Report: Steelers President Art Rooney II Open to Changing OT Rules

Following Sunday’s all-time classic between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, cries for the NFL to alter its overtime procedures have been renewed.

Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II is one of the most prominent figures in favor of a change, and said he would be open to an update that would allow each to have a possession to start the overtime period.

“I am not opposed to considering a change to the overtime rule to allow both teams one possession prior to it being sudden-death,” Rooney told the Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac.

Still, Rooney would only want the change implemented for the postseason.

“I would only want to consider that change for the playoffs,” Rooney said.

Rooney does want a potential rule change to first be reviewed by the Competition Committee, of which Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is a member, before he make a formal proposal.

“I always like to have (the committee) review these changes first,” Rooney added.

Pittsburgh has been a victim of the NFL’s sudden-death overtime structure in the past. They were defeated by the Tim Tebow-led Denver Broncos back in the 2011 playoffs.

Denver scored an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of overtime to win the game. Ben Roethlisberger never saw the field.

The recent discourse following Sunday’s Chiefs-Bills showdown centers around Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen.

Allen had played a near perfect game to that point, but critics feel he and the Bills were robbed of an opportunity to win the game simply because they lost the opening coin toss.

They feel Buffalo’s most important player had no chance to impact the game at its most crucial moment due to the current format.

Others who are content with the rules as they are argue the Bills should have made a stop defensively.