PHILADELPHIA -- Tie? What tie?
Thanks to Donovan McNabb, players around the league now must know there doesn't have to be a winner or loser in every regular-season game. Yes, there are ties in the NFL. They just don't happen too often.
A day after the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals played to a 13-13 tie -- the league's first since 2002 -- the focus wasn't on how poorly the teams performed on the field. Instead, everyone wanted to know how it's possible some professional football players, especially a 10-year veteran such as McNabb, don't know simple rules about overtime games.
"I'm sure there are plenty of rules that guys don't understand, but I don't think that has any factor whatsoever to do with the outcome of this game and how they played in the overtime," Eagles coach Andy Reid said Monday. "I think that's absurd. You play to win in that time, whether you think you have another overtime period or you don't. And you play your heart out to win it in that time, and that's how we approached it and that's how the players approached it."
Reid ignored the point. Whether the players' lack of knowledge about the overtime rule affected the outcome is debatable. But people are wondering how some of them didn't know a game can end in a tie.
"I'll take the responsibility for that," Reid said.
"I've never been a part of a tie. I never even knew that was in the rule book," McNabb said after the game. "It's part of the rules, and we have to go with it. I was looking forward to getting the opportunity to get out there and try to drive to win the game. But unfortunately, with the rules, we settled with a tie."
The overtime rule isn't an obscure one. It was adopted fully by the NFL in 1974 and 17 games have since ended in a tie. The Eagles have been involved in four of those games.
"I guess we're aware of it now," McNabb said. "In college, there are multiple overtimes, and in high school and Pop Warner. I never knew in the professional ranks it would end that way. I hate to see what would happen in the Super Bowl and in the playoffs."
Teams keep playing if a playoff game or the Super Bowl is tied after one overtime.
In his defense, McNabb wasn't the only one oblivious to the rules. Several of his teammates were also unaware of the rule.
"Me and Greg Lewis were discussing it on the sideline, so we asked one of our trainers and he told us it ends in a tie," running back Correll Buckhalter said.
"I found out while we were in OT," rookie wideout DeSean Jackson said.
"I thought we kept playing," linebacker Omar Gaither said.
McNabb was unavailable to reporters on Monday. A spokesman for the QB said McNabb told him he wished he knew the rule and wasn't going to make any excuses for not knowing it.
McNabb's comments took some of the heat off a miserable performance. He matched a career high with three interceptions, lost a fumble and completed fewer than half his passes (28-for-58).
The schedule doesn't help. Five of the last six opponents have winning records, with a trip to Baltimore (6-4) up next.
"We're going to get it straight is what we are going to do," Reid said. "We're going to work a little harder, up the concentration level and make sure we do the right thing. I've seen our offense play well, I've seen our defense play well and I've seen our special teams play well, and I just want to see them do it all together in one game. And when we do, we've got one heck of a football team."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
