Josh Allen leaves the field after the Buffalo Bills' 42-36 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. JAMIE GERMANO/ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE / USA TODAY NETWORK

NFL owners approve modified OT proposal for playoffs

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 3/29/22

The NFL owners approved a modified proposal by the Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles on Tuesday that will see a change to overtime rules that ensures both teams receive possession before moving to a sudden-death format. The rule will apply only in playoff games.

Regular-season OT rules remain the same, per source. https://t.co/Xx1dhjVD58
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 29, 2022

Here’s what the NFL’s new OT rule is trying to guard against: Over the past decade, teams that won the overtime coin flip in the postseason were 10-2, including seven of those 10 wins coming on the opening possession.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 29, 2022

The proposal came in the aftermath of the Kansas City Chiefs' overtime postseason victory against the Buffalo Bills in January that saw the Chiefs score a touchdown on the only offensive possession of the extra frame. Three-fourths of the owners voting in favor of the new rule was needed. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the final tally was 29-3 in favor of the change.

The vote took place on Tuesday afternoon at the annual league meetings. The current overtime rule has teams allowed to win in bonus time on the opening possession if they score a touchdown and will stay in place for regular season contests.

As an alternative to the Colts' and Eagles' idea, the Tennessee Titans had a proposal that would've required a possession for each team unless the team that has the first possession scores a touchdown and converts a successful two-point attempt. Per ESPN's Kevin Seifert, the competition committee didn't endorse either proposal, but committee chairman Rich McKay said that was because the clubs "covered the nature of the discussion well."

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