Russell Wilson has a wild idea to make sure theNFL never sees another game end in a tie.- Under Wilson's proposal, games still tied after overtime would have one more coin toss.
- The winner would either attempt a long field goal or have the opponent try with game on the line.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has a radical idea to ensure NFL games never end in a tie again.
Appearing as a guest on ESPN2's "Manning Cast" of Monday night's game between the Raiders and Ravens, Wilson proposed a system to brothers
Wilson's pitch began when the trio of quarterbacks were expressing their frustration over the Raiders and Ravens game potentially ending in tie as the game went to overtime.
"You go 15 minutes, an extra quarter, or however long that extra overtime is, and then if nobody scores, we all end in a tie and go home? How terrible is that?!" Wilson said.
"I've got a crazy idea. Imagine this right here. Imagine we went through this whole thing, this 10-minute overtime, or whatever, nobody scored. You come back in for another coin toss. Do the coin toss. … The Raiders come out for a second coin toss, and they win it.
"So now you get to choose, for one kick - are we going to kick it, or are they going to kick It? You have to kick it from the 35, or maybe the 40."
On Twitter, fan reaction to Wilson's proposal was mixed at best.
-Derrik Klassen (@QBKlass) September 14, 2021
-Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) September 14, 2021
-Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) September 14, 2021
-Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) September 14, 2021
-Brian Brennan (@BBrennanNBCS) September 14, 2021
Unfortunately for Wilson, his chance to elaborate on his overtime fix was cut short when ESPN abruptly cut to a commercial break that the Manning brothers weren't aware of until the last minute. Still, Wilson gave enough of an explanation to get the gist of his idea.
After 10 minutes of overtime, one more coin toss would leave the winning team with a final decision - kick, or let the other team kick. If the field goal is made, the kicking team wins, if it misses, they lose.
It's a pretty drastic change, but given the amount of big games football fans have watched get determined one way or the other by a field goal attempt as time expires, it wouldn't be an entirely odd way to finish a game decisively.
Wilson even got the range pretty close to where it needs to be to make electing to kick or be kicked against a genuine question. According to analysis by Football Perspective, the success rate of field goals from 54-57 yards out hovered around 60% when looking at all kicks from 2014-2018. That success rate fell to just above 40% when at a range of 58-61 yards.
If the ball was placed at the 40-yard line, teams would be left with a roughly 57-yard kick with the game on the line. For teams like the Ravens who have one of the most clutch kickers in the history of football at their disposal in Justin Tucker, it would be a no-brainer to take the attempt themselves. But for teams that were shaky at kicker, or potentially facing a team in the middle of a kicking disaster, the option to send the kick to the other team could also be tempting.
Like rules surrounding the kickoff, pass interference, and the definition of a catch, the NFL's overtime rules have been a hot-button issue for some time. Wilson may not have settled it, but his contribution to the debate was certainly interesting.