NFL should change overtime rules

With the AHS football team now in the playoffs, many people have football on the mind, and one of the top issues worth debating is overtime. Imagine losing a football game, all because one’s team couldn’t get a possession of the football. All one can do is get mad and think about the NFL overtime rules, brings me to my point: Why the NFL should change the rules of overtime. People may agree with me that the NFL should change the rules of overtime. Some people may disagree, saying that the rules are fine the way they are. Even though there are some advantages of the overtime rules now, there are a lot more disadvantages, and there’s a lot of reasons the rules should be changed.

But first: Many people may ask the question: what are overtime rules in the NFL? In the NFL, if the game ends in a tie, the game simply doesn’t just end there. The game goes into something called overtime. When you go into overtime, there’s a coin flip to decide which team has the choice to either receiver the ball or kick the ball. If they receive the ball they have the chance to score a touchdown, to win the game, or kick a field goal. If they kick a field goal then they’ll have to play defense and stop the other team from either tying the game, or scoring a touchdown, which if they do means they automatically win the game. Those are the overtime rules and here are my reasons why they should be changed.

Reason one: each team should have a chance of possession. The overtime rules state that when the team that scores a touchdown wins. But, if the team with the ball takes a field goal, the other gets a chance to tie the game with a field goal, or score a touchdown and win the game. This isn’t fair. If the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown, the game shouldn’t end there. If the other team scores, your team should get a chance to go down the field and try to score. Then if your team doesn’t score the game is over. That way, it gives each team a chance a possession.

Reason two: the game shouldn’t end in a tie. If neither team scores a field goal or touchdown, the game should not end. The game should not end, but instead go into another overtime until somebody wins. This. way the games don’t end in ties, and there is a decisive winner of the game.

Reason three: they need to up the amount of time in overtime. Right now, ten minutes is the amount of time the NFL allows in overtime. I feel that this just isn’t enough time for both teams to try and go down the field and score. The time should be up the amount of time from ten to fifteen minutes. This way, it gives five extra minutes for either the offense to score. Or, more time for the defense to stop the offense and force a punt. That way they can try to score.

Yes, there are some counter arguments, like if giving more time in overtime or continuing to play more overtime can cause the game to drag on for too long. This would either cause the game to go off the air or delay the show that comes on after the game. Some people may say making the players continue to play can cause them to get injured, causing them to either miss a couple game or miss the rest of the season. To this I say yes. Maybe giving more time or extending to more overtime may cause the game to drag on for too long. To prevent this we can give viewers the option to either continue to watch the game, or watch what comes on after the game. Yes, maybe continuing the game may lead to injuries. To prevent this instead of giving teams two timeouts, which is the amount of timeouts teams have in overtime now, we can give each team an extra timeout. That way the teams won’t feel like they have to conserve their timeouts, causing players to not get hurt because they can call a timeout when they’re tired.

When asking students at Airport how they feel about the current overtime rules, here is what they said. “I think that both teams should get possession of the ball. Now, it’s the first team to score in overtime wins. That’s not fair because on team could have a strong offense but a weak defense. If both teams get the ball, then it’s an equal chance to win,” says I.S. “I don’t agree with changing the overtime rules. I believe that it should still be the first to score a touchdown wins,” said T.C. “I think that each team should have a possession because it is not fair for one team to have the ball than one person” says B.H.

The overtime rules have cost many NFL teams games in the past. An example: the chiefs lost to the patriots in overtime because after the Patriots scored a touchdown, the game ended and they didn’t get a chance. The changes like each team should get a chance at possession, the games shouldn’t end in a tie, and that they need to up the amount of time in overtime will help the NFL, and the teams that go into overtime, never have controversy about overtime again.

Back to the AHS football team, good luck in the playoffs!