Modified overtime proposal on the NFL's agenda

The NFL competition committee is recommending a proposal to modify the overtime rule for the potseason that would prevent a team from winning the game with a field goal on the opening possession of overtime.

Will the proposal pass muster by the owners at the annual league meetings next week in Orlando, Fla.?

To pass a rule modification, 24 of the 32 owners would have to vote in favor of the proposal.

"I can't say I have any sense for that," Atlanta Falcons team president Rich McKay, the co-chair of the competition committee, said during a conference call today with NFL reporters. "In the past, people have said our system works very well, so why should we change it? In this case, we'll make the statistical argument that it might be time to change and to innovate a little bit. It's pretty clear there's been a change. It will be interesting to see when the time comes to have that discussion."

The proposal would allow a team that wins the coin toss to be able to win the game with a touchdown on the first possession of overtime.

A field goal would allow the other team to get one possession to tie the game or win it with a touchdown.

A game-tying field goal would make the game a sudden-death situation form that point onward.

And if both teams failed to score on their first possessions during a playoff game, the rest of the overtime would be decided under a sudden-death format.

McKay cited statistics that showed that the team that wins the coin toss usually wins the game.

Since 1994, McKay said the team that wins the overtime coin toss wins the game at a 59.8 percent rate with the loser of the coin toss losing the game 38.5 percent.

Per McKay, the coin toss winner won the game witha field goal on the first possession of overtime 26.2 percent. From 1974 to 1993, it was just 17.9 percent.

"Statistically, it's pretty clear there's been a change," McKay said. "Some years we didn't propose it because we thought it wasn't going to get enough votes, so why propose it? This year, we felt like the statistics were so overwhelming, we had to get the discussion going again."

Meanwhile, the competition committee is also recommending giving more protection to defenseless receivers until after a catch is secured as well as trying to protect long snappers on field goals and extra points.

They would also like to pass a rule blowing a play dead if the ballcarrier loses his helmet.

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