The overtime rules in the NFL are finally changing. Everybody was hoping for change after the Buffalo Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round of the playoffs last year. The Chiefs marched down and scored a touchdown on the opening drive of overtime. Meanwhile, the red-hot Bills didn’t get an opportunity to touch the football down the stretch.
The league came together and decided that the overtime period needed adjusting. The rule changes will only apply to overtime in the postseason. Regular season games that go into overtime won’t be getting altered at all. So, both teams will get a chance to receive a possession in overtime during the playoffs. If both teams march down and score a touchdown, then a sudden death mode will start. This means that the next team to score any type of points will win the game. Ian Rapoport said that the league voted in favor of this by a margin of 29-3.
Why Did The Overtime Rules Get Changed?
Roger Goodell came forward and made it clear that he wanted to change this due to the fans speaking out about this problem after Buffalo’s loss. Goodell said, “We always listen to the fans. That’s an important thing. We’re always looking to improve, and I think what really drove the decision was the database, ultimately, and looking at the facts and what’s happened. Where we saw that most having an influence, I think, was 12 games in the postseason that have been in overtime. Seven of which were won on the first possession. When you see that, that’s the type of thing that I think our coaches, and everyone looked at. This is an issue in the postseason we should deal with.”
One coach also spoke out about how this new rule will make coaches think differently in overtime. He gave a prediction that teams that get the ball first and score in overtime may opt to go for two-points. If this were to happen often, then we are in store for a lot of entertaining matchups in the future.
Unfortunately, this change doesn’t really help the Buffalo Bills out anymore. They still suffered a brutal defeat a few months ago. Though it did get change to come around, so the loss wasn’t for nothing.
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