Donovan McNabb Didn't Know NFL Games Could End in a Tie

by Jon Azpiri | November 17, 2008 at 03:19 pm

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Donovan McNabb of the Philadephia Eagles admitted that he didn't know a football game could end in a tie. The Eagles quarterback made the comments after his team tied the Cincinnati Bengals, 13-13. It was the first NFL game to end in a tie in six years.

"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."

McNabb's comments are pretty perplexing considering that the 10-year veteran was playing in the league the last time a tie occured in the NFL in 2002. Ties are also included in the NFL standings. Looks at any table in a newspaper and online and it will have three columns marked W-L-T for wins, losses, and ties.

For the record, NFL rules state that if two teams play an entire 15-minute overtime without scoring, then the game is declared a tie. The overtime rule was first put into place in 1974. Since then, 17 regular season games have ended in a draw. In the playoffs, teams play until one team breaks the tie.