In an about-face, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue predicted a change in the overtime rule for next season at his annual “state of the league” Super Bowl news conference Friday.
“The likelihood is we’ll probably end up with a change,” Tagliabue said.
Last month Tagliabue said he saw no sentiment among owners to alter the rule and allow both teams a chance to score.
“How we fine-tune it, I don’t know,” he said.
Critics think the coin flip carries too much weight. There were a record 25 overtime games this past season, 15 won by the team that won the coin flip. Nine were won on the initial possession.
Since kickoffs were moved back to the 30-yard line in 1994, teams that have won the toss have an 84-55 edge, including 36 games won on the first possession. In the first 20 years of NFL overtime, when the kickoffs were from the 35-yard line, more overtimes were won by teams that lost the toss: 101-99. That’s because more kickoffs went for touchbacks, putting the ball at the 20.
“When [owners look] at the trend . . . and with the excellence of our offenses, that advantage of receiving is becoming unbalanced,” Tagliabue said.
The most-discussed way to change is simple: institute sudden death after each team has one possession. Most NFL coaches don’t like the college rule, which gives each team the ball at the opponent’s 25-yard line. After teams score two touchdowns, they must go for the two-point conversion. In the NFL, some element of sudden death appears inevitable to limit the length of games.
The competition committee will meet in March and provide recommendations to owners at their annual spring meeting.
Other issues:
– On whether the new racial diversity policy already has been circumvented in coaching hires in Jacksonville and Dallas: “The principle of fair employment really centers on the idea that employers should not hire unqualified or less qualified people and pass over members of minority groups of one type or another who are more qualified or fully qualified. I don’t see how that principle has been breached in any way, shape or form by Jacksonville or Dallas.”
– On the prospect of a team in Los Angeles: “We want to be back in Los Angeles. And we’re working toward that goal.”
– On the stability of the Colts in Indianapolis: “It’s a work in progress. The Colts do have some needs growing out of a number of different factors–the stadium, the market, the number of new stadiums that drive their player expenses up under our salary-cap system.”
– On whether this is the last Super Bowl in San Diego: “I don’t think the outlook is promising. And the reason is so many new stadiums have been built in the last decade.”
– On officiating: “Overall, we think the officiating is very good. I don’t expect the competition committee to do anything very surgical or radical.”
– On whether the NFL feels responsible for celebrating morbid obesity in its ever-expanding athletes: “I can’t say that I do any more than David Stern (NBA commissioner) is responsible for [Yao Ming’s] height. He didn’t grow up in America. The basic point is very important, which has to do with the health of our players. Our competition committee looks at that on a continuing basis, but we don’t think that what we’re looking at is being driven by anything that the NFL is doing. We inherit these players.”
– On expanding the playoffs: “We decided when we went to the eight-division format that we would wait several years to see how things played out before we looked at the possibility of expanding the number of teams in the playoffs.”
