It all comes down to this; three seconds left on the clock with the Super Bowl trip on the line. The Packers face fourth and goal from the Eagles eight-yard line. Favre takes the snap, pumps right, lofts it to the corner of the end zone, and touchdown! Touchdown Bubba Franks! To overtime we go. The Eagles won the toss and receive the kick. Longwell boots the kickoff into the end zone, but Mitchell takes it out to the 30, the 50, with room down the sidelines, and knocked out of bounds at the Packer's nineteen-yard line. Imagine that; the Packer's Super Bowl hopes shattered by this one kickoff return in a period of six seconds. The sudden death overtime in the National Football League contains weaknesses that must be eliminated for a better outcome.
Coin tosses determine a majority of the winners in NFL overtimes. The NFL follows a sudden death overtime policy in which the first team to score wins, meaning that both teams do not receive a possession. Teams won forty percent of 2002's overtime games on the first possession. Today's bionic legs and special teams play produced this problem. Ever since the NFL moved kickoffs back to the thirty-yard line, teams received better field position; thus leading to a decrease in the amount of yards an offense needs to drive for a score. Modern day professional kickers average around fifty-six yards for their longest field goal. After doing the math, notice with that kind of leg, a fifteen-yard drive can win the game. During regulation, teams drive three times the yards they do in overtime. If a team wins the coin toss in overtime, choosing to receive remains the smartest choice. If fifteen yards wins a game without both teams receiving a possession, picking numbers behind backs serves as a more equitable option.
During a majority of overtimes, both teams do not obtain a chance to possess the ball and possibly score. This proves unfair, especially for a team like the 1999 St.
