PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Buffalo Bills 42-36 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL divisional playoffs still lingers for many.
That includes more than just Bills fans.
NFL owners voted Tuesday to allow each team to have a possession in overtime, in just the postseason, at the annual league meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.
NFL Competition Committee Chair Rich McKay cited data primarily from 12 postseason games, but said this year's Bills/Chiefs playoff game served as a catalyst for change:
"It's potentially the greatest 20-30 minutes of football that I've ever seen just watching the game. To think that it ended that way definitely brought up the idea hey is that equitable? There's no question that started the discussion and what typically happens in these is they tend to lose momentum as you get further away from the game, and that did not happen in this instance."
After winning the coin toss to begin overtime, Patrick Mahomes drove Kansas City 75-yards in eight plays hitting tight end Travis Kelce for an eight yard game winning touchdown. Jos h Allen and the Buffalo offense, who had played so well in a dynamic back and forth game, never got a chance to touch the ball in overtime.
McKay said the committee focused to a great extent on 12 postseason games since the rule was changed to allow a first possession touchdown in 2012. Seven of the 12 games were decided on the first possession, and 10 of the 12 by the team that had won the toss.
The Bills ultimately decided not to submit a proposal, but head coach Sean McDermott and General Manager Brandon Beane spoke Monday in favor of changing the rules, at the very least in the postseason.
