Patriots Win Coin Toss in Overtime, Accidentally Elect to Kickoff, Lose to the Jets [UPDATE]
By Jason McIntyre
" One of my favorite sequences in NFL history. “We wanna kick off…wait we won, we get to choose!” pic.twitter.com/2I5WvOtxHq — KFC (@KFCBarstool) December 27, 2015 "
The Patriots put together a clutch drive in the 4th quarter to tie the Jets and force overtime. New England actually won the coin toss in overtime, but bizarrely elected to kick off.
Here’s the official transcript of how that decision happened. Slater would be Matthew Slater, a Patriots captain:
This is all somewhat confusing. Did Slater misspeak? Did the ref judge too quickly? Why did the ref say, “do you want to kick?” Who would want to kick in overtime?
Either way, this could be the definitive moment that helped put the Jets in the playoffs.
They must beat the Bills next week in Buffalo.
In overtime, here’s the game-winning TD. The Patriots never got the ball.
[UPDATE: Bill Belichick and the Patriots attempted to explain what happened. They claim they did want to kickoff, but the direction they kicked is what had them infuriated. So there’s that. I’d like for Belichick to explain the logic behind the kickoff, but I doubt we’ll get that.]