NFL overtime rules are a little annoying, because even though there's an extra 15 minutes tacked onto the game, there's no guarantee one team will win. In fact, ties have been happening kind of frequently of late, with a pair of them over the ast two weeks.
It shouldn't be surprising if fans are confused by the overtime rules or by the ties themselves, but it should be concerning when an NFL coach is. And Jay Gruden is apparently coaching's version of Donovan McNabb, because he said afterward he wasn't aware teams could tie until last week.
Gruden: "I don't know how to react. I didn't know it was possible to tie. There was a tie last week I was like 'how heck did they tie?'"
— Mike Jones (@MikeJonesWaPo) October 30, 2016
That doesn't seem possible. After all, anyone who has followed football should know that ties are a real thing because the entire world made fun of Donovan McNabb when he didn't know about ties. Like he had no idea a game could end in a tie.
It's also possible that Gruden didn't mean the same thing and that he was saying he doesn't understand how teams could play into a situation where they tie.
But he also should know because he rolled right into it.
I will never understand trying NOT to score like Gruden did there. Had 2nd and 4 vs. tired D. Why not run twice?
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) October 30, 2016
At this point everyone should be fully aware of the tie situation, because we've seen them two straight weeks at this point.
And by everyone, we also include "all NFL head coaches." That means you, Gruden.