The days of the coin toss are over in the NFL. We are now entering the era of the coin “flip.”
New rule! On Wednesday, former NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira announced on Twitter that pregame coin flips will be exactly that: flips of the coin. The NFL ruled this offseason that pregame coin flips must include a full rotation of the coin in the air before it hits the ground.
Coin toss..If the coin does not turn over in the air or is compromised in any way, the ref is to toss it again. Captain's choice stands.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) June 8, 2016
This may seem like a silly requirement, but the distinction actually came into play in a big way last January during the NFC Playoffs. After the Green Bay Packers stormed back to tie the Arizona Cardinals in the waning moments of their NFC Divisional Round tilt, the two sides came out for the overtime coin toss. That is when things got weird.
Packers captain Aaron Rodgers called tails on referee Clete Blakeman’s toss, but when Blakeman propelled the coin off his hand, he failed to get enough rotation under it and it fell flat to the ground without turning over. Blakeman then picked up the coin and called for a re-toss — without allowing Rodgers to change his call.
WTF? Did another coin flip? pic.twitter.com/xM3o8cKDia
— ⓂarcusD (@_MarcusD_) January 17, 2016
Blakeman tried the flip once more, and this time managed to actually rotate the coin in the air. The coin landed heads, the Cardinals chose to receive and the rest is history.
In the game’s aftermath, Rodgers made a stink about not being able to change his call before the re-flip, claiming he would have changed his initial call to heads if given the chance. Rodgers may have lost the game, but he did get the NFL to address an obscure, yet murky rule in its rulebook.
The new rule still would not have allowed for Rodgers to change his mind, but at least it clears up any confusion for future mishaps.
