NY Giants icon rips NFL playoff overtime rules after wild Chiefs-49ers Super Bowl ending: "Takes all urgency out of football"
New York Giants legend Tiki Barber slammed NFL playoff overtime rules after the Chiefs beat the 49ers in extra period to clinch Super Bowl 58 on Sunday.
He went on WFAN sports radio to complain about how giving a chance to both teams to have possession means taking the urgency out of the game. It makes the clock redundant, and that's not a good thing:
"The new NFL overtime rule in the playoffs is nonsense. To make the clock mean nothing is nonsense. The clock has to end the game. I understand why they do it this way because you want to be fair. But it takes all urgency out of football."
Giants great goes into worst case scenarios for playoffs overtime after Chiefs and 49ers play a final for the ages
Tiki Barber was not done, as he pointed out passionately about what he feels is wrong with the current playoffs overtime rules.
He conceded that he understood wanting to make it fair but that if a team takes a long time with the first possession and runs down the clock, they get no advantage.
Therefore, clock management, which is an integral component of football, goes for a toss. He explained his point of view:
"Let's think about the end of game. You get into overtime in the playoffs and you take all of that and you just throw it away. All right, you're guaranteed a possession.
"If your possession takes, you know, 22 minutes. Good luck. Because guess what? The other team is gonna get a possession too. The clock has no purpose, right? Like, I hate that."
Tiki Barber might have a valid opinion but one must remember why the changes came about in the first place.
A game should not come down to the flip of a coin in overtime, which determines the first possession. In previous version of playoffs overtime rules, any team that scored first automatically won the game.
The new rule also gives both the offense and the defense a chance to shine. With the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl in overtime, all the talk will be about Patrick Mahomes' throw that sealed the game.
However, equally important was their defense's stand that stopped the 49ers near the goalline and denied them a touchdown. The awareness of the new playoffs overtime rules also looks to have been critical.
The new overtime rules worked to perfection in giving us a great Super Bowl 58, and while there might be hypothetical concerns, it looks better than the alternative.