NFL owners approved a change to the league’s overtime rules for postseason games on Tuesday that will allow for both teams to possess the ball regardless of what happens on the opening drive of overtime.
Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay said that the move was driven by data that showed 10-of-12 playoff games that went to overtime ended with touchdowns on the first offensive possession. McKay also admitted that the last of those games played a big role in the league embracing the rule change.
That game saw the Chiefs beat the Bills in the divisional round of last season’s playoffs after a wild fourth quarter and it led to many people calling for a tweak that would have allowed Josh Allen and the Bills offense a chance to answer the Kansas City touchdown. After the change, Bills head coach Sean McDermott told the Buffalo News that the change was “the right thing for the game.”
“You never want it to be a knee-jerk reaction,” McDermott said. “I don’t believe in that, and I don’t think this was. There’s always got to be one last example, I guess, of why it needs to change, and unfortunately it happened to us. But there were some things we could have done better too — got to play better defense — but I think it’s good for the game at the end of the day.”
Bills General Manager Brandon Beane called the change “a step in the right direction” and said he isn’t sure the league might “want to tweak it again” in a few years, but, for now, all playoff teams will know that they’ll get a chance on both sides of the ball before a game can end in overtime.
