Ties are a rare occurrence in the NFL, but when they do happen, they serve as a disappointment for everyone. Both teams believe they missed a chance to get a valuable win, while the fans feel they don’t have a reason to celebrate. This is why the Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson believes the league should eliminate ties altogether. And he’s even ready to help.
Wilson recently made a guest appearance on Peyton Manning and Eli Manning’s ManningCast, during which he witnessed overtime in the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Las Vegas Raiders. Watching it unfold, the Pro Bowl signal-caller outlined an intriguing solution that would make ties a thing of history.
“You go 15 minutes, an extra quarter, or however long that extra overtime is, and then if nobody scores, we all end in a tie and go home? How terrible is that?!”, Wilson told the Manning brothers.
According to Wilson, if the game is still tied after overtime, the teams should have a coin toss. The team that wins the toss then chooses whether to kick a long field goal or have another team make the FG attempt. If the kicking team makes the field goal, they take the win. If they miss, the other team ends on the winning end of the game.
“So now you get to choose, for one kick—are we going to kick it, or are they going to kick It? You have to kick it from the 35, or maybe the 40,” he explained.
The NFL is currently the only league among the four major leagues in the United States, the other three being NBA, MLB, and NHL, that has ties. The most recent tie took place early in the 2020 NFL season when the Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles finished their Week 3 matchup 23-23 after overtime.
