NFL Overtime in Comparison to Other Sports

I have long been baffled by the NFL’s overtime rules. Born into an athletic family, I have grown up watching football and many other competitive sports; I myself played several sports competitively, including soccer and softball. It has always baffled me as to why in the NFL, who gets first (and often only) possession in overtime is determined by the flip of a coin. In all other sports I can think of, overtime presents an opportunity for both teams to have a turn on offense and defense.

In baseball, you don’t stop mid-inning if the first team at bat scores. In doing that, a team to score in the top of the inning wouldn’t have to protect their lead with three outs, and the losing team wouldn’t get an equal chance to score. Even discussing baseball as sudden death seems ridiculous, but the NFL really works like this! Even in soccer where the game truly becomes sudden death as the first team to win scores, the nature of the game is reflected in this type of overtime as it allows both teams the opportunity to play both offense and defense in almost seamless transitions. Even if soccer comes down to penalty kicks, each team gets equal chances so that the best of five wins. Likewise, basketball is played true to the game, with five minute periods being played just as the rest of the game was until one team ends victorious.

I understand each of these sports is vastly different and requires different skill sets and physicality. Football is a very physical game, and one of the main reasons the NFL cites as to why it employees the sudden death overtime is the physical nature of the sport and the chances of already exhausted players getting hurt. But as Sean Gregory of Time Magazine so profoundly states, “by not giving both teams an equal shot at winning, the league cheapens all the physical sacrifices its players make on the gridiron.”

My argument is that overtime ought to reflect the nature of the game and authentically prove the better team. It should not be determined by chance. This frustrates fans and sports enthusiasts; in a recent Sports Illustrated poll, the NFL ranked last in overtime systems. It is time for Roger Goodell and the NFL to take note and seriously discuss alternative systems for how overtime will be played.

SOURCES:
Time Magazine
Sports Illustrated