As a longsuffering victim of Chiefs masochism,the improved tiebreaker format just gave us a new way for the Chiefs to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We finally are shed of Bob Sutton who made us suffer all season watching 35 point efforts get beat without calling a blitz, stunt, chipping receivers, etc.. Nobody lays a glove on Brady with his release and their game plan, so you gotta be at least as smart as Tony Romo
. And it seems that Andy's upgraded his default strategy of playing to be behind with 3 minutes and needing a touchdown, conversion, onside kick recovery and field goal drive with no timeouts.
It is a bummer that the improved rule for OT still has the fundamental flaw of a coin toss bias. I think the possession ought to be guaranteed (and with a minimum of 7 minutes game time), but then the advantage switches to kicking first and seeing what you need to win/tie when you get the rock. So (for playoffs only) why not let them just keep trading scores for an hour if it happens until someone cracks? Where does anyone have to go in such a hurry? Is there an airing of "Heidi" planned?
My bigger beef is with the severity of all PI calls. Why is the default assumption that the receiver catches every damn ball that is within 10 yards? I haven't seen the angles/timing/distance of the Saints play, but I don't think that receiver was going to get to that pass that looked behind him. I'm waiting for the next-gen stats to put up the percentage for that completion, even with loose coverage.
I think the awarding of 30-50 yard penalty yardage is ridiculous. Supposedly both players have a "right" to the ball, but offensive PI only gets 10? yard penalty and the other may be 50 yards and fresh downs. There should be a penalty distance of no more than half the distance to the line of scrimmage, or a 10? yard minimum.
Yes, the Saints play was P.I.. I still am not seeing that catch made under pressure. In real time, it could easily have looked like the ball had arrived or was 10 feet away with 1/4 second to get to it. The receiver also pretty much turned his helmet into harm's way, but that is still the defenders job and should be called, maybe with the lesser penalty for being inadvertent.
Disclaimer - repeated exposure to author's musings may cause befuddlement.