Dear NFL Competition Committee members,
I'm sure you will have a number of things to discuss during your upcoming meetings, but there is one change you absolutely have to make this offseason.
You have to fix overtime.
I'll be completely honest with you. As a fan of the Buffalo Bills, I have much more invested in this topic now than I used to. Now that the Bills are a playoff regular and coming off the AFC Divisional Round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, this has raced up my rules change priority chart.
I've been reading that I shouldn't expect any changes before next season, because the NFL likes to move slowly when altering rules of the game. You moved pretty quickly to allow pass interference penalties to be challenged after the Los Angeles Rams-New Orleans Saints NFC Championship Game a few years ago, so I have confidence in you.
While there are a number of possible solutions, I'm going to help you out by telling you to use the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). All you have to do is guarantee a possession for both teams. That would be enough for now, as far as I'm concerned.
When you realized it wasn't fair that the team losing the coin toss before overtime could lose the game on a first drive field goal, you changed the rules. You didn't go far enough.
As my colleague Jeremy White points out, during that coin toss, the referee tells both teams that they are beginning a new game. How can you have a new game where one of the two teams might never have to play defense?
Like I said, there are a number of interesting ideas out there that go much deeper into this discussion, but the easiest thing for you to do is to ensure both teams have a shot to put their offense on the field. After those initial possessions, you can revert to the sudden death format.
One other piece of advice while I have you.
I'm a fan of the sky judge concept. I think it saved time this past season by preventing obvious challenges for incorrect calls. I'm sure you would agree that fewer stoppages and less challenges are better for the flow of the game, but be careful.
You might get suggestions to expand the role of the "sky judge" after an incorrect penalty call on the Cincinnati Bengals during the Rams' game-winning touchdown drive in Super Bowl LVI.
Think before you act. You could be opening Pandora's box.
There will always be mistakes made by human beings, and while I'm all for the concept of trying to get calls right and using technology to do that, you can go too far. Will the "sky judge" be correcting every penalty that appears to be incorrect on replay? What about plays where there was a penalty but no flag was thrown? Can the "sky judge" tell the officiating crew to call a penalty?
I don't want any of that, so for now, I'd leave the "sky judge" responsibilities right where they are.
In the meantime, just fix overtime.
Thanks,
Howard Simon
Losi and Gangi
