Hump Day Headlines: Make Overtime Make Sense
Josh Frey
|
Last week, PurplePTSD After Dark launched the first ever edition of the Hump Day Headlines. If you missed that one, go check it out as all the stories are still relevant. It’s a new week though, and so we’re back with another list of all the biggest headlines across the NFL.
Trouble in the Bayou
Tuesday afternoon brought with it a ton of news in the sports world, but perhaps none was larger than the fact that Sean Payton will not be returning to the Saints in 2022. After 16 years, it seems the offensive mastermind has decided to call it quits after a season full of headaches trying to create a competent offense around the likes of Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian.
Combine the ongoing search for competent QB play in the post-Drew Brees era with the fact that New Orleans once again finds itself deep in the red in terms of salary cap, and it makes all the sense in the world that Payton would want out. To the delight of all Vikings fans that remain in a constant state of petty, the Saints have moved one step closer towards returning to a longstanding tradition of being the ‘Aints.
Bears New GM Gets Right to Work
While the Minnesota Vikings seem to be closing in on a deal to bring aboard Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their new GM, the Chicago Bears sealed the deal today and brough on Ryan Poles as their own GM. Poles was considered as one of the favorites alongside Adofo-Mensah to land the job in Minnesota, but the former Chiefs’ Executive Director of Player Personnel was snatched up by the division rival.
Chicago is a city that has longed for good football for a very long time, and Poles seems set on getting right to work on making that happen. Just hours after being hired, he reportedly interviewed Jim Caldwell for the Bears still vacant head coaching position.
Overtime Sucks
This past weekend was one of the best slates of playoff football we have ever seen, and it climaxed with the Sunday night game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs. Everything about this game was absurd, but you couldn’t have scripted a more dramatic final two minutes of regulation–in which 25 points were scored, capped off by a 44-yard drive by Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs that took all of 13 seconds. That’s less time than the QB draw by Dak Prescott took at the end of the Cowboys loss to San Francisco, by the way.
But then of course, the NFL once again proved why we can’t have nice things. We went to overtime, and the most consequential play of the game between two explosive offenses that couldn’t be stopped happened…on a coin toss. Yup, the Chiefs won the toss, drove down the field, and Patrick Mahomes threw an 8-yard touchdown to Travis Kelce to win the game. Josh Allen, who threw for 329 yards and four TDs, wouldn’t touch the ball in the OT period.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”946155″ player=”26281″ title=”WATCH%203%20moves%20the%20Buffalo%20Bills%20must%20make%20to%20solve%20the%20Kansas%20City%20Chiefs%20riddle” duration=”108″ description=”For the second consecutive season, the Buffalo Bills’ season came to a premature end by the hand of the two-time defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs.” uploaddate=”2022-01-26″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/snapshot/946115_s_1643158152532.png” contentUrl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/streaming/946115/946115.m3u8″]
Look, I don’t think I ask for much to change in terms of my football viewing experience. That is, other than the refs combine that still needs to happen. However, this is something that needs to change. We can’t have playoff games determined without a star quarterback getting a chance with the ball.
I realize that a lot of the reason the regular season OT is the way that it is because of injury concerns, and that’s all good and dandy. I’m fine with games ending in hilarious ties or just generally faster to get players off the field in as decent shape as possible. However, the playoffs are a time for no holds barred. The NFL is clearly not super concerned about the health of its players this time of year anyway given the playoff COVID protocol changes. If we can make adjustments to rules so it’s harder for players to miss games because of a debilitating disease, then why can’t we tweak them to make games more entertaining and fulfilling?