Patriots insist no confusion on decision to kick off after winning coin flip
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Fans who saw the moment and were confused share at least one thing in common with Brandon Marshall.
The New York Jets and New England Patriots were about to start overtime. New England won the coin toss, so Marshall was already thinking of pumping up his defense. They needed to stop Patriots quarterback Tom Brady with playoff implications looming.
But Marshall, the Jets receiver, was wrong. The Patriots inexplicably elected to kick the ball rather than to receive it to start overtime. The Jets would get the ball first and have a shot to win the game without ever letting New England take a snap.
“When it was our ball, I was like: ‘What the hell?’ ” Marshall said during his news conference. “After the game, (Patriots offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels came up to me – my old ball coach in Denver – and I asked ‘What were you guys thinking?’ He explained to me the situation a little bit, but I didn’t believe him.”
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That was still the feeling pulsing through a Patriots fan base and NFL audience that was left scratching their heads after Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s decision to kick aided New York’s 26-20 victory Sunday at MetLife Stadium. It will go down as one of the oddest coaching decisions in recent history, but in the grand scheme of things, it might not be that problematic for the Patriots.
After the game, the New England locker room, surprisingly, wasn’t distraught or dejected. There was the usual disappointment surrounding a defeat. But it was clear that this loss wasn’t a back breaker.
The Patriots (12-3) already have clinched a first-round bye in the postseason and have won their division. The only thing left is to secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. And even if the Cincinnati Bengals (11-3) defeat the Denver Broncos on Monday night and win next week against the Baltimore Ravens (5-10), the Patriots will continue to control the AFC’s No. 1 seed as long as they defeat the Miami Dolphins (5-10) next week.
special teams ace Matthew Slater, the very man who delivered the news during the overtime kickoff toss, even joked about the moment. And based on his reaction afterward, he was just as surprised as anyone when Belichick instructed him to opt for the kickoff.
“I just asked him three or four times to make sure I’m not the guy who’s out there: ‘Yeah, we want to kick off,’ ” Slater said. “So I double checked three or four times. I think he was looking at me like ‘Are you concussed?’ because I kept asking him. But he said that’s what we want to do. He’s the best in the business and we trust him fully, so that’s what we did.”
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There did appear to be some confusion during the exchange, as Slater later said he thought he’d be able to pick which end zone New England would kick from.
It prompted NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino to chime in with a clarification.
“On coin toss you can defer, elect to kick, elect to receive, or elect to defend a goal. Only get to choose one and can’t change decision,” Blandino wrote from his official Twitter account.
The motivation behind the decision, Belichick said, was field position. Given the amount of injuries the Patriots have suffered this season – offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer left the game in the first quarter with a lower-leg injury – Belichick thought their best bet at winning the game was to rely on the to force a quick stop in the extra frame.
A three-and-out would mean New England would only have to get into field goal range to kick what would have been the game winner.
Patriots players, for their part, defended the decision.
“Whatever coach decides, that’s what the team does,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “We, as players, we just have to play better. It’s not like it’s an easy decision. I think we all have confidence in whatever coach decides. We’ve got to go out there and do our job and do the best we can because he’s trying to do whatever he thinks to help us win. That’s what we’re trying to do. They just made some nice plays here in overtime. So that just ended up being the difference.”
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Did Belichick cost his team the game? Not exactly.
Although the decision can be scrutinized every which way, the Patriots did have multiple chances to stop New York’s offense. But a 48-yard completion to Jets receiver Quincy Enunwa on the second play of overtime put New England at a significant disadvantage.
Even after the loss, Belichick stressed that he wouldn’t have changed his decision.
“No,” he said, when asked if he regretted the decision. “We just didn’t play good enough defense.”
Yet as long as the Patriots beat that middling Dolphins team, the path to the Super Bowl in the AFC will run through Foxborough, Mass.
“You always want a shot to score,” tight end Rob Gronkowski said. “It is what it is.”
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