NFL owners will consider a proposal that would change the league’s overtime format back to its previous “sudden-death” structure at a remote owners meeting later this month.
As Pro Football Talk noted, owners could vote to revert overtime to its old format in which the team who scored first in the period wins the game. As of now, a team that first receives the ball must score a touchdown on its first possession to win in overtime. If not — say the opening team settles for a field goal — then the opposing team will earn a possession.
The format went into effect back in 2010 following criticism of the old way.
But now, owners will apparently consider going back to a first-score-wins scenario. The NFL last tweaked its overtime rules in 2017 when the league shortened regular-season overtime from 15 minutes to 10.
For a proposed rule change to go into effect, 24 of the league’s 32 owners must vote for the measure.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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