The Green Bay Packers lost to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Divisional Playoffs last night and quarterback Aaron Rodgers was unhappy with the NFL referees coin flip in overtime.
Heading into overtime after the crazy hail mary from Rodgers to wide receiver Jeff Janis, there was a lot of drama. Green Bay was calling the coin toss and called tails. Head referee Clete Blakeman tossed the coin and it never flipped and landed on the ground as heads, which was where it originally sat in his hand.
Rodgers and the Packers noticed and called out for a re-toss, which is exactly what ended up happening. Unfortunately for the Packers, Blakeman picked the coin up and re-tossed it without giving Rodgers and the Packers a chance to make a different call. He flipped it over and tossed it from the tails side, which may have forced Rodgers to make a different call.
He talked about that during his press conference after the game and expressed frustration with it.
"He had it on heads, he was showing heads, so I called tails, and it didn't flip," Rodgers said. "He just tossed it up in the air and it did not turn over at all and it landed on the ground. So we obviously thought that was not right. He picked the coin up, flipped it to tails and then he flipped it without giving me a chance to make a recall there. So it was confusing. I think he was trying to avoid the embarrassment of what just happened. He flipped it quickly."
Despite being without four of his top receivers, Rodgers led his offense to having a very good game. He completed 24 of his 44 pass attempts for 261 yards two touchdowns and an interception.
Green Bay has to be heartbroken about this loss, but they have to feel good about themselves as well.
Whether the coin toss had any impact on the game or not, the Packers still have to be upset with their defense in overtime. Leaving Larry Fitzgerald that wide open was unacceptable and it is a tough way to end a season.
