(04-04-2022, 10:09 AM)Mikey Wrote:

(04-02-2022, 04:28 PM)mikesez Wrote: I agree with you about eliminating regular season OT.
I don't think there's any benefit to regular season OT.

But I don't think the NFL fixed anything with this postseason rules change.  Sure, they guaranteed that each team gets to touch the ball, but, there's still going to be a huge statistical advantage to the team that wins the coin toss.  It might seem more fair to the fans, but it's going to be about the same as what we do now.  It's just going to take longer.

It's not a huge advantage. The only change is that if the offense scores a TD on the first possession, the D gets an opportunity to score a TD as well. Otherwise, the format remains unchanged - if the O got an FG, the second team knew that at minimum they had to get 3 or face defeat. So even in the new format, the D still knows what they must do to keep the game alive or win.

Maybe we can tweak the rule - toss winner scores TD on first possession, normal PAT format applies, team can kick for 1 or attempt a two-point try. Second team gets the ball and scores TD, they must attempt a two-point try. Does this force the receiving team to attempt 2, or trust that the other team won't be able to convert, should they score? If the first team fails on their two-pointer, and the other team fails as well, welcome sudden death!

If the teams match their performances on their first possessions, regardless of if they both score 0 or both score 3 or both score 7, all the team winning the toss has to do is score a field goal on their next possession.  It will work out to a big statistical advantage.  One team will have two opportunities to score, while the other team only gets one.  2 to 1 is far from fair play.
But your idea would make things a little more fair.  Still, the team winning the toss would have a huge undeserved advantage though.  What might reduce that advantage and even things out is if you didn't allow the team that won the toss to go for 2 on their first possession.  Suppose it's impossible for them to score 8, so they go for 1 and score 7.  Now the second team, you don't have to require them to go for 2, but you know they will.  Now you've created a scenario where OT will almost always be exactly one possession for each team.  That's more workable, to me.

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