Add Hines Ward To The List Of Those Who Don't Know About Ties In The NFL
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Now this story should make you laugh. A few people have come out and admitted that they had no ideas there were/are ties in the NFL, and Hines Ward is one of them. Now you might say that since there are a handful of people now that weren't aware of the rule, it might be plausible that a good bit of the NFL has no idea. Well in Hines Ward's case, he really has no excuse. He actually played during the last tie in the league....
“No, I didn’t know,” Ward said. “I thought we were the last team to do it when we played the Falcons. I thought we just played it until you have a winner or something. It’s kind of weird now that you can still tie ballgames.”I agree with Roethlisberger on the fact that people are being too hard on Donovan McNabb, and that it really doesn't ultimately matter because you're still playing for the win. It's just amazing how many people seriously had no idea that there were ties. Also, now that this has come to light, it seems rather dumb that the league wouldn't play a second overtime period. I personally think ties in any Sport outside of Soccer make absolutely no sense, and we should just get rid of them. Especially in a Sport like Football where there are only sixteen games in a season.
Roethlisberger speculated many players didn’t know ties can happen because games are played to a conclusion in high school and college football. Also, a large percentage of current NFL players weren’t in the league when that Falcons-Steelers tie occurred.
If he had been standing on the sideline late in the overtime period Sunday, Roethlisberger said, he would have needed time to sort out whether a tie can happen.
“I think people are making too big a deal and are being too hard on Donovan because you’d be surprised, I bet at least 50 percent of the league didn’t know that at the time,” Roethlisberger said. “You’d be real surprised. I think people just assume that the quarterback should know it all and that everyone should know that stuff and it’s not necessarily true, because whoever thinks about that stuff?”
A tie? Ward among Steelers unaware of tie rule (Yahoo Sports)
16 Comments:
this stuff just makes me wonder what other rules the NFLs players are unclear on...
What makes no sense to me on this situation is when I hear the ref explain over time rules he does say. We will play one 15 minute overtime. First team that scores first wins and if no one scores the game ends in a tie. How the hell do they not hear that part.
Hines Ward is too busy dishing out cheap shots to know simple rules!
No. It's not dumb why they don't play double overtime in the fucking regular season. If it's tied after 75 minutes (including one sudden death period)...end it in a tie. The injuries in the league are bad enough. You try playing leff guard for 6 quarters.
I know all the players/coaches always say they don't read the newspapers or internet or here anyone say anything bad about them ever, but do they really not go over the playoff scenarios that the nfl puts out all of the time?
These things mention ties all the time.
Let's simplify the overtime rules.
One possession per team, starting at the 10-yard line, and you get four chances to score. If nothing happens, you continue until someone gets more points.
I think ties in football are just fine because they only happen between crappy football teams (a team that ties rarely makes it to the playoffs). Did anyone really want to see 15 more minutes of this game?
Ties are such an uncommon occurrence that I wouldn't imagine they'll occur too often in the future. It's been six years since the last tie, so chances are we won't see another one for a while.
Donovan had a shitty day all day long. He was a turnover machine. I dont know if that was out of urgency to win or not, but he's been around long enough that he should know this rule. At least a coach should've spoken up and said let's get it done, we only have however many minutes left!
http://sundayhop.blogspot.com
How about his further comments on what happens with ties in the Super Bowl or playoffs? Anyone else owning up to that flat-out ignorance or willing to defend McNabb regarding that?
Why aren't people talking about the stupidity of the NFL overtime format -- which favors the winner of a coin flip? Why aren't people pushing for the NFL to adopt the college system -- which is exciting AND decides a winner? But worse than the NFL overtime system is the NFL replay system. A referee spends 5 minutes strolling over to the sidelines to stare into a booth -- a booth! -- on the field...
Ties are fine! They throw a wrench into the standings and can create some interesting scenarios. I agree with the poster who said "who wants to see another quarter".. the quality of football played was laughable. End it already!
And to the previous poster.. I couldn't disagree more. The college format of overtime is awful. It lacks any suspense. Nothing is better than sudden death in sports. If you are going to complain that (the winner of the toss wins 58% of the OT games) the format is unfair, I say this.. If you don't like the fact that your team is putting luck into a coin toss, win the game before it gets that far!
I think college overtime is definitely better than pro overtime, however I think the starting field position for it should be moved back to somewhere in the 35-50 range. Needs to get a first down before having a consistently makable field goal makes a lot of sense to me.
In speaking with NFL players they determined they were also unaware of the following:
Holding is not permissible on the offensive line
Dog fighting is not allowed
Selling cocaine over the phone is not permissible
You cannot attack people with knives
And now...everyone can forget about ties for another five years until the next one comes and everyone says what an awful idea they are.
Really, this is about as important to the NFL as my decision of whether I'm going to eat out for lunch tomorrow is to the economy.
I guess this is "indefensible" as well.