The New England Patriots made one of the most bizarre decisions you will ever see on Sunday when they chose to kick off in overtime against the New York Jets after winning the coin toss. Some skeptics wondered if referee Clete Blakeman pressured the Pats into it, but that was not the case.
After the game, Bill Belichick told reporters there was no confusion between him and special teams captain Matthew Slater, who told Blakeman New England would kick. In fact, Blakeman knew before the toss that the Patriots were going to kick if they won.
Belichick told ref before toss they would kick if they won toss. That’s why ref asked if NE was going to kick. https://t.co/ZeTcQcrAEr
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 28, 2015
That doesn’t mean Slater didn’t make a mistake, however. When Blakeman asked the Jets which side of the field they wanted to defend, Slater seemed confused. What likely happened was Slater was supposed to choose a side of the field instead of saying the Pats want to kick. Had he done that, the Jets would have chosen to receive anyway. By electing to kick instead of choosing which goal to defend, Slater allowed the Jets to get the ball and choose their side of the field.
You can see a transcript of how the coin toss played out here.
Belichick is known for making unorthodox decisions, and many of them work out. But in this case, you can’t help but feel like he out-Belichicked himself. Not taking the ball in overtime makes absolutely no sense.
Unless, of course, The Hoodie saw that the Steelers had lost and wanted to help the Jets into the playoffs. Would you really put it past him?
