Proposed rule change would benefit everyone, not just Chiefs

INDIANAPOLIS — It is not tough to figure out why the Kansas Town Chiefs are crafting a proposal to adjust the NFL’s playoff overtime regulations and warranty the two teams an possibility to get the ball.

The Chiefs’ season ended in January following they dropped the overtime coin-flip and finally the AFC title activity 37-31 to the New England Patriots, following all.

Nonetheless, it would be a oversight to assume — as some have — that the Chiefs and mentor Andy Reid are undertaking this initiative for the reason that they’re sore losers. The truth of the matter is, football fans in common stand to acquire from a tweak of the rule, the information of which are even now becoming finalized, sources convey to Yahoo Sports.

As is, the present overtime regulations in the playoffs — which let the two teams an possibility to possess the ball at the very least at the time in overtime except the group that will get it initially scores a touchdown — is the cause a dynamite, superior-scoring AFC championship came to a speedy, unsatisfying conclusion. Not that it was a great deal of a shock.

For the reason that when the Patriots won the coin toss and the G.O.A.T, Tom Brady, took the discipline from an embattled defense, it was like Michael Jordan vs. everyone, down one particular with the ball with 10 seconds still left: You already realized how this matter would conclusion.

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But to be distinct — and permit me definitely hammer this dwelling — the Chiefs did not lose to the Patriots for the reason that of the present rule. Right after all, the New Orleans Saints won the coin toss in overtime of the NFC championship, and they even now dropped. As for the Chiefs, the biggest cause for their defeat was their atrocious defense, which could not get a quit on a few consecutive third-and-10s … could not quit a assortment of dive and outdated-faculty power operate plays … and was led by a defensive coordinator in Bob Sutton who would shortly be fired.

And for the reason that of this, Reid — who could have pulled the plug on Sutton following last season, when quite a few ended up calling for it — will have to stay with that. There are around 100 plays in a football activity, and on almost every one particular of them, specially on defense, you can point to a oversight by a Chiefs participant that price tag them details.

So of course, the need for the adjust is, as a make a difference of practicality, far about enjoyable additional than fairness.

That stated, Reid’s conclusion to craft a proposal to adjust the rule could quickly wind up becoming a beneficial matter for football fans.

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I indicate, appear on. Who exterior of New England would not have relished seeing Patrick Mahomes, the eventual league MVP, thrust into the next predicament: down 7 in overtime of the AFC championship activity, with the Chiefs needing a touchdown and, say, a two-point conversion to acquire? Definitely not the networks, who continue to pour masses of funds in the league, and undoubtedly not fans, who appreciate totally free football when the stakes are optimum.

What is additional, say the Chiefs experienced won the coin toss and went down and scored and won. We must even now be possessing this argument for the reason that seeing Brady in the same predicament as the one particular outlined higher than would have been epic.

To that conclusion, it will be fascinating to see what the information of the Chiefs’ plan entail. In the earlier, some football fans have proposed likely to the college regulations, in which the two teams alternate getting the ball at just about every team’s 25-garden line until eventually a winner emerges. Other folks, in the meantime, feel in just letting them play until eventually anyone is victorious.

My hunch is that the proposal will be an enhancement.

Not only does the present iteration of the NFL’s overtime playoff regulations not go far sufficient, additional than anything at all, it also is not enjoyable sufficient.

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