The game is tied 21-21 and the Cowboys have one last chance to beat the Browns. The time is ticking down; Romo goes deep. Incomplete pass. The game is over, but overtime is just about to start. The Browns win the coin toss and elect to start with the ball. On first and ten, they have a deep pass, which gets them to the Cowboys’ 25 yard line. They put in the field goal team for a 42-yard attempt. The kick is up and it is good; the Browns win 24-21 over the Dallas Cowboys.

Winning by a field goal in overtime is lame. Teams put forth effort for the game to end in a field goal. Some teams need to get to the 45-yard line to end the game. The NFL should rule that a team has to win by a touchdown if overtime occurs. That would make the games exciting to watch, and it wouldn’t be so easy for a team to win. Or the NFL could play with the college rules, where both teams start at the 25 yard line and they have to try to score. That gives each team an equal opportunity to win the game where how the game can end in only two plays by one team.

In the article “Why It’s Great to Be Way Behind,” by Gregg Eaterbrook he writes about comebacks in NFL history, (when the Jets came back from losing to the Dolphins 20-0 in the third quarter). When a team is beating another team at half time, they get cocky and think they have the game won. That is when the comebacks happen. People say the greatest comeback was when Buffalo was losing to Houston 35-3. Buffalo came back to beat Houston in a playoff game.

Sure, comebacks are tremendous, but when the score is 21-0 and the other team ties up the game with no time left they shouldn’t be allowed to win in overtime by a field goal. That makes the game boring to watch.
Tom Landry said the same thing: “Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” If a team is down by a considerable amount, and the goal was to beat them, keep trying until you win the game (but don’t end the game in overtime by a field goal).