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Biggest Fallout From Super Bowl LVIII: Overtime Rules Confused a Lot of People

Also in Traina Thoughts: Super Bowl gets monster viewership; Tom Brady defends Travis Kelce; Chris Russo rips CBS for so many Taylor Swift shots and more.

Jimmy Traina

In this story:

1. It’s so immature and unprofessional to start the column by tooting my own horn, but I’m gonna do it anyway.

As Super Bowl LVIII headed into overtime Sunday, I sent this tweet.

It seems that Kansas City Chiefs players knew the rules. Defensive end Chris Jones said after the Chiefs’ 25–22 win: “For two weeks, we talked about the new overtime rules.” 

Niners players? Not so much.

Here’s San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk:

"I didn't even know about the new playoff overtime rule, so it was a surprise to me," Niners defensive lineman Arik Armstead said. "I didn't even really know what was going on in terms of that."

Buy now! Relive Super Bowl LVIII with Sports Illustrated’s commemorative issue

I wrote in Monday's Traina Thoughts that I didn’t think CBS analyst Tony Romo knew the rules because after the Niners missed a touchdown opportunity on their first drive in overtime, Romo twice said, “This is for the Super Bowl.” 

It wasn't for the Super Bowl because if Brock Purdy would've connected with Jauan Jennings for the score, the Chiefs still would've gotten a possession.

Now we have Chris Fowler, calling the game for ESPN Australia and New Zealand, who absolutely sounded like he didn't know the rules.

“Clock running inside 10 seconds,” Fowler said with a sense on urgency on the game’s final play. “They have two timeouts. Can they win it right here?”

The only problem is the game clock is meaningless. Even if the 10 seconds had run out, the Chiefs would've still had the opportunity to finish their drive because it was their first possession of overtime. Fowler, though, clearly thought the game was going to end if those 10 seconds ticked off the clock.

So if the players don't know the rules and broadcasters don't know the rules and die-hard football fans don't know the rules, there is a problem. And it's the NFL's problem.

First off, to have separate overtime rules for the regular season and postseason is stupid. It also doesn't help that the NFL keeps changing the overtime rules.

Secondly, the postseason overtime rules need to be simplified. You don't need a game clock. You just need a play clock.

The only reason there’s a game clock is because the teams would switch sides once it hit zero. But is that really necessary? Weather is rarely, if ever, a factor in Super Bowls. They’re always played in a dome or in a warm-weather city. Just forget the game clock and lessen all the confusion.

2. I also wrote in Monday's Traina Thoughts that the Travis Kelce blow up at Andy Reid was overblown and a non-story. 

It seems the GOAT is on my side. Here's what Tom Brady said on his SiriusXM show, Let's Go, on Monday:

 “There’s always little family issues and of course I don’t mind seeing it ’cause I was a part of a lot of those things. Emotions are so high. You are definitely not centered and balanced. You’re not in a meditative state at that point. You are fully determined to go out there and to win. So I think a lot of the things that are said during the games, people should just let them fly off their back. And I actually think coach Reid handled it just awesome, like he always does, ’cause he just said, ‘I was a little off-balance and Travis is such a competitor.’ And I love that because it just speaks to his leadership ability.”

Brady added, “It speaks to the self-confidence that coach Reid has in himself, too, ’cause he doesn’t take that personally at all. He doesn’t look at that and feel like someone offended him. He takes it for what it is and doesn’t make it more than it is and doesn’t see someone’s trying to belittle him. Travis is not trying to do any of those things. He’s just trying to be fired up and stay in the moment.”

3. Last year's Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Eagles drew 115.1 million viewers for Fox.

This year's Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Niners drew 123.4 million viewers for CBS.

It would be hard to argue that Taylor Swift wasn’t at least a small factor in the eight million-viewer jump.

4. While you can’t argue that Swift brought in some new viewers, you can argue that CBS overdid it with the shots of her Sunday. While she wasn’t on camera for a significant amount of time, the repetitive shots didn’t sit well with SiriusXM’s Cjhris “Mad Dog” Russo.

5. I don't know what the backstory is here, but a sports media beef between Pat McAfee and Bill Simmons would be as big as sports media beefs get.

6. Here are the most recent SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcasts that you should catch up on in case you missed any of them.

• Jim Nantz

• Bryan Curtis

• Kyle Brandt

• Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen

You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated’s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: On this date in 1991, George Costanza left a terrible phone message and all hell broke loose.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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