Let me start by saying that in the soon to be 49 years on this planet, my sports spirit has NEVER witnessed anything exciting than what took place this past weekend in the NFL Divisional games. All close games, nail bitting, heart pumping moments, that brought all fans together, at bars, basement parties, or at the game itself. Forget about the walk-off moments that happened in these games (Gould for SF, McPherson for the Bengals), forget about the former and current reigning MVP’s eliminated and it’s pretty much any team‘s open opportunity to get to the Super Bowl, forget about the fact that the Super Bowl Halftime Show (that this girl NEEDS to be there to see it live) is going to be epic, the trending topic on social media today is the overtime rules. Josh Allen had the most epic game of his career (27-37, 329, 4 TD’s), and it looked like the Bills were on their way to the AFC Championship, where an underestimated Cincinnati Bengals team is waiting for their next opponent. Mahomes and his brilliant mastery of determination and comebacks was like “Yeah, not quite”, and they tied the game in regulation with seconds left. On to overtime. Coin flip happens. Favor fell into the Chiefs lap. And that moment is where I knew Allen would not have a chance to make a play, thus resulting in this now popular photo:
Let’s flashback to 2019, shall we?
Patrick Mahomes & the Kansas City Chiefs knew exactly what Allen & The Bills felt that moment. 2019 vs the then led Tom Brady & the New England Patriots. Patriots won the toss, they went first in overtime, and won 37-31. Kansas City contested the overtime rules after all was said and done and, well read what Ian Rapoport tweeted in May, 2019:
So Bills fans today when I logged on to a Twitter to see everyone’s reaction about this magnificent game (let’s be honest, Mahomes & Allen put on a show!) were in their feelings about the overtime rule and DEMANDS for it to be changed. Comments from “Why doesn’t the NFL overtime have the same rules as college football when they go into overtime?” “Both sides should have opportunities to receive the ball” “NFL has all the money in the world, WHY CAN’T THEY GET THIS RIGHT?” And many more that could fill up this post.
Allen was asked after the game about the overtime rules in to which his reply was simple without complaint, “If it was the other way around, we’d be celebrating too”
So, I asked the question on my Twitter page if the rules of overtime need to get changed. I appreciate the responses that I got:
from @TheMarkMathur
from @ScottWGedris
What are your thoughts? Tweet me (@lovelymarisat). Want to be a guest writer for the #HeardThat blog? Let me know! Marisa.tigneybusiness@gmail.com