If there is one thing I love about the NFL is the Sudden Death OverTime rule.  The SDOT is something that sets the NFL apart from any other professional sports league because of how it prevents the dragging out of a game because of “fair opportunity” to score.  There are some sports that by nature of the game, like basketball, where sudden death wouldn’t be practical — the game is so fast paced that a simple score would rob the fans of the satisfaction of a struggle for dominance.  Baseball?  Well that is another matter entirely.  Everyone plays equal innings because only the offense can score.

But the feeling that equal opportunity must be given in the world of the NFL is preposterous.  In 1974, when the rule was enacted, the field goal kickers at the time struggled to make goals from 40 yards away, and now this is almost an automatic for the kickers of our era.  I know that there is a lot of talk to change the rule to allow both teams a possession, I feel that an even simpler change would bring us back to the intent of the 1974 rule change.

Only drop-kicks are allowed in Sudden Death OverTime.

Think about it… currently an offense has only to drive to the other team’s 40 yard line to give their punter a chance at a 50 yard-plus field goal.  But try to do an accurate punt through the uprights from 50 yards out would be nearly impossible.  The teams would have to drive to within the red-zone in order to take a field goal attempt with a punter.  So instead of doing that, they will need to put solid drives together to pull a team downfield.  This will likely mean more opportunity for breakaway plays or even for the defense to intercept and make a play.  Or, the punt goes wild and the side of the foot, making the ball returnable from anywhere.  There is an opportunity for a change of possession from a missed field goal that puts the receiving team back instead of just taking it over on change of possession.  The game moves from being in the 20 yards plus or minus off of the 50 yard line to 40 yards off the 50, opening up the field.

Please don’t change the overtime rule to make it “fair” for each team’s offense to touch the ball.  We will be back into tie games based on short movement on or around the 50 yard line.  Keep the excitement in the game.

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