The injury-ravaged Los Angeles Rams took the Detroit Lions to overtime in Week 1 but because they lost the coin toss, they didn’t touch the ball in the extra frame. The Lions marched down the field and scored a touchdown to win 26-20, but had it been a playoff game, the result might’ve been different.
That’s because after the Bills-Chiefs divisional playoff game three years ago, the NFL changed the rule to allow both teams to possess the ball in overtime of a postseason game. That change still doesn’t apply to the regular season, though.
Sean McVay, fresh off Sunday’s loss, wouldn’t mind seeing that rule change to make it universal across the regular season and postseason. That might sound reactionary to what happened in Week 1 but he also knows the Rams benefitted from the rule last year when they beat the Colts in OT.
“Yeah, certainly,” he said when asked if he would be in favor of changing the overtime rule. “Here’s what I would say. We were beneficiaries of it against Indianapolis last year in week four where we took the ball and went down the field. A back-and-forth game like that, of course, you would love an opportunity. Now, there are reasons behind it relative to OK, 17 games. You’re extending the season. It’s going to be 18 at some point. Lengthening the time of games and that shortens it. As a competitor, if you’re asking me, would we have liked an opportunity to be able to get a chance to try to go match based on losing a coin toss? The answer is yes. I think all coaches would feel that way, but I know there are some bigger-picture things. That was something that you would like for sure.”
McVay is on the NFL’s competition committee, so he’s in the room when rule changes are discussed. You can bet he’d be among the coaches pushing for universal overtime rules, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be changed anytime soon.
As he mentioned, the season is only going to get longer and extending potential overtime games even more may not be something the NFLPA wants for its players.