Coaches critical of overtime vote process

ORLANDO, Fla. -- It didn't take long for the NFL coaches' tempers to boil a little at how the modified overtime proposal regarding playoff games was voted in while they were getting in 18 holes at a local golf course.

Instead of the vote being tallied on Wednesday, which was initially expected, the owners voted in the measure by a 28-4 margin on Tuesday with Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati and Minnesota coming out against the proposal.

"It's always interesting," New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said today during the NFC coaches' breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes. "Typically there's been a good process. There's a Wednesday vote. There's a Tuesday discussion. There's a Monday informational, regardless of who's for it, who's against it.

"That kind of got slipped in the back door. That's a taste you have in your mouth that's bitter. I'm against it. I hate the policy. I don't want to have to explain this. My sister is just getting to understand the challenge system."

The coaches seem to feel like the proposal was snuck past them while they were playing golf.

"That's how it was done," Payton said. "It was a little surprising to everyone. We had just had lunch with Arnold Palmer and were coming back to the building. The system we have, with the number of votes required, is healthy. It just caught a lot of people off guard, the way it was done, which tells me there was not a lot of confidence it would get done if it was done on the normal itinerary. That's interesting."

Added Vikings coach Brad Childress: "With the seven or eight guys I was playing golf with yesterday, I would characterize it as surprised, to get e-mails and texts saying the vote was done. We thought we would come back to talk about it more today. The word transparency comes to mind."

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