Ref determined ‘basic fairness’ dictated re-tossed coin

After Aaron Rodgers temporarily saved the Green Bay Packers’ season with a breathtaking Hail Mary to push Saturday’s divisional round game against the Cardinals to overtime, he never got to take the field for another play. He picked up the coin and flipped it to tails and he flipped it without giving me a chance to make a re-call there.

“No, especially on that handsome grass”, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said when asked if he’s ever seen a coin flip like that.

Referee Clete Blakeman voided the first overtime coin toss because the coin did not flip, much to the dismay of the Packers. A flub of the overtime coin toss provided controversy to a wild game that needed none, but after the coin landed on heads both times, it dulled claims that either team was given an unfair shake. He calling the situation “confusing”, in part because Blakeman turned over the coin to tails before second flip and didn’t let Rodgers make a recall. That’s exactly what happened with the Cardinals, who drive 80 yards on three plays for the winning score in a 26-20 divisional playoff victory.

Referee Clete Blakeman tossed the coin, but somehow, the coin never flipped and landed straight back onto heads. “It didn’t flip. It just tossed it in the air and did turn over at all and just landed on the ground”. The NFL came out and backed Blakeman on his decision saying that he used his judgement on the call, but that there is no rule saying a re-toss of the coin is necessary. So obviously that was not right.

“He was trying to avoid the embarrassment of what just happened and flip it quick”, Rodgers said. “He flipped it quickly”. “It just sat there like a saucer”, he said. “I’m sure that would have been a little bit of controversy if we had won”.

Both teams seemed upset and confused by the coin-toss incident. So the Packers fate swung on a coin flip, as well as their defense’s refusal to cover Fitzgerald in OT.