The Denver Broncos wild 27-26 OT win over the Washington Commanders featured more than a couple of dubious officiating moments. The game was a festival of flags to begin with, and there were several calls where debate was required to figure out the exact call, get the yardage right and update the clock.
But most of that paled compared to the coin toss for overtime, which was flat-out botched, as Mike Florio of Pro Football talk pointed out. Even worse, the mistake that was made has been made before in other games, despite the fact that the toss itself and the choices that come with it are ridiculously simple.
The mistake that occurred on Sunday night illustrates how the process is supposed to work. The Commanders won the toss, and punter and captain Tress Way said “We’re gonna kick that way,” and he pointed in the direction Washington wanted to kick.
But Way doesn’t can’t do that, nor can any other captain for the team that wins the toss. The option is to kick or receive, and once that choice gets made, the other team gets to choose its preferred direction.
It was referee Land Clark who made the mistake. Instead of explaining the rule to Way and asking the Broncos their preferred direction, Clark asked “Kick that way?” The Commanders captain then confirmed his choice by repeating Clark’s words, and Clark then said, “You’re gonna kick?” And Way answered, “Yeah.”
The referee then turned to Broncos quarterback and captain Bo Nix and said, “You’ll receive, this way,” he said, pointing to Way’s preferred side of the field, and Nix didn’t object. Clark then summarized the process to the crowd, and play resumed.
The call ended up not mattering much, but it would have in a weather game where the wind or other weather-based conditions were in play. The Broncos quickly drove down the field for a touchdown, and Washington responded with one of its own, which led to the blocked pass on the two-point conversation that would have won the game for Washington.
Nix will undoubtedly get a refresher course in coin flip procedure from coach Sean Payton, and hopefully Clark will get a reprimand from the league. He’ll have plenty of company among his colleagues—as Florio pointed out, Carolina Panthers captain Bryce Young did the same thing two weeks ago, and last week New York Giants captain Russell Wilson commandeered the process as well.
When the Indianapolis Colts played the Atlanta Falcons in Germany recently, referee Clete Blakeman incorrectly announced that the Colts were the visiting team, and it was only when the Colts won the toss and the broadcast returned after commercial once the choices were made that someone alerted Blakeman about what he’d done wrong.
Another coin flip happened, but viewers never saw it, and this sort of thing is an ongoing embarrassment for the league with the referees not knowing, understanding and enforcing basic procedural rules correctly.