Overtime system is here to stay -- deal with it

If you're not happy with the NFL's system for overtimes and want it overhauled -- making it more like, say, what the NCAA runs -- I have a suggestion.

Get over it.

The chances of the NFL trashing the current enterprise in favor of the NCAA's brainchild not only aren't good, they're about as likely as Mark Teixeira getting elected next mayor of Anaheim.

Darren Sproles' overtime touchdown came on the first possession of the extra period. (Getty Images)

I understand you think the system is unfair and that both sides should have at least one possession and that maybe, just maybe, the colleges have a better idea. Well, tough. You're talking to someone who doesn't subscribe to the idea, and I have company on the subject.

When I called around to NFL front offices, I didn't find a general manager who supported a change, either.

"The problem you have is what is the alternative?" said one GM who asked not to be identified. "You can define the problem and complain about it. But try coming up with a solution better than the one we have now."

OK, fine, there are people out there who think the NFL should follow the NCAA and adopt equal-opportunity overtimes. That's great, except for one thing: It's not going to fly.

For one, the scores can be ridiculous, and the games can turn into marathons, with never-ending overtimes exhausting defenses that eventually run out of gas. Second, in going to the NCAA plan you eliminate special-teams performers like Johnnie Lee Higgins and Kassim Osgood and punters like Mike Scifres, Shane Lechler and Brian Moorman.

Sorry, but I don't think that's wise, either.

I want punt returners, coverage specialists or punters having at least an opportunity to make an impact in overtime because, after all, aren't they part of the game? Not in the NCAA's system they aren't.

"I love the overtime the way it is," said San Diego general manager A.J. Smith, and not just because of what happened last weekend. "I guess I'm an old-fashioned traditionalist."

Join the crowd. There are so many who agree with Smith that I predict the rule gets turned inside out the day the Raiders become the league's model franchise. Translation: Not in my lifetime.

I bring this up because of the predictable fallout that accompanied San Diego's overtime defeat of Indianapolis last weekend. The Chargers won after they had one possession in OT and the Colts did not, an injustice that outraged the rule's opponents and had them going public with complaints again.