Published October 12, 2026 05:11 AM
When the NFL changed the overtime format last season to guarantee both teams a possession, there was no consensus among coaches about whether it would be better to kick or receive after winning the coin toss. And in the middle of the second season under the new format, there’s still no consensus.
Through five overtime games this season, three teams that won the toss have chosen to kick, and two have chosen to receive.
On Sunday, there were two overtime games. The Commanders won the toss, chose to kick, and ended up tying the Giants. The Ravens won the toss, chose to receive, and ended up beating the Falcons. Ravens coach Jesse Minter said after the game that the decision to receive was a combination of the research his team has done into the advantages of getting the ball first, and specific factors about that game.
“There’s a lot of numbers,” Minter said of researching the overtime strategies. “I think the team that takes the ball has a much better record, if you look at it over the course of time. You study that stuff, you look at it.”
Against the Falcons specifically, Minter thought Ravens running back Derrick Henry was wearing down their defense and wanted to keep that going.
“I did feel like our offense was rolling a little bit and their defense was getting a little bit tired,” Minter said. “If you go out there and you get Derrick rolling again, you’re out of the two-minute mode and you’re back in the normal offense, we could punish them with the run game a little bit, and that’s what happened.”
Commanders coach Dan Quinn made a different choice on Sunday, but that wasn’t even discussed after the game because of his team’s clock-management meltdown at the end of overtime. In the NFL’s three previous overtime games this season, Jets coach Aaron Glenn chose to receive and ultimately lost to the Packers, Colts coach Shane Steichen chose to kick and ultimately lost to Chiefs, and Saints coach Kellen Moore chose to kick and ultimately lost to the Lions.
What we’ve mostly seen this season is that winning the coin toss doesn’t matter very much. Which makes the current format an improvement over the old format.