Change in postseason OT format tops NFL meeting agenda

It says a lot about the health and popularity of the NFL when the most significant item on the agenda of next week’s Spring Meetings in Orlando will be whether or not to change the rule concerning overtime – and only in the postseason, no less. The league held a conference call with the media this morning featuring Competition Committee member and Atlanta Falcons President Rich McKay to offer some insights into the three-day meetings and what figures to happen. While hits involving defenseless players will also be discussed, most of the question-and-answer period concerned the overtime, which has been debated in the past but hasn’t reached a point where a rule change will be considered. That’s happened this year. The change, which at least at first would only involve the playoffs and Super Bowl, would assure that each team gets at least one possession as long as the team that received the kickoff didn’t score a touchdown. If the receiving team kicks a field goal, the other team would then get the ball. If both teams kick field goals on their first possession, then sudden death kicks in on the next possession. The change has come about because of a disparity in overtime finishes since the kickoff was moved back from the 35 to the 30-yard-line in 1994. Prior to that, McKay said, each team won in overtime 46.8 percent of the time. Since the change, the team that gets the ball first

has won 59.8 percent, and the kicking team only 38.5 percent. Improvements in the kicking game have played a big part in the change. The receiving team now typically gets the ball between the 25 and 30, and needs only to reach the opponents’ 30 or 35 to line up a makeable field goal. And even if that team doesn’t move into field-goal range, a first down or two sets up a punt that pins the other team deep in its own end, meaning the team that got the ball first still has the advantage. Making sure both teams get the ball at least once – providing the first team doesn’t score a TD – should level the field somewhat. Of course, the Dolphins bucked those odds in their only overtime game last season. After trailing Tennessee 24-9 on the road early in the third quarter last Dec. 20, the Dolphins rallied to tie by scoring 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. But after winning the OT coin toss – the memory of Jason Taylor and Joey Porter literally skipping off the field in excitement still resonates – the Dolphins turned the ball over on a Chad Henne interception. The Titans won the game on a 46-yard field goal by Rob Bironas on their only OT possession, thus beginning the Dolphins’ three-game losing streak to end the season.

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Change in postseason OT format tops NFL meeting agenda

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