During last year’s NFL Playoffs, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills played an absolutely incredible game that ended in controversial fashion when the Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes scored a touchdown on the first possession of overtime to secure the victory without Josh Allen and the Bills ever even touching the ball. People were not happy about how the game ended at the time, and it prompted a rule change in the offseason – and now we might get to see that rule change in action.
In March, the NFL approved a rule change that would allow both teams to have a possession in overtime during postseason games – even if the team receiving the opening kickoff scores on the first drive of overtime, like the Chiefs did last year.
Under the new format, if a team scores a touchdown on the first possession of overtime, they will then attempt an extra point or a two-point conversion before kicking off to the other team, giving them a chance to have the ball and score to match their opponent’s touchdown. If the game remains tied after both teams have at least one possession, then the game becomes sudden death with the first team scoring winning the game.
The Wild Card round games this weekend will be the first games played with this new NFL overtime rule. If one of those games goes to overtime, we’ll get to see how the new rule changes work out.
