3 Things I Would Change About The NFL If I was NFL Commissioner

This past season, we saw a great football game between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship game.  In overtime, the Saints defeated the Vikings, and, as a result, headed to Superbowl XLIV, where they eventually defeated the Indianapolis Colts.  It was a story-book ending to their season.


For Minnesota Vikings fans it was a bitter conclusion to what they were hoping was also going to be a story-book ending.  There they were, driving down the field in the waning moments of the fourth quarter when Brett Favre threw a fateful interception.  The Vikings never touched the ball after that.  At the start of the overtime, the Vikings lost the coin toss, and the Saints took the ball, drove down the field, and little known Garrett Hartley kicked the winning field goal.


This made me wonder about the merits of the overtime rules as they are, as well as other musings I've had on the game.


In this post, I will discuss 3 things that I would change about the game that would (in my opinion) make the game better.  Different, but better.

1. Points After Touchdown
2. Field Goals
3. Overtime

Point After Touchdown


The point after attempt in the NFL is worth one point, if the team chooses to kick the ball, and the ball goes between the uprights.  The kick is placed on the 2-yard line, in effect making it a 19-yard field goal.  The team does have an option of either passing the ball into the end zone or running it in, and, if successful, the point after attempt is then worth two points.  Here are the success rates of the one point point-after attempts in the NFL in each of the last three seasons:


2007  -  1,165/1,177 = 98.98%
2008  -  1,170/1,176 = 99.49%
2009  -  1,165/1,185 = 98.31%


2007 - 2009  -  3,500/3,538 = 98.93%


But that's not all.  I mentioned earlier that a point after attempt (PAT) is the same as kicking a 19-yard field goal.  Over the past three seasons, the success rate on field goals 0-19 yards are 100% (35/35).  As a matter of fact, the last kicker to miss a field goal less than 20 yards was Kris Brown, then with the Houston Texans, all the way back in 2002.


My Proposed Change(s)


Eliminate the point after kick, as well as any field goal attempt less than 20 yards.


I offer two alternatives in lieu of this:


First, after each touchdown, you could place the ball on the 2-yard line, or maybe even the 3-yard line, and you must either run it in, or throw it into the end zone.  A successful attempt would be worth 2 points.  I have read that the success today on a two-point conversion is somewhere between 50%-55%.  If the ball was placed on the 3-yard line, presumably this would decrease to about 45%.


Second, if you choose, you could place the ball on the 17-yard line, and kick the point-after attempt.  This would be equivalent to kicking a 34-yard field goal.  A successful conversion would be worth 1 point.  Here are the success rates of field goals 30-39 yards for each of the past three seasons.


2007  -  253/279 = 90.68%
2008  -  286/321 = 89.10%
2009  -  240/287 = 83.62%


2007 - 2009  -  779/887 = 87.82%


Both of these scenarios would have about the same expected point value - about 0.9 points.  


One of the biggest reasons sports is exciting is the uncertainty of the outcome.  Moving away from a basically meaningless play (the current PAT) and converting it into both a strategic decision and introducing additional elements of uncertainty would create tremendous excitement.  In my opinion, it would also reduce the likelihood of there being a tie game at the end of regulation.


Field Goals


Two rules that changed the game of basketball for the better and made it more exciting for the fans are the introduction of the shot clock in 1954, and the introduction of the 3-point shot in the 1979-1980 season.  It is hard to argue that these two elements make the game less exciting today than it was before these inventions.  A given team always has the chance of "going for the three".  The success rate is lower, but the reward is better.  The basic premise of the 3-point shot is that the further out you are from the basket, the tougher the shot, and hence the higher the point value.  There is a single line, basically 23 feet 9 inches from the basket (the reason it's not exactly 23 feet 9 inches, and other facts about the three point shot are discussed here).


The following table shows field goal accuracy in the NFL, by distance, over each of the past three seasons.

Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?  The further out you are, the more difficult the kick.  Also, the further out you are in attempting a kick, the more likely it is to get blocked.


My Proposed Change(s)


Vary the value of the field goal depending on the distance.  Remember I said earlier that no field goal less than 20 yards should be allowed.  I also placed the point-after attempt on the 17-yard line, and gave it 1 point.  Here's how I would break down the values assigned to field goals.


0-19 yards = Cannot Attempt; must go for the touchdown
20-39 yards = 1 point
40-49 yards = 2 points
50 or more yards = 3 points


I know what many of you are probably thinking.  This would decrease the number of points scored in a game.  I disagree.  The notion that this change would decrease the number of points scored by a team in a game is based on the presumption that the coaches will call the plays the same way as they do today.  They won't.  I think that two things will happen.


First, inside the 2-yard line, since the team has to go for it, the expected outcome should be greater than 3 points (6 points * 55% plus either 2 points * 55% or 1 point * 90% - see PAT discussion above).  In addition, if the team fails to make it, the other team will be in a fairly bad spot, and there's a significant chance that the team that failed to make the touchdown gets the ball back with great field position.


Second, when the team is further out, say on the 10-yard line, I think that more teams will "go for it" on fourth down when they're faced with the possibility of only getting 1 point if they kick the field goal.  In other words, the lure of the extra 6 (or 7) points would be worth the risk.  Today, the lure of an extra 3 points (versus a 3-point field goal) isn't worth the risk in coaches minds.  David Romer, in an excellent paper, suggested that coaches today are making a big mistake by not going for it on fourth down more often than they do (he was referring to the general scenario, and not specifically being inside the opponent's 17 yard line).  If Romer is right (and I think that he is), then the new scenario ought to give the coaches that extra incentive.  The fans would prefer it, and it would make the game more exciting.


Overtime


There have been numerous blog posts since the Vikings-Saints game discussing the overtime rules, and suggestions on how to change the rules such that the outcomes are "fairer".  Even the NFL is contemplating changing the current format.  The basic premise being that the winner of the coin toss (who invariably elects to receive the ball) wins approximately 60% of the time, and 2/3 times in that scenario, the loser of the coin toss doesn't even get a chance to touch the ball on offense.


Brian Burke at Advanced NFL Stats in particular has done an analysis that suggest that today's overtime rules are tremendously unfair to the loser of the coin toss.  Instead of rehashing his analysis (you can read it here), I'll merely point out that I agree with his assessment.  In his article, he (and commenters) offers some suggestions.  Although these suggested improvements are quite valid, I believe that they are mostly theoretical and appeal only to those who have an intellectual bent.  These alternatives are not practical, and therefore, I believe, unlikely to be implemented by the NFL.


The NFL's proposed changes make it slightly better for the loser of the coin toss, but it still isn't a 50/50 proposition.  As such, I do not agree with the proposed changes by the NFL.


My Proposed Change(s)


First, no overtime games during the regular season.  What's wrong with a tie?  Especially, if the current overtime rules dictate that the way in which the winner is determined is basically unfair.  Might as well flip a coin (actually, given today's rules, it would be better to flip a coin).


Second, winner in overtime must score at least 7 points in the overtime, win by at least 4 points, and, if the team receiving the ball first scores on its opening possession, then the other team must be given a chance to respond.


Many have suggested that receiving the ball second is advantageous since they know what they need to do win the game, but since the requirements are that a team scores at least 7 and wins by at least 4, the second team has to score at least a touchdown to win on its first possession.  The win by 4 requirement makes it fairer than it is today for both teams.  If the team that receives possession first scores a field goal, it cannot win by that score alone.  The proposed change is a little bit like the tie-breaker rule in tennis, where one player gets one serve to start the tie-breaker, but then each player alternates two serves at a time, with the requirement that the winner score at least 7 points, and win by at least 2 points.


Conclusions


If all three of my proposed changes are adopted, the game would be a lot different than the game played today.  There wouldn't be any meaningless extra points kicked after a touchdown, teams would "go for it" more often than they do today, points scored would be quite different, as each decision becomes strategic, more points would be scored, there would be less likelihood of a tie at the end of regulation, in the event of a tie, there would be no overtime games during the regular season, and the overtime rules in playoffs would be fairer to the team that loses the coin toss.