Overtime Changes Sought

NFL players are backing a change in the rules that would allow both teams to get the ball in overtime.

Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Assn., said Thursday that the union will recommend the change to the league’s competition committee. If this group approves a new rule, owners would vote on it at their meeting in Phoenix in March.

To pass, 24 of the 32 teams would have to OK it.

“It only stands to reason that if you get into overtime, you should have a fair chance to win,” Upshaw said.

There were a record 25 overtimes in the NFL in the regular season and nine of them were won by the team that got the ball first and scored without the other team getting possession.

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