For the second week in a row, an NFL referee has screwed up the coin toss to start overtime, in a way that went against the Falcons.
With the Panthers and Falcons tied 27-27 today in Atlanta, the game went to overtime and the Panthers won the toss. The referee asked Panthers captain Bryce Young what he wanted to do, and he said, “We want to kick that way,” pointing in the direction he wanted to kick.
But the coin toss winner can’t make that choice. After he chooses to kick or receive, it’s the other team’s captain who gets to choose which direction to go in.
And yet the referee allowed the Panthers to make that choice, didn’t ask the Falcons what choice they wanted to make, and started overtime with the Panthers kicking off in the direction Young chose. That was a basic game administration error that no referee should make.
And it’s the second week in a row that a ref has made a mistake on the coin toss to start overtime: Last week the referee gave the coin toss choice to the Colts, even though the Falcons were the visiting team and should get the choice. After the TV audience was taken to a commercial, someone alerted the ref that he had screwed up and the coin toss was re-done.
The NFL’s 2025 overtime rules might be confusing to some, but NFL referees should know them. Two weeks in a row, NFL referees haven’t known them.
