Overtime Rules
See also: Overtime (sports)The overtime rules in the playoffs have one major difference from those used during the preseason or regular season: postseason games cannot end in a tie. If neither team scores, the teams switch ends of the field and an additional overtime period begins. Although a contest could theoretically last indefinitely, or last multiple overtime periods like several National Hockey League postseason games, no NFL playoff game has ever gone into triple-overtime. The longest NFL game played to date is 82 minutes, 40 seconds: Miami Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian made the winning 37-yard field goal after 7:40 of double-overtime to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, 27–24, in the 1971–72 NFL playoffs.
Read more about this topic: National Football League Playoffs
Famous quotes containing the word rules:
“In really hard times the rules of the game are altered. The inchoate mass begins to stir. It becomes potent, and when it strikes,... it strikes with incredible emphasis. Those are the rare occasions when a national will emerges from the scattered, specialized, or indifferent blocs of voters who ordinarily elect the politicians. Those are for good or evil the great occasions in a nation’s history.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)