FLOWERY BRANCH -- When the NFL playoffs kick off Saturday with the wild-card round, the league's new overtime rules will be on display.
After last season's NFC championship game went to overtime, the league's competition committee recommended a form of modified sudden death in which both teams will have the opportunity to possess the football.
The new rule, adopted by the owners in March, prevents a team from winning the coin toss and then kicking a field goal on the opening possession to win the game.
However, a touchdown on the opening drive would win the game.
If a team scores a field goal first, the opposing team will get the ball for one possession to match the field goal or score a touchdown for the victory. If the opposing team matches the field goal, then play reverts to the sudden-death rules.
"We were hoping that coaches would not, number one, change the way that they end games," said Falcons president Rich McKay, the co-chair of the competition committee. "In other words, change the way they play the last two minutes of regulation. Number two, it wouldn't change their behavior in the way they played overtime ... taking the kickoff. I think the rule accomplishes both of those goals."
The new system does not guarantee each team a possession. It does guarantee the "opportunity to possess" the ball if the first team scores a field goal. So if a team kicks an onside kick and recovers the ball, they could win the game on the field goal because the receiving team had the "opportunity" to possess the ball.
"If you defer and give the other team an opportunity to score and they score a touchdown, the game is still over and you haven’t touched the football," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said. "Even though the rule has changed, it doesn’t guarantee two possessions. I think every team that wins the toss, regardless of conditions, is going to take the football.”
The new rules will require a major adjustment in coaches making strategic decisions.
“It will change the way the coaches view the overtime, especially in the outdoor stadiums if there is a wind factor," said NBC analyst Tony Dungy, who won Super Bowl XLI as Indianapolis' head coach. "Coaches are going to be much more apt to defer and take the wind because you know if you can at least hold a team to a field goal you’re going to get the ball again."
New York Jets coach Rex Ryan and New Orleans coach Sean Payton, whose teams play this weekend, said they plan to take the football first if they win the coin toss in overtime.
Payton said the thought of a team returning the kickoff and winning the game prevents him from making a decision to give up the football.
"I think they’re going to play through that in their minds, especially if you have a team like the Jets who are a defensive team," Dungy said. "I don’t know that you’d give the ball to Peyton Manning first, but you’d sure have to think about it.”
The new system has its critics.
"Do like other sports, put some time on the clock and play," said ESPN analyst Herm Edwards, a former NFL head coach. "Let them play football. If you want both quarterbacks to touch the ball, that's fine. Put some time on the clock. OK, we've got 10 minutes, you're going to play football and somebody is going to win this thing."
The improved accuracy of field-goal kickers was a factor in the change.
On the opening drive, instead of just trying to get into field-goal range, offenses now have some incentive to score a touchdown to end the game. However, some offenses may clam up under such pressure.
"In overtime, you’re thinking a little bit more about, ‘We’ve got to be careful here,'" NBC commentator Cris Collinsworth said. "If you fumble, if you throw an interception, they might run the field-goal kicker out on the next play, and it's game over."
McKay will keenly watch the games this weekend.
"It's going to be very interesting to see," he said.