Last season’s Super Bowl was seconds away from being the first to reach overtime. If not for Ben Roethlisberger’s touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes in the final minute of Pittsburgh’s 27-23 victory over Arizona, the Steelers would have opted for a game-tying field goal.
That would have meant that a coin flip could have virtually determined the result of football’s ultimate game.
Never has the result of the coin toss had such influence over the outcome of overtime as it did last season. Almost half the league’s overtime games, 47 percent, were won on the first possession.
Since the NFL instituted overtime 35 years ago, 30 percent of overtime games have been decided on the first possession. The accuracy and range of kickers is higher than ever and could account for the high percentage.
But the league will not act on the matter for at least another year. There’s nothing regarding overtime on the agenda for NFL owners, who began four days of meetings Sunday.
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“It does concern me, but it also is a system that everybody knows the rules of, and everybody does have an opportunity to play defense,” said Atlanta Falcons President Rich McKay, co-chair of the NFL’s Competition Committee.
“It’s not as though the coin flip decides the game. … I think the average [overtime winning] field goal was something like 37 yards. So it means the team had made it all the way to the opponent’s 20-yard line and obviously had a real drive, not a 55-yard field goal, which would be my fear.
“The system is built for excitement, and we have an opportunity to play defense. So I think for now that’s the system we’re going to stay with.”
When Carl Peterson was their president and general manager, the Kansas City Chiefs sponsored a proposal on more than one occasion that would provide each team at least one possession in overtime. The proposal failed each time, and, according to McKay, no team proposed a change to the rule this year.
The NFL’s concern in moving to a system in which each team gets at least one overtime possession is in turning games into marathons. NFL Executive Vice President Ray Anderson said league surveys show players to be against a change because of concern for injuries.
“They were pretty adamant that extended play time, when you’re playing 20 games, exposes you to injury risk, and they’d just as soon say let’s battle it out during regulation, and if you can’t win it in regulation, you take your chances in overtime.”
Schedule: The NFL has no plans to alter its current 20-game format: 16 regular-season games and four exhibitions. However, the league could eliminate one or two preseason games to accommodate more regular-season games.
The owners will be given information this week by the Competition Committee regarding competitive issues with a 17-game or 18-game regular season, but no action is expected until a collective-bargaining agreement is reached.
Playoff seeding: The Jacksonville Jaguars have proposed reseeding the playoffs so a wild-card team with a record superior to a division winner’s would be at home in a first-round matchup between those teams.
Last season the Colts (12-4) played at the Chargers (8-8), and the Falcons (11-5) were at the Cardinals (9-7). Both home teams won.