are any Vikings fans right now that want to keep the current overtime format that the NFL uses.

Sure you can run on out and find any article anywhere that backs up your opinion of how the overtime rules are biased and that the team that wins the coin toss will win the game on the first possession 30% of the time.  Maybe that's too much, I have no idea.  What I do know is that you don't want to change the rules.  You really don't, trust me.

For starters, consider the players.  Never mind that I have yet to hear from any player that wants to change the overtime rules.  Let's assume there are a few that just have never spoken up about it.  I mean, it's not like there are not enough venues to speak up about anything. (Twitter, for starters.  Just ask Ochocinco)  So, we'll just cast that little nugget aside for now so we can concentrate on one thing.  Injuries.  If you make the contest longer (some people, most notably Mike Golic, have suggested making overtime an extra period in which you would play for a set amount of time such as 5 to 7 minutes), you will undoubtedly expose the players to more injuries.  I don't think there are any fans that would like to scrap these current plans and move to something that would jeopardize their favorite players.

Now, look at the coaches.  With the current system most coaches are going to opt to try to win in regulation so that they can avoid overtime and the coin flip that may/may not decide the game.  If you were to get rid of that, you would probably see a huge increase in the amount of games that go into overtime.  Don't believe it?  Look at college, where there are many more games that go into overtime.  Teams in college routinely "let up" at the end in order to get to overtime.  This is not seen in the NFL.  This is of course expected because going into overtime can be seen as a tactical advantage.  It gives your offense a chance to gain some composure and of course you are guaranteed to get the ball.  It is the opposite in the NFL.  The coach is going to avoid overtime as much as possible.  He doesn't want to go into overtime.

Third, the defenses.  Why don't the defenses get any blame from the overtime rule haters?  In most cases, they managed to make 10 or so stops in the game leading up to the overtime.  Stops that net zero points from the opponent.  How come all the sudden in overtime it is seen as impossible to stop the opposing team from scoring?

Of course none of these arguments mean anything if we can't apply them a little to a real life situation.  Let's just apply these to the NFC Championship game.  The same game that Vikings fans feel was taken from them by those terrible overtime rules.

• First, we'll look at the injury aspect.  How would you feel, Vikings fans, if you got to go to the Super Bowl but in the process of going through your extended-time overtime Favre got hurt?  Now, let's say that the Vikings won the coin toss and scored on the first possession but of course they had to play longer and Favre got hurt in the process.  I'm betting we'd see a few people talk about how great the overtime rules were before they were changed.
• Now, the coaches.  Let's look at that last Minnesota drive of regulation.  Favre is limping around held together with Ben-Gay, Duct Tape, and super glue.  You are going to seriously tell me that if a different set of overtime rules were in effect that Brad Childress would have let him run around that like?  Short answer is no.  Childress would have had Favre down the ball to get out of regulation and get him a short break.  How great would that game have been to watch now?  In a word, it would have sucked.  All the suspense of those last Vikings plays would have been gone.  It would have been Childress playing the percentages and taking the game into overtime.  The announcers probably would have said something about how smart he is for getting Favre a couple of minutes of rest due to the beating he took that whole game.
• Last, the Vikings' Defense.  They stopped the Saints several times.  The Saints usually averaged well over the 28 points they had at the end of regulation.  Where did the defense go?  Is this a case of the players seeing they lost the coin toss and just assumed that the game was over and not worth playing?  As much as the fans want to blame the rules, you have to blame the defense for not even really showing up for overtime.

We really can't discuss this game without discussing that the plethora of other reasons that the Vikings lost the game.  Five turnovers are a good start.  A terrible throw by Favre on the last interception.  The way that the Vikings abandoned the run (the one thing the Saints are terrible at defending) during the whole game. The overtime rules might not be perfect, but let's not pretend that they are the reason the Vikings lost the game.

To me, the overtime rules are fine the way they are.