Playoffs rule change could spice up overtime

By Simon Evans

MIAMI (Reuters) - A proposed change to the rules governing overtime in NFL playoff games could see teams having to do more than win the coin toss and kick a field goal to secure victory.

NFL Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay said on Wednesday the proposal reflected a statistical change over the years with the team winning the coin toss having an increasingly greater success rate.

Currently when a playoff game ends with the score level at the end of regulation, a coin toss is made for 'sudden death' overtime possession and the team with the ball can win with a field goal or a touchdown.

"You now have a situation where if you get a good return, you get one pass that creates, either by pass interference or a completed pass, a 52-yard field goal and the game is over," he said.

Last season the New Orleans Saints beat the Minnesota Vikings in overtime with a 40-yard field goal at the end of the first drive.

Under the proposal, the team with the first possession in overtime would have to score a touchdown to end the game. If they only manage a field goal the opposition would then have a possession and could win with a touchdown.

If both teams score field goals classic sudden-death rules would come into effect, with the next team to score winning the game.

The plan, if accepted by the league's 32 team owners at their meeting in Orlando next week, would apply only to playoff games.

In the college version of American football, both teams are allowed at least one possession in overtime.

(Editing Peter Rutherford)