Postgame Spread
You guys hangin' out? I'll hang out.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

NFL Overtime Dilemma: Solved    

Auctioning off first possession in overtime based on closeness to own goal line: great solution, or greatest solution?

For the most part I approve, if for no other reason than because you get to a place where nobody disagrees about who gets the ball. As it is, you can just vent your vag about how unfair it is that someone drove 60 yards on you, as if you didn't have a chance to stop them. This removes that nonsense entirely. You agree to stop someone on their own 12, and if you don't then you face the music unarmed. I like that.

On the other hand, I could see this actually leading to more ties if the ball is in a sufficiently annoying location. And that's a terrible outcome.

If OT is changed at all, I would want to see the removal of the tie in favor of the untimed sudden-death overtime. If college football can go on for five, six, seven OT periods, then there's no reason to argue that the players will be too tired to play longer than fifteen minutes. Presumably the current reason for ending a game in a tie is related to pleasing TV broadcasters, but the NFL seems like the one league that could increase unplanned gameplay and still keep local affiliates happy. Perhaps if OT were monetized above what local affiliates would receive for paid programming, the problem gets solved.

Either way, ties suck, and have nothing but ill effects, like Donovan McNabb talking, and the Eagles making the playoffs. If they can take away the tie that actually makes sense (hockey) then they should get rid of the one that doesn't.

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home