Seahawks placekicker Josh Brown described his feelings as time ran out in regulation play of a recent tied game:  “I'm on the sideline trying to get mentally ready, trying to be by myself.  It's one of those moments where you know what's coming.  You know it's going to come.  You just have to win the coin toss.''

In the 13 overtime games this season, the team that got the ball first won eight times.  That’s a 62% win rate.  Thirty years of NFL statistics confirm this bias in favor of the coin-toss winner, with almost 30% of overtime games won on the first drive alone, the losing team never touching the ball.

This is a huge edge and an unnecessary one.  The game is already littered with lucky breaks and bad calls that affect the outcome; there’s no need to artificially interject more luck at a critical moment in the contest.  Like lagging the ball for the first break in pool, why not introduce some type of alternative to the coin toss that is based on merit and doesn’t dramatically change the odds on the basis of pure chance?

Here are some suggestions for skill-based substitutes for the lowly coin flip that would be quick to complete and entertaining for the fans:

1.         Have the fastest player from each team race a head-to-head 40-yarder at midfield; or have the heaviest men on each roster race; or better yet, have the smallest man on each roster race, but make him do it wearing the shoes of the biggest one (I know from experience that this type of thing is a lot of fun if you’re bowling and alcohol is involved).

2.         Have a “kicker’s auction” where the teams bid-up how far they can kick a field goal, with the high bidder getting to try the kick: if he makes it they “win the toss”; if he misses, they lose the toss.  Or have the punters or kickers go for distance, kicking balls painted in team logos at the same time and seeing which carries the furthest and stays inbounds.

3.         The owners like to be a part of the team, they bask in the reflected glory produced by the players and coaches, but why not actually get them in the game?  Call them down from the owner’s box for a quick sprint, say twenty yards, or see how far they can kick a football.

4.         Do rock-scissors-paper.  It’s not pure luck, there’s strategy involved, it’s like calling for a particular defense.  This would be an interesting new area for team tacticians to study.

5.         Let the players flip the coins instead of the referees (studies have shown that it’s a learnable skill; magicians and gamblers can get really good at it; mechanical coin-flippers that produce identical tosses produce very predictable outcomes).  This would create a new area of specialization for players and could extend the careers of aging stars; backup quarterbacks could practice for hours on the sidelines.

The overtime coin toss occurs at a peak moment of drama during some of the most exciting games of the year.  Why waste the opportunity with a random coin flip that skews the outcome so heavily in favor of one of the teams?