The NFL has had three overtime games this season, and in all three the team that won the coin toss elected to kick off to start overtime. That’s a departure from overtimes of the past, when receiving the overtime kickoff was viewed as a big advantage, and a sign of how much the league’s new overtime rules that guarantee both teams a possession have changed strategies.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell says he thinks the three coaches whose teams have won overtime coin tosses — Giants coach Brian Daboll in Week Two, Packers coach Matt LaFleur in Week Four and Rams coach Sean McVay in Week Five — all made the right call by kicking off.
“You want the ball last. You want to know what you have to get. I think that would be the norm with the new rules now,” Campbell said.
But Campbell noted that there can be a disadvantage to getting the ball second, too: If you give up a long scoring drive on defense, your offense doesn’t have a lot of time for a scoring drive of its own. Overtime in the regular season is limited to 10 minutes.
“If you are last, then the offense chews up nine minutes on the clock or whatever, and they score, do you have enough time to answer back in the regular season? But that’s not the norm. Most of the time you’re not going to have that type of drive in overtime. The norm is, I want to see what I’ve got to answer with,” Campbell said.
So far, no team that won the overtime coin toss has won the game: The Giants and Rams both lost after winning the toss, while the Packers pulled out a tie as time expired in overtime. Winning the toss does not appear to be a big advantage under the current rules, which is a big part of the season that the current rules were implemented.
