NFL OT Rules
Baseball and football are two different sports, and football is even more unique compared to hockey and basketball. I have no problem with the “last licks” system in extra innings for baseball. An extra 5 minutes for basketball is fine, and I can even live with the new OT and shootout format in the NHL during regular season games.
But my stance on NFL OT is based on its historical setup, significance, and the unique brutality of the sport, even more brutal than hockey, because we slam each other on every play in football, even if we don’t have the ball or puck. I played football for 12 years, several on astroturf, and now have a ton of Titanium holding my lumbar spine together for all the falls and hits I endured as a very mediocre RB during the '70s and '80s.
As someone permanently disabled by the sport I love and played, I really don't like regular season OT (there's really nothing wrong with ties, and ties would only reinforce the parity between teams in the NFL anyway... with few exceptions, so many of these teams are a toss-up in terms of talent level and performance... just look at the number of 7-7 teams were still in the AFC playoff race around X-mas), or changing the sudden death format. More time means more plays, which means more opportunities for crippling injuries.
But, if people hate ties and the inequity of teams winning OT with the coin toss and first drive (BTW, it's less than 60%), then I think there should be a set amount of time for continued competition, 10 or 15 minutes, as an extra quarter to provide both teams a chance to play offense, defense, and special teams (the NCAA system is too contrived), THEN we go to sudden death if the score is still tied. There really needs to be a sudden death aspect to NFL OT, and personally speaking, it should've been reserved for the playoffs, period.
While I'm on a roll, let me ask some of you older fans a question... between 1970 and 1973, we had teams like the 4-8-2 Saints, 5-6-3 Chargers, and the 7-5-2 Browns, Broncos, and Chiefs. Ask yourselves this, if we had any form of OT rule in the NFL prior to 1974, do you honestly believe the rule would've made a big difference for these teams, or were they truly mediocre teams playing other mediocre teams?
I believe the NFL switching to OT for the regular season in 1974 has spoiled the special quality of OT in the playoffs, and in this era of parity (or parodity, perhaps), OT has lost its value and drama. I say to the NFL "go back to regular season ties! Some of these teams play like they don't deserve to win anyway", and let's go back to OT in the post-season only, so we can recapture what OT once meant to the NFL and its roots of popularity.
Phew! I'm done... nothing else I can say. All tapped out!
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