Micah Parsons’ much-anticipated return to Dallas to face his former Cowboys teammates ended with a 40-40 tie.
The Cowboys’ Brandon Aubrey and Green Bay’s Brandon McManus traded short field goals in overtime Sunday night, and Parsons’ only sack played a role in keeping Dallas out of the end zone in the extra period. It was the second time the Cowboys played into overtime this season and another showcase for the league’s tweak of its overtime rule.
What is the overtime rule for this season?
The league approved a proposal to make regular-season overtime more like the postseason, with both teams getting a chance at a possession, even if the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown.
The NFL instituted regular-season overtime in 1974, adding a 15-minute sudden-death period that ended on any score. In 2010, the rule was tweaked to a modified sudden death that required an opening possession touchdown to immediately end the game instead of only a field goal. That was in effect in both the regular season and the playoffs.
Overtime then was shortened for the regular season to only 10 minutes in 2017. A rule change in 2022 for the playoffs gave both teams the chance to score even with a touchdown on the opening possession.
Now that’s the case in the regular season, after the improved field position on kickoffs made winning in OT on an opening possession TD easier.
How did the previous rule work out?
According to Sportradar, six of the 16 overtime games last season ended on an opening-drive TD for the most overtime games ended on the first drive since the rule change went into effect in 2010.
In all, teams that won the overtime toss won 75% of the time last season, according to Sportradar, and had a .606 winning percentage in overtime since it was cut to 10 minutes.
The league kept the 10-minute overtime period instead of expanding it back to 15 minutes like was originally proposed by Philadelphia, which could lead to teams opting to go for 2 and a win if they match an opening-drive TD with one of their own since there might not be time for another possession.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
By The Associated Press
