http://espn.go.com/nfl/news/2003/0326/1529876.html
Wednesday, March 26
Overtime proposal falls seven votes short
Associated Press
PHOENIX -- NFL owners rejected a proposal to give each team the ball in overtime and delayed until May a decision on expanding the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams.
The overtime proposal received 17 votes from the 32 teams Wednesday, seven short of the 24 needed. There was one abstention -- from the Oakland Raiders, who abstain more often than they vote.
"We don't feel that strongly about it,'' Raiders owner Al Davis said. "We'll go along with the feeling of the rest of the league.''
Proponents of the overtime change, such as Tampa GM Rich McKay, chair of the competition committee, point to an increasing number of games in which the team that wins the toss in overtime wins the game on its first possession. That was the case 58 percent of the time last season, when there were a record 25 OTs.
However, it's been hard to convince coaches and other traditionalists to change the rules.
"I like defense," said Wellington Mara, co-owner of the New York Giants. "If you can't stop a team when it gets the ball, then you don't deserve to win."
The vote came a day after the NFL announced a new remedy for the officiating problems that plagued last season's playoffs.
Instead of putting together crews of all-star officials for playoff games, the league will rate cohesive crews and have the highest-rated groups work the postseason.
It was a radical change made Tuesday at the NFL owners meeting, promulgated by the league's officiating department at the instigation of commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
"The commissioner said, 'We can't stay status quo,''' director of officiating Mike Pereira said. "One way of doing it is to revamp the evaluation system.''
There was some indication before the moves on the playoffs and expansion that they might be voted down or deferred.
"They're the kind of things that we often want to discuss a second time before we do them,'' said McKay.
The new postseason policy on officials calls for the eight highest-rated crews to officiate the 11 playoff games, two fewer crews than in the past. The three that are rated at the top will do two games -- a wild-card or divisional-round game, plus one of the divisional championship games or the Super Bowl.
The result is that 56 of the 119 officials will work the playoffs instead of 70.
In the past, crews were put together for the playoffs based on the ratings of each official. These all-star crews, though, sometimes lacked cohesion.
Wednesday, March 26
Overtime proposal falls seven votes short
Associated Press
PHOENIX -- NFL owners rejected a proposal to give each team the ball in overtime and delayed until May a decision on expanding the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams.
The overtime proposal received 17 votes from the 32 teams Wednesday, seven short of the 24 needed. There was one abstention -- from the Oakland Raiders, who abstain more often than they vote.
"We don't feel that strongly about it,'' Raiders owner Al Davis said. "We'll go along with the feeling of the rest of the league.''
Proponents of the overtime change, such as Tampa GM Rich McKay, chair of the competition committee, point to an increasing number of games in which the team that wins the toss in overtime wins the game on its first possession. That was the case 58 percent of the time last season, when there were a record 25 OTs.
However, it's been hard to convince coaches and other traditionalists to change the rules.
"I like defense," said Wellington Mara, co-owner of the New York Giants. "If you can't stop a team when it gets the ball, then you don't deserve to win."
The vote came a day after the NFL announced a new remedy for the officiating problems that plagued last season's playoffs.
Instead of putting together crews of all-star officials for playoff games, the league will rate cohesive crews and have the highest-rated groups work the postseason.
It was a radical change made Tuesday at the NFL owners meeting, promulgated by the league's officiating department at the instigation of commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
"The commissioner said, 'We can't stay status quo,''' director of officiating Mike Pereira said. "One way of doing it is to revamp the evaluation system.''
There was some indication before the moves on the playoffs and expansion that they might be voted down or deferred.
"They're the kind of things that we often want to discuss a second time before we do them,'' said McKay.
The new postseason policy on officials calls for the eight highest-rated crews to officiate the 11 playoff games, two fewer crews than in the past. The three that are rated at the top will do two games -- a wild-card or divisional-round game, plus one of the divisional championship games or the Super Bowl.
The result is that 56 of the 119 officials will work the playoffs instead of 70.
In the past, crews were put together for the playoffs based on the ratings of each official. These all-star crews, though, sometimes lacked cohesion.
