Overtime

I was originally planning on writing about something else today, but after seeing a short segment on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL,” I felt obligated to write about the whole overtime mess in the NFL.

I’m really not sure why so many people are against implementing the college football playoff system in NFL games. I guess it’s a matter of tradition and everything, but the way things are done now are just stupid. Jim Nantz was talking about how this upcoming off-season, he feels that they will in fact change the NFL rule to follow the way it’s done in college and it will be known as the “Peyton Manning rule.” I really hope he’s right.

It’s really not fair for a team to play all season long, all game long, show that they are, in fact, equal to the other team, and then not even get a chance to touch the ball. You’re telling me that in crunch time, Peyton Manning wouldn’t put together a scoring drive to win a game? It’s really not fair that he single-handedly saved the Colts season and put them into the playoffs, yet he doesn’t even get to take a single snap in overtime.

I’m not someone who really supports college football. I would say I watch no more than five games a year, unless I hear about someone (Reggie Bush, Ted Ginn) who I really want to see as many times as I can. In no way (except overtime, of course) do I feel that college football is better than (or, truly, can even rival) the NFL. However, when it comes to overtime, it isn’t even the same ballpark (or not even in the same league, a la Jules Winfield).

When I’m watching a college football game, unless I’m rooting for a certain team, I’m kind of hoping that the game goes into overtime because I know it’ll be exciting. Even if it’s only one overtime period, I know that it’ll be a really great five minutes of football. Compare that to the NFL, where I dread overtime. Both teams get too conservative or one team never even gets to touch the ball. It doesn’t seem fair.

How much fun would it have been if the Dolphins made it to a college-style overtime before truly unveiling the Wildcat offense? That would have been must-see TV… but then again, all college-style NFL overtimes would instantly become must-see. I remember watching the entirety of the Bengals-Eagles overtime period earlier this year, and I’d be hard-pressed to recall a more boring fifteen minutes of football I’ve ever seen.

It really wouldn’t be that hard, and aside from traditionalists who’d never want to see a thing in the league changed, I really don’t think there’d be a backlash. In fact, I’d even bet that after those traditionalists saw an new NFL overtime or two, they’d be hooked.

It’s gotta happen, and it’s gotta happen soon.