I'm here a day ahead of time for something not related to my Wild-Card predictions. There has been a lot of confusion on the topic of overtime rules changes in the NFL; I myself have been a bit confused as to why the changes were made, and how exactly they worked, since the changes were announces last off-season.
Today, while watching NFLNetwork’s Total Access, they had one of the Co-Chairmen of the NFL Competition Committee, Rich McKay, make an appearance to explain how the rule now works, and why it is more of a "modification" than an all-out rules change.
At the end of March 2010, the NFL announced the changed overtime rules and said they would only be applied to the postseason, all overtime games during the pre- and regular-season would be won/tied in the same fashion as they have in the past; the first team to score by any means wins and if no one scores in 15 minutes, the game results in a tie.
But when the rules change was announced, little was highlighted other than that the team that wins the coin toss could not win with a field goal. But it is a little more complex than that, and after reading exactly what the rule change states, I was even more confused than before.
However, Rich McKay explained how the rule modification works, and because he explained it in such a way that I can now fully wrap my head around it, I wanted to go ahead and put it on here for anyone else who may not have understood exactly how overtime will work for the next few weeks.
For the following scenarios, Team A is the team who wins the coin toss. (For these examples we also assume that Team A has elected to receive (I could not find stats for 2008-2010 regular seasons, but from 2000-2007, in 124 regular season overtime games, only once did the winner elect to kick so this is a likely assumption)). Team B is the team who lost the coin toss and is kicking off to Team A.
Team A returns the kickoff.
Scenario 1: Team A drives the field and score a TD. The game ends, Team A wins.
Scenario 2: Team A drives down field but settles for a FG. They will then have to kick off to Team B:
If Team B turns the ball over (on the return, with a fumble, or with an INT), the game is over, Team A wins.
If Team B drives the field and scores a TD, the game is over, Team B wins.
If Team B drives the field and scores a FG, they must kick off to Team A. The next team to score wins.
Scenario 3: Team A (somehow) is tackled on the kickoff return deep in their own territory and Team B makes a tackle in the end zone for a safety. Team B wins.
Scenario 4: Team B tries an onside kick and recovers. They drive the field and kick a FG. The game is over, Team B wins.
The key term, as Rich McKay noted, is opportunity to possess. Unless Team A scores a TD on the first drive, both teams must have an opportunity to posses the ball. So if Team B tries an onside kick and recovers, Team A has had an opportunity to possess the ball and so Team B can win the game with a FG. In fact, a turnover of any kind means that each team has had an opportunity to possess the ball and so a FG can win in any of those scenarios. So I will give one more scenario to explain a type of turnover not commonly expected.
Scenario 5: Team A is stopped by Team B and is not in field goal range. They choose to punt, but Team B muffs the punt and Team A recovers. Team B is deemed to have had an opportunity to possess the ball and so Team A can win with a FG.
Hopefully this is as clarifying as it was for me when McKay appeared on NFL Total Access. If not you can comment with questions and I would be more than happy to answer.
Also, for a direct explanation of the rule modification by Rich McKay himself, the link to his appearance on Total Access is at the following URL:
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-playoffs/09000d5d81d7d721/Modified-sudden-death-rules-for-playoffs?module=HP_video
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