New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton doesn't get a kick out of NFL's new playoff overtime rule

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton doesn't get a kick out of NFL's new playoff overtime rule
March 24th 2010
Gary Myers
New York Daily News.com

ORLANDO - Super Bowl champion coach Sean Payton was having lunch with Arnold Palmer at the golf champion's club two days ago when his cell phone started buzzing with text messages: The modified sudden death overtime proposal for the playoffs had passed.

"I hate it," he said Wednesday.

Payton was stunned as he sat with Palmer on Tuesday. He thought the vote would be Wednesday when the coaches and general managers were in the room, but when commissioner Roger Goodell, who endorsed the change, knew he had enough votes to get it passed in the Tuesday session that include only the owners, he ordered the ballots be passed out.

"There's a little coup that took place there," Payton said.

Well, not exactly. If the vote belonged to the coaches, Goodell probably would not have come close to the 24 votes he needed. He got 28. But the vote has always belonged to the owners. It's just that if the coaches were in the room, they might have been able to influence the owners. Payton was convinced the Saints were voting against the proposal, but they were among the 28.

Goodell said the coaches had their say in meetings leading up to the vote. Before the meeting broke up for lunch on Tuesday, and before Payton went to visit Palmer, Goodell encouraged the owners to consult with their coaches.

"It's probably no secret that there are certain owners who may have a different view than their coaches," Goodell said. "But there are 32 clubs and 32 votes and this may not come as a news flash, but the owners have the vote."

He believes the proposal would have passed even if the coaches were in the room.

Payton said the group he was with visiting Palmer counted six "nay" votes among them when they left the meeting. Only the Vikings, Bengals, Ravens and Bills eventually casted the "nay" votes. Of course, the Saints benefitted from the old rule when they won the overtime flip and beat the Vikings on a field goal on the first possession in the NFC title game. The Vikings voted against the new rule.

"I'm not a big fan of it and certainly not a big fan of how it was voted on," Payton said.

Jets coach Rex Ryan was against it earlier in the week, but the Jets voted for it. Giants coach Tom Coughlin certainly indicated he liked the old rule better, but co-owner John Mara was on the competition committee that pushed for the new one.

"I'm in favor of it now," Coughlin said. "It's voted in."

Unlike Ryan, however, Coughlin said he would not defer if the Giants win the coin flip to start overtime. Coughlin had just finished playing in the golf tournament set up by the commissioner for the coaches to play with sponsors when he found out the new rule had passed. Ryan, who was not playing golf, found out from a reporter.

"Look at in the true sense of what happened," Coughlin said. "When it's time to make the critical decisions for our game, it's going to be the owners and the commissioner that are going to make those calls. It's the owners' league, their teams."

There's an excellent chance the owners will vote in May, after further study, to use the new modified sudden death system for the regular season. It adds another layer for coaches to have their strategy second-guessed.

Payton said he's going to have to spend an "inordinate" amount of time explaining the new rule to his wife and anybody who likes football. He then went through a scene right out of Abbott and Costello:

"If we score a touchdown at the beginning of overtime in the regular season, we win. If we score a touchdown in the beginning of overtime in the postseason, we win. If it's a field goal in the regular season, we win. If we kick a field goal at the start of overtime in the postpseason, stop, hold up, they get another chance and if they score a field goal, it's back to overtime. If they score a touchdown, they win."