Time for NFL to Change the Overtime Rule

There's something wrong with the NFL overtime rule

By MICHAEL DAVID SMITH and FANHOUSE.COM

Updated 1:03 PM PST, Mon, Jan 5, 2009

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When the coin toss at the start of overtime is so important that Chargers nose tackle Jamal Williams could declare "game over" as soon as his team won it on Sunday night, you know there's something wrong with the NFL overtime rule. Fortunately, I have the solution.

It's actually quite simple, and it doesn't involve alternating possessions, like they do in college, or giving both teams the ball at least once, or saying one team has to win by four points, or any of other proposed solutions you usually hear.

The solution is this: Let one team determine where the overtime kickoff will take place, and then let the other team choose whether to kick or receive.

I've been arguing this for years, and my idea hasn't gone anywhere, but I'm going to keep at it. They don't even need to have a coin flip. Just say that the road team picks a yard line, and the home team picks whether to kick or receive. Right now, the overtime kickoff is at the 30-yard line, which benefits the receiving team. But what if they moved the kickoff by 20 yards, to the 50-yard line? Or by 40 yards, all the way to the other 30-yard line? All of a sudden, receiving wouldn't be an advantage anymore.

The NFL, of course, will never implement this rule. But it should. A coin toss followed by the words "game over" is no way to conclude a playoff game.