The New England Patriots always defer after they win the opening coin toss. They apparently wanted to do the same in overtime on Sunday, and it led to a loss.
The Jets won 26-20 on their first possession of overtime, with Eric Decker catching a touchdown pass. But for the first time since Phil Luckett misheard Jerome Bettis call heads or tails on Thanksgiving in Detroit, the coin toss was a bigger story than what happened in overtime itself.
The Patriots won the coin toss before overtime, and chose to kick off. Every once in a while a coach will defer in overtime because of weather reasons — Marty Mornhinweg famously did it, and lost. Patriots coach Bill Belichick did it in 2013 against the Denver Broncos and won the game. Belichick apparently wanted to give the Jets the ball first on Sunday too. The weather at kickoff, officially, was 57 degrees with 11-to-18 mile-per-hour winds. Special teams captain Matthew Slater was asked by referee Clete Blakeman after the Patriots won the toss if the Patriots wanted to kick, which is a strange way to handle that question to the team that won the toss. Slater said they wanted to kick "that way," but then there was confusion. It seemed like Slater was confused and gave the ball away to the Jets when that wasn't the plan. But after the game the Patriots claimed that the confusion was because the Patriots didn't get to choose which direction to defend, but that they definitely wanted to kick off.
 | @SeifertESPN | |
Here is the transcript of the coin toss at MetLife. Seems like Slater just made a mistake. Game-changer. pic.twitter.com/ajuyE0u2Ml
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The Jets went right down and scored a touchdown to win the game, and that result could change the AFC playoff picture. With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss and the Jets’ win, the Jets now are in position to claim a wild-card spot.
This was one of the most unusual ways you'll see a team lose. Belichick does unconventional things at times, and he says that he wanted to kick off to the Jets to start overtime ("Thought it was the best thing to do," Belichick said, via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe).
The Jets gleefully gave some grief to the Patriots on Twitter.
 | @nyjets | ||
Agreed. twitter.com/espnnfl/status…
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Belichick has pushed plenty of right buttons over the years, but this move backfired.
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