Going pro

I’m a San Diego Chargers fan, but the overtime rule for the NFL has to be changed.

There is no other major team sport where the offense and defense don’t each get a chance to score during overtime. Just think in baseball that if the team scores in the top of the 10th inning the game is over based on the fact that they are the visiting team and get to bat first. The idea that playoff games can be won on a coin flip is ridiculous.

Steve Shaevel

Woodland Hills

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Bill Plaschke is a fine writer, but all too often he overreaches badly to force a point of view he obviously adopted before the event or interview ever took place.

Sadly, such was the case last Sunday when he was lamenting how badly the Indianapolis Colts let down his hero Tony Dungy.

Desperate to explain how (once again) the Colts fell apart in the playoffs, Plaschke referred to the San Diego Chargers as a “mediocre” bunch.

Bill, what game were you watching?

Ed Lenderman

San Diego

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As I was watching the wild-card round of this year’s playoffs it struck me how unfair the present NFL rules are. The two home teams Saturday had much worse records than their opponents yet, they were rewarded twofold.

First, they were unfairly given the home-field advantage, leading both to wins over their favored opponents.

Second, in the draft they will be slotted according to their won-loss record and get a higher draft pick than the teams they beat in those home games.

Being rewarded twice for incompetence during the regular season does an injustice to the sport and its fans.

Anthony Berardinelli

North Hollywood

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Sitting here watching the AFC wild-card game between Baltimore and Miami I could not believe my eyes when I saw referee Ed Hochuli working this game. After one of the biggest missed calls in all of football during the San Diego-Denver regular season games, Hochuli is rewarded by given a playoff game?

It seems that Hochuli is the NFL’s fair-haired boy.

John O. Atkinson Sr.

Long Beach