Want to be even more stressed as an NFL fan during the playoffs than usual?
Try out some overtime action.
The Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos went to OT on Saturday in the AFC's Divisional Round, and it added some more high-stakes drama to proceedings.
It also raised the question: If you win the coin toss, should you kick or receive?
The Bills chose to kick, and the Bills lost. The process may have been partly to blame.
So here are the important things to know.
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What are NFL playoff overtime rules?
This is the key place to start: Both teams get a chance to possess the football.
The first drive can end in a score, and the game continues. The other team gets a chance to match.
If the teams are still tied after each has a possession, then it becomes sudden death -- next team to score wins.
The exception is a defensive score, either a safety or a touchdown, which ends the game immediately.
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Should NFL team take ball 1st or 2nd in overtime?
The conclusion is that a team should take the football first and choose to receive. But this is a quick look at both sides:
Why taking the ball 2nd has a case (kicking off on a coin toss win)
The one reason a team would want to do this is to know what it needs.
If the first team scores a touchdown, the ensuing drive knows that a touchdown is needed. If it's less than that, then you adjust accordingly.
So if the first team doesn't score at all, the second team knows the game is won on a field goal.
Why taking the ball 1st is the right decision (choosing to receive)
The key comes down to the third possession of overtime.
If both teams do the same thing on their opening possessions of OT, that third possession is sudden death.
Whichever team got the ball first is the first one that gets a chance to end the game if the teams have matched points on their opening drives of overtime. The second team wouldn't necessarily get a second drive.
That's what cost the Bills against the Broncos. Each team had a scoreless drive, and then the Broncos drove down for a chip-shot field goal to win the game. Denver had two OT possessions. Buffalo just had one.
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