The NFL's new playoff overtime rules -- which 78 percent of people probably forgot about before Sunday -- went into effect over the weekend. The rules are as clear as mud. You can read them via this link, but a quick summary:
- The team that scores wins, unless they don't.
- CFL rouges (or "singles") sometimes count but cannot win a game unless it is the Super Bowl.
- Twelve men in the huddle is an automatic game disqualification.
We might not have that entirely correct, but you can't blame us. Even Denver WR Demaryius Thomas, who caught the winning TD in the first overtime quadrant, didn't know the game was over. Per NFL.com:
With his 80-yard catch and run in overtime on Sunday against the Steelers, Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas took on a starring role in one of the most unforgettable NFL plays in recent memory. It also provided an expeditious conclusion to the first instance of modified sudden death in a postseason game. Despite referee Ron Winter's carefully worded rundown of the rules prior to overtime, some players were still flying blind in the extra period. That included Thomas, who was unaware his big play had propelled the Broncos deeper into the playoffs. "I saw Champ run up to me in the tunnel, and I was like, what's going on?" Thomas said Monday, according to The Denver Post.
Perhaps ESPN can have Donovan McNabb on as a guest again on NFL Countdown and he can get to the bottom of all of the overtime nonsense for us rubes.
