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When the Saints made franchise history by winning the NFC Championship Game, they did not realize they were altering the NFL’s future as well.

Their 31-28 overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings compelled the league to change its overtime rules. Never again will a team end a playoff game by taking the opening possession and settling for a field goal.

For the few fans who don’t remember the details, the Saints won the overtime coin toss and returned the kickoff to their 39. They picked up a first down on a defensive holding penalty, another first down on Pierre Thomas’ leap over the top on fourth-and-1 and a final first down on a pass interference call. A few plays later, Garrett Hartley kicked the 40-yard field goal that sent New Orleans to the Super Bowl for the first time.

Next year, that scenario will be impossible. Unless the team with the first possession scores a touchdown, its opponent will get the ball. If both teams kick field goals on their first series, the format will revert to sudden death.

Amen to that. It’s about time, and the NFL needs to extend the change to the regular season, something it will consider in May.

As Sports Illustrated writer Peter King has pointed out repeatedly, the game has changed. It was time for an overtime rule that reflected the modern NFL.

Fact: Since the kickoff was moved to the 30-yard line from the 35 in 1994, 59.8 percent of teams that won the coin flip have won the game. Before then, the number was 46.8 percent.

Fact: In the first five years of overtime (1974-78), kickers made 61 percent of their field goals. In the last five years, they made 82 percent.

NFL executives pushed for the change not because they hate the Saints or love Favre, as paranoid conspiracy theorists have claimed. They hate having games determined by the call of heads or tails and love the extra drama that will come in the new format.

They would have been just as likely to change the rule if the Vikings had won the toss and scored on their opening possession, too.

The arguments against the new rule are invalid. The most popular:

If teams are worried about a coin toss determine the winner, they should settle the outcome in regulation and quit whining when they don’t.

The Saints-Vikings game is perfect fodder for that idea. With a first down at the New Orleans 33 near the end of the fourth quarter, the Vikings were in position to win before going nowhere on two consecutive runs and getting flagged for having 12 men in the huddle. Favre threw an interception on the next play.

Still, Minnesota blowing a golden opportunity is no reason to keep an overtime format that blows.

If a defense can’t stop that first possession, it deserves to lose.

Again, the NFL has changed significantly since 1974. A defense can play well and still give up a field goal. If the offense scores a touchdown, it deserves to win. If it settles for a field goal, the other team deserves a shot.

The game is physical enough already. A longer overtime would increase the risk of injuries.

Really? The NFL had 15 overtime games this year counting the playoffs, and six ended with a field goal on the first series. Fairness is wee bit more important than worrying about extra injuries in a scenario that might occur once every 50 games.

Let’s review. The new overtime format will reduce the importance of kickers and the coin toss while introducing more strategy as coaches have to decide whether to go for a touchdown or settle for a field goal on that first possession. It’s a win-win proposition.

Tell me you weren’t excited and nervous at the same time when Saints coach Sean Payton broke with convention in overtime at Washington this year, pounding the ball inside the 1 long after New Orleans was in chip-shot field-goal range before finally sending Hartley out to kick a game-winner.

If the NFL brings the new overtime format to the regular season, Payton’s approach no longer will be unconventional. It will be required.

NFL overtime change long overdue

Srgt. Hulka

Now were all paranoid conspiracy theorists. LOL

vpheughan

Next they will ban the signing of former players prior to a playoff game and forbid any "non football" equipment (black bats).
All QB's over 40 years of age can't be sacked or "blocked".

It doesn't matter now the Saints are WORLD CHAMPS and nothing can change that!!

guerrysmith

The Saints were the darling of the NFL this year. Almost everyone who did not have a rooting interest for another team wanted the Saints to win the Super Bowl.

I'm just curious. Why does it make people feel better to believe everyone is against their team and wants to see them lose when, in the Saints' case, it is completely untrue?

The NFL changed the overtime rule because the team that wins the coin toss wins the game more than two-thirds of the time under the current rules. Before the kickoff was moved back to the 30, teams that won the coin toss won slightly less than half of the time.

The Saints-Vikings game was the impetus for a change that has been a long time coming. If the Saints had lost in the exact same manner, the rule would have been changed, too.

lynwood

I seriously Doubt that.

CantonLegend

i completely disagree and it really doesnt matter but here is why

after we won, after hartley kicked the game winner, all we heard was how the vikings got robbed

how the better team didnt win and how the better team never got a chance to win the game in overtime......that a team that needs 7 turnovers to win a game in overtime shouldnt win the game

it spawned from the love affair with brett favre, adrian peterson, and the rest of the front running vikings fans......nobody cared about minnesota until favre came and after he got there the vikings were constant favorites throughout the season.....being labeled the most "complete" team and most people picked the colts vs vikings super bowl

after the game people were upset because the vikings lost and didnt get a chance in OT......people didnt care that we got the ball and all we heard was how we got lucky and how we cheated etc etc

very little congratulations at all

brett favre was the reason this rule was changed

"deal with it or you can go play the saints and get trounced by 30 and you won't have to worry about it."-colin cowherd

breesfan27

I know, right!

You suck for disabling your Reps. I totally give this post +1,000,000 reps!

Srgt. Hulka

If Tracy Porter had run the Brett Favre interception all the way back for a pick six, the rule would have been changed to where it would be illegal to run an interception back for a touchdown in the last 30 seconds of each half.