The NFL has a new (but familiar) overtime rule.
Starting this fall, each team will get an opportunity to possess the ball in overtime during the regular season, just like in the playoffs. Under the old rule, regular season OT games would end if a touchdown was scored on the first possession.
Now, there will be a 10-minute OT period and each time will get an opportunity with the ball, even if the opening drive ends in a touchdown. Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton is in favor of the change.
“I like that," Payton said at the NFL's Annual League Meeting on Monday. "I like rules that are the same in the playoffs as they are in the regular season. I don’t like rules where you get into the postseason, it’s like we have to stop, announce it to everyone… I think the easier we can make the game for our audience and our fans, the better. Especially with today’s quarterbacks and the ability to score.
"Look, I was here in ’10 when we made it the last season of sudden death, period, [that] was in ’09, that was walk-off field goal wins it. 2010 turned it into, if you kick a walk-off field goal, the other team gets a field goal. Then after getting a year where it’s like, you get a match but only in the playoffs. Again, when you’ve been to these meetings you kind of seen [change] and I think we’re at that point where I think it needs to be… And there’s nothing wrong if there’s a tie. When we discuss how long that overtime period is, because we’ve seen some long drives, but when you look at the statistics, I think that would pass as well.”
Payton was right as the rule passed on Tuesday. No more one-and-one drives in OT.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: NFL: Broncos HC Sean Payton gives his take on new overtime rule
