When winning a coin toss to start an NFL game, there are two primary choices: (1) “we want the ball and we’re gonna score"; and (2) we’ll defer the option to the second half.
On Sunday, Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander almost made a mistake that would have given the Panthers the ball to begin both the first quarter and the third quarter.
Via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com, Alexander told referee Alex Kemp after Green Bay won the toss that the Packers wanted to be on defense. Kemp, who could have (and arguably should have) interpreted that to mean the Packers were exercising the option to kick, clarified things with Alexander before accepting that the Packers were deferring.
Coach Matt LaFleur informed the officials of their plan to defer during a pre-game meeting. Which possibly explains Kemp’s effort to clean up Alexander’s potential mess. In a game that finished with a 33-30 score, the extra possession for the Panthers could have made a difference.
After the game, Alexander didn’t think he’d made a mistake.
“I said, ‘I want our defense to be out there,’ and they all looked at me like I was crazy,” Alexander said. “I’m like, I mean it’s pretty simple what I said, like I want the defense to be out there. They like, ‘You mean defer?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I guess.’”
LaFleur was more blunt regarding Alexander’s blunder.
“That was a big mistake,” LaFleur said. “That’s something that you review with the guys before they go out there every time about, ‘Hey, we win the toss, we’re going to defer.’ I went to the officials before the game, made sure they knew what we were going to do. We had an incident earlier this year where we had a similar situation, so always trying to be proactive in that approach.”
Alexander, who hasn’t played since early November, isn’t ordinarily a team captain. It’s unclear why he was serving in that role on Sunday. LaFleur didn’t give a clear answer. When he was asked whether Alexander was added as a game captain by the coaches or by Alexander himself, LaFleur simply said, “Yeah.”
After Sunday, LaFleur might never make Alexander a captain again — unless he agrees to say the magic word to the referee after winning the toss.
Or nothing at all.