Rule changes are a big part of the NFL. Every year, teams put together plans to improve and evolve the game that are talked about and voted on by the owners. The Kansas City Chiefs proposed easing restrictions on jersey numbers for players, a change that passed on Wednesday.
The Baltimore Ravens proposed two versions of a “spot and choose” rule, which would be a major change in determining who gets the ball first in overtime, but both failed in a vote among the owners Wednesday.
The @Ravens "spot-and-choose" proposals were both soundly defeated today.
• Version with timed (7:30) OT voted down 28-4.
• Version with sudden-death voted down 30-2.I think it's a good idea (read why here: https://t.co/hQOhGRF3Le). But the NFL moves SLOWLY on these things.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 21, 2021
In short, one team would choose where the ball is spotted, while the other would choose whether to play offense or defense. For example, if Baltimore and the Pittsburgh Steelers went into overtime, the Ravens could choose to spot the ball at Pittsburgh’s 1-yard line, but the Steelers could choose whether to play offense or defense, so it wouldn’t guarantee that Baltimore would score. However, it didn’t seem like the proposals had much support.
Rich McKay says the Ravens “spot-and-choose” overtime proposal “didn’t have a lot of support”.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) April 21, 2021
One proposal would have put overtime back to true sudden death, with the first score of any kind from either team resulting in a win. However, the second proposal would have had tie games go on for an extra seven minutes and 30 seconds without sudden death, and whoever had more points at the end of the extra period would win the game. If the game ended with both teams having the same amount of points, the contest would end in a tie.
The overtime change that the Ravens proposed wasn’t the only one that didn’t pass. Every proposed rule change involving overtime failed to get through except for one: There will be no overtime in the preseason from now on. It usually takes multiple years for rule changes to begin to gain support, so if Baltimore truly wants to see “spot and choose” in the NFL, they can refine the proposal and keep bringing it up in conversations.