The term is not exclusive to the NFL, but refers to a specific method of resolving a sporting event that ends with a tie. In that method, the teams begin an extra period of play (in the NFL called "overtime"). Under normal game rules, the team which first scores in overtime wins the game immediately. The team that loses suffers a "sudden death". There can also be sudden death hockey or soccer games. This is different from baseball, where both teams have an opportunity to bat in their half of the inning before a winner is declared.
Three 20 minute periods. If a regulary season game is tied after three periods, this is followed by a 5 minute sudden death overtime and if necessary a shootout. A playoff game has unlimited sudden death overtime, divided into 20 minute periods.
It occurred after the first overtime if the score was still dead-locked. In the next ot, the first team that scored a bucket won the game.
If overtime is sudden death, there would be no extra point. The game would end when the touchdown is scored. If overtime is based on time, and not sudden death, the penalty would be assessed on the kickoff
The Baltimore Colts.
In the NHL, there is one (1) five (5) minute 'sudden death' overtime period during the regular season, followed by a shoot-out if necessary. There is an unlimited amount of twenty (20) minute 'sudden death' periods during the playoffs.
Sixty minutes. A hockey game consists of three twenty-minute periods. If the score is tied at the end of the third period, the teams play a five-minute sudden-death overtime period. If neither teams score in the overtime, the game ends as a tie. In the playoffs, games cannot end in a tie. So instead of a five-minute overtime, a playoff game has an extra 20-minute sudden-death overtime period. If neither team scores, then there is another 20-minute overtime, and so on, until someone scores. There was a Detroit-Montreal game in 1956 that went to the sixth overtime, finally ending at 176 minutes 30 seconds--almost as long as three ordinary games! Detroit scored in the sixth overtime to win the game 1-0.
Same thing that happens if it's tied 77-77. Sudden-Death Overtime. One 15-minute period. First team to score wins. If neither team scores, it's a tie. But, in the playoffs, I think they just keep playing if neither team scores, with additional 15-minute overtime periods. Because you can't have a tie in the playoffs.
The Colts defeated the Giants in the NFL's first sudden-death overtime in an NFL Championship Game on December 28. Alan Ameche(FB) scored on a one-yard touchdown run after 8:15 of overtime. The televised game is generally looked upon as the one that brought the NFL to its first great national attention as we know it today.
April 26, 2012. The New Jersey Devils and the Florida Panthers competed in a game 7 in the eastern conference quarterfinals at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. New Jersey won the game on a Adam Henrique goal in the second sudden-death overtime period.
In 1944 Utah beat Dartmouth, 42-40, in the first NCAA championship overtime game.
Sudden death is used as a way to determine a winner if the score is tied after the typical sixty minute game. The first team to score points in any way is the winner.