The NFL owners will vote this week on a proposal to change overtime by ensuring each team gets a possession, but the league hasn’t given much consideration to the more radical proposal of adopting a college-style overtime, in which teams alternate possessions.
That’s what the Alliance of American Football does, and on Sunday night, an AAF game went to overtime for the first time.
In the AAF, teams alternate first-and-goal possessions from the 10-yard line. Each team gets one try at scoring a touchdown, no field goals are permitted, and teams scoring touchdown can try two-point conversions only, as the AAF has no extra point kicks.
On Sunday night, Birmingham went four-and-out on the first overtime possession, and Memphis then won the game with a touchdown pass on its possession. It made for an entertaining ending to a good game.
The alternating possessions style of overtime, which is used in high school, college, Canadian football and the AAF, hasn’t gained a lot of traction with the NFL, But the league ought to look at it. It makes for exciting endings.