They marched down and there was no answer

Ulrich said:

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The team that wins the coin flip is twice as likely to win the game under the old rules. Requiring a touchdown for sudden death is slightly better, but still the worst overtime format in sports. Get a real overtime, NFL.

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Agree I think a 10 minute quarter is the best "pro" way to handle NFL OT

Sparkie said:

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25 point lead and the ot rules aren't fair

Some salty tears

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Welcome to football. The NFL overtime rules are bad, that's not new. I'm not a Falcons fan or an anti-New England fan.

They need to change the rules in OT if statisitcally a team is favored based on a coin flip. In this case just deciding the game on a coin flip itself would be equal.

If the falcons got the stop all they needed was a FG, not a TD. They got plenty of stops all game and didn't when it mattered. It's an advantage to receive first in OT but not THAT much.

Or let the teams finish out the overtime quarter.

Ain't no one got time for dat!

I'm ok with this rule for the regular season. But in the playoffs, I do think both teams should get a possession regardless. Even Arena Football figured that out

A coin flip really is a laughably bad way to decide a game after both teams are gassed after 60 minutes.

Defense is just as important as offense. Falcons had a chance to stop them.

31 unanswered points. Atlanta didn't deserve a 2nd chance in overtime after that abomination.......

Sparkie said:

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25 point lead and the ot rules aren't fair

Some salty tears

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Salty tears? 90% of the people on this board are Texans with no rooting interest. We just think that favoring one team in OT based on a freaking coin flip is stupid.

OT is supposed to be like a new game, so start the teams on even footing. The current rules are like ro-sham-bo; whoever goes first has a HUGE advantage.

Go back and check the game thread.

I pointed out Brady was throwing darts.

Also pointed out the Pats shifted to going speed over power right before half.

Call that crying all you want, but I call it being right.


I did cry about gaga and changing the channel.



So if you didn't point out the posatives of how the Pats were playing and adjusting, go **** yourself and cry to youself.

Deputy Travis Junior said:

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Sparkie said:

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25 point lead and the ot rules aren't fair

Some salty tears

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Salty tears? 90% of the people on this board are Texans with no rooting interest. We just think that favoring one team in OT based on a freaking coin flip is stupid.

OT is supposed to be like a new game, so start the teams on even footing. The current rules are like ro-sham-bo; whoever goes first has a HUGE advantage.

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OT is sudden death not another new game so get over the rules not matching your desires.

Sparkie said:

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Deputy Travis Junior said:

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Sparkie said:

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25 point lead and the ot rules aren't fair

Some salty tears

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Salty tears? 90% of the people on this board are Texans with no rooting interest. We just think that favoring one team in OT based on a freaking coin flip is stupid.

OT is supposed to be like a new game, so start the teams on even footing. The current rules are like ro-sham-bo; whoever goes first has a HUGE advantage.

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OT is sudden death not another new game so get over the rules not matching your desires.

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It's like a new game, new half, whatever. Teams receive new TOs, the drive from the previous quarter does not carry over, and the score is equal. So whether you want to analogize that to a new game or call it a hard reset of play, the end result is the same.

In that situation, giving one team an advantage based on a freaking coin flip is stupid. It's a tradition that's coasting on momentum because nobody feels like going through the trouble of changing it.

For those of you requesting a change to the rules realize that you're basically arguing for more ties. If you take the rate of first posession TDs and then assume the second possessor has the same rate of TDs, then you get 4 times out of 89 where the coin flip is the determining factor and of those 4 times the vast majority would probably end in ties.


I'm all for changing the rules for the playoffs, but in the NFL it's mostly just unnecessarily extending the game, because in the vast majority of instances the coin toss loser gets a chance at the ball and in that scenario they know they only need a FG.

First possession TDs 18
Coin toss winner wins 46 (51.6%)
Coin toss loser wins 38 times (42.6%)
Tie 5 (5.6%)

Ulrich said:

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The team that wins the coin flip is twice as likely to win the game under the old rules. Requiring a touchdown for sudden death is slightly better, but still the worst overtime format in sports. Get a real overtime, NFL.

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This isn't even close to reality. The stats I dug up showed 325 OT games with the team winning the coin flip winning 52% of the time. And this includes the old rules where even a FG first won. The coin flip is almost statistically meaningless.

You can ***** about it being unfair to not give both teams a shot, but the coin flip doesn't decide it.

I don't think many people care about the regular season; the stakes are so much lower there and you have other games to make up for it.

It just feels illogical that a coin flap played a large part in the biggest, most lucrative sporting event in the world, and anticlimactic that we didn't get to see if the Falcons offense would respond.

mathguy86 said:

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Ulrich said:

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The team that wins the coin flip is twice as likely to win the game under the old rules. Requiring a touchdown for sudden death is slightly better, but still the worst overtime format in sports. Get a real overtime, NFL.

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This isn't even close to reality. The stats I dug up showed 325 OT games with the team winning the coin flip winning 52% of the time. And this includes the old rules where even a FG first won. The coin flip is almost statistically meaningless.

You can ***** about it being unfair to not give both teams a shot, but the coin flip doesn't decide it.

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Last time I saw the stats (several years ago when it only had the sudden death rule) the numbers were 60-30-10. So either it has changed dramatically recently or we're looking at different numbers.

Since 2012, the team winning the OT coin flip has won 33 of 65 games. ESPN win probabilities puts the coin flip winner at 53.8% chance of winning. There are bigger things to worry about than the coin flip.

Atlanta didn't lose this game because they lost a coin flip. Aside from the idiotic play calls, they lost because they were gassed. The Pats ran 89 offensive plays to the Falcons 41.

Really boggles the mind the NFL hasn't adapted some version of the college OT, which is far and away the best. I'd move the ball back from the 25 to midfield to start possessions, but otherwise keep it the same.

On the contrary, I think the college playoff system is worse when you factor in the better NFL kickers. Doesn't allow defenses as much opportunity to make a stop.

People in here acting like 80 yard TD drives are par for the course.

Which is damn near the same rate that NFL teams win a game based upon the opening kick coin toss (52.1% of the time a coin toss winner wins the game).

80% of the time the toss loser gets a chance with the ball
You would expect a game going into overtime to begin with back to back TDs only 4% of the time.