The NFL's overtime rules don't need to be changed. Calm down, everyone!
Calm down, everyone!
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The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills played one of the greatest football games in the history of football yesterday. It was incredible. It was insane. It was some of the best TV that you’ll ever see.
And, of course, it ended with a bit of controversy that left a lot of fans mad at the NFL and its overtime rules.
If you missed it, the two teams combined for 25 points in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. Patrick Mahomes saved his team by getting them in field goal range on a 13-second drive that should be talked about for the rest of time.
The Chiefs then won the coin toss to start overtime and marched down the field on the only drive of the extra frame and won it on an 8-yard TD pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce.
While the Chiefs celebrated, lots of fans yelled on Twitter about how it stunk that Josh Allen and the Bills’ offense never got a chance to step on the field in overtime. They screamed about how could such a great game be decided by a coin toss and how it wasn’t fair for the Bills or their fans.
Those people, though, were wrong. The ending was entirely fair and wasn’t decided by a coin toss. It was decided by the Bills defense not being able to get a stop when it needed to. It was decided by the Chiefs’ offense putting plays together and making things happen when the game was on the line. It was decided by two teams doing what they should be doing – playing football.
The NFL overtime rules are perfectly fine as is and don’t need to be changed. If you lose the coin toss then you have to run your defense out on the field and stop the other team, or at least hold them to a field goal, so your offense can get a chance. Give up a touchdown and the game is over. It’s perfect, really. It’s how football is played. It’s how football should be played.
Have you seen how overtime works in college football? It’s a joke and doesn’t look anything like football. When teams keep scoring in college OT they go to sudden death two-point conversions! We don’t need those type of carnival games at the professional level.
Lots of people think the easy fix would be to allow both teams to get an automatic shot at having the ball in overtime. That seems a little too hokey to me and takes away from the spirit of the game. If you want the other team to get a chance on offense then that other team needs to step up and get a stop. If you can’t get a stop then you don’t deserve to win the game.
It’s that simple.
Well, unless you’re trying to stop Patrick Mahomes.
Quick hits: Aaron Rodgers got canceled jokes… Tom Brady’s bloody face becomes a meme… Diggs levels fan… And more.
(AP Photo/Morry Gash)
– The 49ers beat the Packers on Saturday night and everyone made jokes about Aaron Rodgers getting canceled.
– Tom Brady and his bloody face became so many memes during the Bucs’ loss to the Rams
– Bills WR Steffon Diggs laid out a Chiefs fan who ran on the field late in the fourth quarter.
– Tom Brady shared some classy moments with Matthew Stafford and Odell Beckham Jr. after Sunday’s thrilling Bucs-Rams game.
– NFL fans had so many jokes about the Cowboys after Patrick Mahomes needed just 13 seconds to get a FG.
– Charles Curtis ranks the four possible Super Bowl matchups.