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.

A few words about TO, and other stories

Unless you've been living in a box for a couple of days, you know that the Cowboys recently released wide receiver Terrell Owens.

Let me say that I don't think TO is an absolute cancer that has no upside, even though that's exactly what many if not most NFL fans and analysts think. I think TO is immature, I think he's emotionally unstable, I think he's arrogant, I think he's a whiner, and I think he brings a lot of baggage to a team and its locker room. But make no mistake; TO is NOT the one thing holding the Cowboys back from being a great team. He has contributed to the lack of chemistry on the team, and he has certainly been a distraction from time to time, and I do not absolve him from responsibility when it comes to the lack of post-season Ws since he's been a Cowboy. But I also think it's important to remember that the guy has been coddled by an owner who seems to want his team in the spotlight no matter what, and a coach who doesn't have a strong-willed bone in his body. There's no leadership in the Cowboys' organization, and until that changes, they can get rid of every player who's holding them back and they still won't win a Super Bowl.

Having said that, I'm glad he's gone. I think only good comes from releasing him. Roy Williams is a talented receiver who was never going to get a real shot to excel as long as Owens was across the field from him. There should be fewer drama stories coming out of Valley Ranch, and fans don't have to go through the love him/hate him routine with Owens every time he catches a touchdown pass and then drops three in a row.

Other notes from the past week: Jon Kitna will be Romo's new backup. That's good because A) Kitna is not 78 years old, and will therefore be a better backup in case of a Romo injury than Brad Johnson was, and B) He's a veteran player who I expect to kick Romo's butt a little in camp and in practice, competing for the starting spot and by his actions, demanding that Romo improve. Anthony Henry went to the Lions for Kitna, and the Cowboys released Roy Williams (the safety) as well, making it look like they might need a little beefing up in the defensive secondary department. They have some promising young players who can hopefully step up, but it might be an area they need to address a little in the draft. Defensive lineman Chris Canty signed with the Giants, which is bad in two respects: 1) Canty's very good and will be missed (BUT, read on...) and 2) now he's on the Giants; a team with an already suffocating defensive line that the 'Boys have to play twice each year. Fortunately, I think point 1 will be canceled out by the news today that Dallas signed defensive tackle Igor Olshansky out of San Diego. He's been every bit as valuable to the Chargers as Canty's been to the Cowboys, so hopefully he'll keep the Dallas D-line just as strong.

My final interesting note. Everything sports-related that I've seen yesterday and today has been about where TO will go from here. Although almost every analyst swears that there are only 2 or 3 places where he could possibly end up, I've heard the following teams mentioned as possible destinations: Giants, Redskins, Vikings, Panthers, 49ers, Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Ravens, Titans, Colts, Jaguars, Chargers, and Raiders. That's 14 out of a possible 31 (I'm obviously not counting Dallas). That's almost 50%. So while I frankly couldn't care less where he goes, I sort of don't know who to believe. I listened to three different sports radio shows and one television sports news show just today, and those were all the teams mentioned from all of them... but again, each analyst will insist that all but a couple of those teams are in no way possible. Weird.

Jason Witten: I like him

Here's a good article on Cowboys Pro-Bowl tight end Jason Witten and his desire to help victims of and prevent domestic abuse, and also on his relationship with Christ.

I need to improve

I was re-reading some of my posts from last September and October (you know, the first half of the NFL season), and I was embarrassed at a lot of what I saw. It's definitely evidence that I'm no pro, and that people should never been expected to accurately predict the outcome of a season early on.

So do me a favor... don't go back and re-read my posts from those months (as if you were going to anyway), and DEFINITELY don't compare those posts with actual end-of-the-season standings and statistics.

Thanks

Football Fix

I got my football fix today. This morning on NFL Network they showed the NFC Championship between the Cowboys and the Packers from January of 1996. This was the last Cowboys team to have won in the postseason. After beating the Packers in the game I watched this morning, they went on to win the Super Bowl. Since then the team hasn't won a single playoff game.

It was kind of a nostalgic experience for me. Watching Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, Larry Brown, Leon Lett, Nate Newton, Darryl "Moose" Johnston, Larry Allen, Chris Boniol and Charles Haley (injured on the sidelines) playing against the old Packers Brett Favre (who looked like a little kid), Reggie White, Antonio Freeman, and Robert Brooks -- it was really kind of fun.

As I watched the game, I realized how different that team was compared to the recent Cowboys. They were fundamentally solid. Their offensive line completely ran over people, allowing the offense to grind out yards and eat the clock -- not relying on big flashy plays to the wide receivers (though those certainly came too... Michael Irvin scored the 'Boys' first two touchdowns). There were other noticeable differences too, some involving the effort that the players seemed to give versus what we see today (but that's not entirely fair to everyone -- Marion Barber works as hard as any player I've ever seen). I think the biggest difference I saw was that the Cowboys of 13 years ago stepped on the field knowing that they were better than the other guys. In everything they do, even when they're tied and the other team is driving, they carry themselves with confidence, knowing that they have the ability to take over the game. I couldn't say the same thing about the team today.

On a final note, I know there are an awful lot of people who have the life mission of pointing out to every Cowboys fan how lousy T.O. is, and how arrogant he is and how flashy and egotistically he plays... but I guarantee that if you watch T.O. play a game today and compare it to watching Deion Sanders play a game from a decade ago, you'd hate Sanders MUCH more. He had way more of that kind of presence on the field than T.O. does.

T.O.?

Yesterday in his Monday Morning Quarterback column, SI.com writer Peter King predicted that Terrell Owens will not be a Cowboy six weeks from now.

I'm posting this because I haven't posted any Cowboys-related stuff for quite some time. Not because it's all that interesting.

Big game prediction

The game starts in just over an hour. THE game. The Super Bowl. The single largest sporting event every year for who knows how long. I'd promise to blog through the game, but first of all, that would likely annoy all of you, and second of all, I neither care enough nor know enough about these teams to be able to blog throughout the game. As promised, however, I am now providing my prediction for the game's outcome.

Cardinals 27, Steelers 20.