The Seattle Seahawks pulled off an NFL first in their dramatic, improbable 38-37 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football.
When Sam Darnold threw the decisive pass to Eric Saubert for the game’s final points, the Seahawks became the first team in NFL history to win an overtime game via two-point conversion.
NFL changed regular season overtime rules in 2025
This year is the first season in which regular season overtime does not automatically end on an opening drive offensive
touchdown. The only difference between regular season and playoff overtime (which eliminated “offensive touchdown on first possession wins the game” starting in the 2022 season) is that regular season OT is still just 10 minutes and not 15. Barring a defensive or special teams touchdown (or a safety), both offenses must possess the ball at least once.
The catalyst for this change was the famous Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills AFC Divisional playoff classic in the 201 season, in which Josh Allen never touched the ball in overtime and the Chiefs scored a touchdown on the first possession and never looked back.
While we’ve yet to see an opening drive overtime touchdown under the current rules in the playoffs, this is the first time that a team has conceded an overtime touchdown and come back to win the game. The Jacksonville Jaguars scored a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders earlier this season, only for the Raiders to respond with their own. Geno Smith’s winning pass to Tyler Lockett was batted down and Jacksonville won.
It’s only fitting that such a weird thing would first be done by the Seahawks. We expect nothing less.
