Killing Sudden Death Would Drain Life From OT by Various Sports Writers on Creators.com

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Killing Sudden Death Would Drain Life From OT

By Nick Canepa

Call it the Peyton Manning-Brett Favre Rule. I can't stand the thought of it.

But NFL chefs once again are trying to change their longstanding recipe for overtime, if only in the playoffs. Why postseason rules should be different, I don't know, but that's what happens when two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time don't get a chance to win playoff games thanks to a rule that made The League.

As we know, OT law has been simple. Sudden death. There's a coin flip, and the first team scoring in any fashion wins. It's what made the 1958 NFL Championship Game in which the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants in OT the most important moment in the history of the NFL.

Because of the drama, because of its suddenness, more people began to watch on television. Commissioner Pete Rozelle ran with the TV bit. Then gamblers started betting on games. That gives us the NFL of today, without question the most popular American sport.

But, a year ago, the wolves howled when Manning and Indianapolis were denied an opportunity to get the football in their OT playoff loss here to the Chargers. Manning should have tried playing better in regulation. And maybe the Colts' defense shouldn't have made so many idiotic mental and physical mistakes in the overtime.

And, oh, yes, stopping Darren Sproles might have helped. Darren had nothing to do with that coin flip. Nor was it certain Magnificent Manning, now 9-9 in postseason play, would get the Colts in scoring position.

Nothing came of that one. But a rule change has come up again since Favre and his Vikings didn't get a chance in their OT loss to the Saints in January's NFC Championship Game. Never mind it might not have gone to sudden death if Favre hadn't thrown a ridiculous interception at the end of regulation.

Now, at this month's winter meetings in Orlando, Fla., the owners will discuss a new OT rule proposed by the Competition Committee — for playoffs only. If the team that wins the toss doesn't score a touchdown but kicks a field goal, the opposition will have a chance to score. If it's tied after two possessions, old OT rules are in effect.

Three-quarters of the 32 teams must approve it, which means ratification is in no way certain.

Let's hope the owners stand by what's been good enough for so long and, for once, allow that other part of the game — defense — to have a role in the outcome. I really don't know how much further the NFL can go changing rules to benefit offenses.

There is great beauty in great defense.

There also is great drama in the overtime as it has been established. You know, it's not cast in stone the team winning the toss necessarily is going to win. Do the odds favor the flip winner? They do. It's always best to have the football (hard to score without it, which is why I hate it when coaches defer after the opening coin toss).

Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith won't say how his team will vote. "We haven't discussed it yet," he says. "We don't have an official opinion on it."

But they do, believe me. Smith more than once has been on record stating his stance: "If you lose the coin toss, play defense."

Tony Dungy, who coached the Colts in that loss to San Diego, also is in favor of keeping the rule as is, and no one felt its pain more than him. It certainly beats idiotic college OT.

Since 1975, the Chargers have played 32 overtime games. Their record is 14-18. In six of those losses, they won the coin toss. In four of their wins, they lost the flip. That's the way it goes.

The NFL has a good thing going. Why do the bosses want change? Well, Manning and Favre are meal tickets. They're stars. Somehow, I can't see myself feeling sorry for either millionaire.

Tell me: Would there would be such an outcry if Matt Hasselbeck or David Garrard didn't get a shot in overtime? Please.

The NFL shouldn't be dictating outcomes. Under their new proposal, do they honestly believe if a team has a fourth-and-10 and is in field goal range it's going to go for it and try to score a touchdown? Do they know what coaches are like?

It's still going to come down to one team playing better defense in OT than the other, which is the way it should be.

When they finally got around to playing it, defense, remember, won this year's Green Bay-Arizona OT playoff thriller. It's a classic, because of the way it ended.

It's simple, NFL. Tell your defenses to stop somebody.

Is it the best way? That I've seen, yes. Sudden death, man. It fits football.

Are we supposed to believe that, if the NFL could go back, it would change the 1958 snapshot of the Colts' Alan "The Horse" Ameche dashing into the end zone to beat the Giants? Not a chance.

Don't mess with the drama.

Nick Canepa writes about sports for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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