NFL 2024 Season Overtime Rules

As we approach the season (over halfway through the off-season, thank god!), we will continue our What Is It Wednesday Series to help fill holes in your knowledge of the game (NFL or fantasy). Today we are covering the overtime rules…so that we don’t look like the 49ers in the Super Bowl… 🤭

---Regular Season Overtime Rules--- In the regular season, NFL games that are tied after the four quarters of regulation will enter a 10-minute overtime period. OT begins with a coin toss to determine who gets the ball first.

Each team has the opportunity to possess the ball unless the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown on the opening possession. Sudden death play continues until a winner is decided. Other details:

• Each team gets two timeouts
• The point after try is not attempted if the game ends on a TD
• If the score is still tied at the end of OT, the result of the game will be a tie
• All reviews will be initiated by the replay official

---Playoff Overtime Rules---

Unlike regular-season games, postseason games can't end in a tie.

Overtime rules consist of as many 15-minute periods as are necessary until there is a winner. Both teams will now get at least one possession, even if the team that has the first possession scores a touchdown. If the team that got the ball first doesn't score a touchdown, or if the score is tied after each team has possessed the ball, the next score would end the game.

If the score is still tied at the end of an overtime period — or if the second team’s initial possession has not ended — the teams will play another overtime period. Play will continue regardless of how many overtime periods are needed for a winner to be determined. If the team that possesses the ball first commits a safety on the initial possession, the kickoff team would win and the game would end there, which is also true in the regular season

Other details to keep in mind:

• No coaches’ challenges. All replay reviews will be initiated by the replay official
• Each team gets three timeouts during a half (two overtime periods), as opposed to two timeouts like in the regular season
• The intermission between the end of regular time and the first overtime period is no more than three minutes
• There’s a two-minute intermission between each overtime period, but no halftime intermission after the second
• At the beginning of the third overtime period, the captain who lost the first overtime coin toss will either choose to possess the ball or select which goal his team will defend, unless the team that won the coin toss deferred
• If there’s still no winner at the end of a fourth overtime period, there will be another coin toss