Overtime: Revisited

In his Monday Morning QB this week Peter King wanted to argue about changing the NFL overtime rules again. Since I started reading his column regularly last season he has been adamant that both teams should get a possession in overtime, and that the coin flip bears much too much weight on deciding overtime games. His three reasons are as follows (summarized, of course):

1. In the last 5 years 39% of overtime games have been decided on the first possession with the losing team not even getting a chance to touch the ball.

2. In the last 5 years 100% of teams winning the coin flip in overtime have selected to receive. This is King's rebuttal to the argument that good defenses can win in overtime too. Teams never elect to kickoff, he argues, "because the winner of the coin flip has a far, far better chance to win the game than the team that doesn't win."

3. Steelers president Art Rooney says that he'd like to see each team get one possession (Yes, that's it. His third argument is actually just someone else agreeing with him).

Now, I'm a Peter King fan, which is why I read his column each week and I'll continue to do so. He might not even be that wrong about his opinion here. But at the end of his overtime discussion he describes how he hopes next year's Super Bowl will go into overtime and the team that wins the coin flip wins on their first possession on a field goal, and after the game the losing coach says to commissioner Goodell, "Championship football games should not end this way." Then King finishes, "Maybe then we could have a sensible debate about overtime."

Seriously Peter? We're not already having a sensible debate? The debate isn't sensible because it doesn't look like the rule is going to change this year. C'mon. Give the NFL some credit.

Also, you know why the team that receives first in overtime has a "far far better chance" to win the game? Because in football, the team on offense has a MUCH higher chance to score than the team on defense.

I don't think I'm irreversibly convinced that the current system is the best possible way to run NFL's overtime, but the reason why I don't think King's solution is any better is because football is about BOTH offense and defense. If you can't stop a team from scoring on its first possession of overtime, improve. It's the same reason why we didn't give the Patriots the Lombardi trophy after going undefeated in the regular season and in their first two postseason games. You have to play the games, and you have to win. Suck it up.