Week 12 of the NFL season featured two massive overtime games. The first was between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Indianapolis Colts. The second was between the New York Giants and Detroit Lions. Let’s take a look at what the new overtime rules are this season.
What are the New Overtime Rules in the NFL?
The rules for the extra period are different depending on the kind of game, with regular-season and playoff matchups governed by different standards to determine the final result of the game.
Regular Season
For the game between the Falcons and the Colts, these are the rules that are going to be followed.
Each team gets possession of the ball with a chance to score. A coin toss decides the order of possessions. Unless a safety occurs on the first offensive possession of the period, both teams get a chance to score.
After each team has had one possession, the team with more points is declared the winner. If neither side scores on its first drive, the next team to put points on the board wins immediately.
Each team gets two timeouts during overtime, and there are no coaches’ challenges. Only the replay official has the authority to initiate a review. However, the rules are slightly different when it comes to a playoff game.
Playoffs
With the need for a definitive result rather than a tie, there are a few extra caveats in place to ensure that the game reaches a conclusion.
Rather than a single overtime period, playoff games continue in 10-minute intervals, with two-minute breaks between each. However, there is no designated intermission for halftime if a game goes into a third overtime period.
At the start of each new period, the captain who lost the original coin toss gets the option to choose possession or field side, unless that decision was deferred in the first half. Each team also receives three timeouts per half.
Standard timing rules for the second and fourth quarters apply to the second and fourth overtime periods. If the game is still tied after four overtimes, a new coin toss is held, and play resumes until a winner is decided.
