What Are The NFL Overtime Rules?

The NFL overtime rules are designed to ensure a fair and equitable outcome to games that go into extra time. Here’s everything you need to know about how overtime works in the NFL.

The Basics

In the NFL, if the score is tied at the end of regulation play, the game goes into overtime. Each team gets one chance to score. The team that scores first wins the game. If neither team scores, or if both teams score a touchdown on their first possession, the game ends in a tie.

What is overtime?

Overtime is an extra period of play in which the two teams play 10 more minutes (in college football) or an additional quarter (in the NFL) to try and determine a winner. If the score is still tied after this extra period, then the game ends in a tie.

How does overtime work in the NFL?

If the score is tied at the end of regulation time, the game goes into overtime. The overtime period is 10 minutes long, and each team gets one possession to score. If neither team scores, or if both teams score field goals on their initial possessions, the game ends in a tie.

If one team scores a touchdown on its initial possession, it wins the game; even if the other team subsequently scores a touchdown of its own, that touchdown doesn’t count and the game is over. The same goes for if one team scores a field goal on its initial possession: that team wins, even if the other team later scores a touchdown.

The Rules

The NFL overtime rules are simple. Each team gets a chance to possess the ball. If the team that has the ball first scores, the game is over. If the team that has the ball first does not score, the other team gets a chance to score. If both teams score, the game goes into sudden death and the first team to score wins.

The coin toss

The overtime rules in the NFL are simple. If the score is tied at the end of regulation, each team gets one possession to score. If the score is still tied after both teams have had a possession, or if both teams score touchdowns on their initial possessions, then the game goes into sudden death mode. From that point on, whoever scores first wins the game.

With that said, there are a few things to note about overtime in the NFL. For one, the overtime period is 10 minutes long (15 minutes in the preseason and regular season). Secondly, each team gets two timeouts per overtime period. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the coin toss becomes even more important in overtime.

The coin toss is critical because whoever wins it can choose to either kick off or receive the ball. If they choose to receive, and they score a touchdown on their first possession, then the game is over. However, if they choose to kick off and the other team scores a touchdown on their first possession, then that team wins.

Each team gets one possession

In the NFL, if a game is tied at the end of regulation play, the teams will enter into an overtime period. The overtime rules have changed several times over the years, but the most recent version was adopted in 2012.

Here’s how it works: each team gets one possession (unless one team scores a touchdown on its first drive, in which case the game ends). If neither team scores, or if both teams score field goals, the game continues. The next team to score wins. If the score is still tied after both teams have had a chance to possess the ball, then the game ends in a tie.

There are some exceptions to these rules. If the first team to possess the ball in overtime kicks a field goal, then the second team can still win with a touchdown on its possession. Also, if the first team to possess the ball fumbles it away before it has a chance to score, then the second team can win with any score on its possession (including a field goal).

Sudden death

In sudden death overtime, the first team to score a point (by any means) is declared the winner. This can be accomplished by a touchdown, field goal, or safety. Once one team has scored, the other team is not given an opportunity to score; the game ends as soon as one team is ahead by any amount. In most professional and college games, if both teams are tied at the end of regulation time, they play 10 minutes of sudden death overtime to try to break the tie.

The Exception

In most cases, each team gets two timeouts per half and one additional timeout if the game goes to overtime. However, there is one major exception to this rule. If a team scores a touchdown on the opening possession of overtime, that team is then declared the winner and the game is over.

The “mercy rule”

The “mercy rule” is in effect during the overtime period, meaning that if one team is ahead by more than 17 points at any time, the game ends immediately and that team is declared the winner.

Overtime in the Playoffs

In the NFL, if a game is tied at the end of regulation, the game enters into overtime. Each team is given a chance to possess the ball, and the first team to score wins the game. If neither team scores, the game ends in a tie.

How does overtime work in the playoffs?

In the playoffs, if the score is tied at the end of regulation time, the game will go into overtime. The team that wins the coin toss will have the option to either receive or defer the ball to start overtime.

If the team that wins the coin toss elects to receive, the other team will get the ball at the start of the second overtime period. If a touchdown is not scored on either team’s first possession, or if both teams are stopped on downs, play will continue in sudden death fashion.

The first team to score any points (td, safety, field goal) in overtime will win the game. If neither team scores in overtime, or if both teams score touchdowns on their first possessions, the game will be declared a tie.

The “sudden death” rule

The “sudden death” rule is used in the NFL playoffs, and in the regular season if both teams have identical records. The rule was adopted by the NFL in 1974.

Under the sudden death rule, if one team scores any points (a touchdown or field goal) during overtime, that team wins the game. There are no second chances for either team: once one team scores, the game is over. This can make for some very exciting finishes to NFL games!

In the playoffs, each team is guaranteed at least one possession during overtime. If the team that starts on offense scores a touchdown on their first drive, the game ends immediately. If they score a field goal, or if they don’t score at all, the other team gets a chance to possess the ball. If both teams end up with field goals on their first drives, or if neither team scores, another coin toss is held and play continues until someone finally scores points.