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Geno Smith probably didn’t expect to find his name in the news so much this morning after an epic Monday Night Football game, yet, here we are, talking about the backup quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. Why? Because Smith represented the Seahawks at midfield prior to the start of overtime during the matchup with the previously undefeated San Francisco 49ers, with the signal-caller taking part in a controversial coin toss to determine who possessed the ball first in the added period.
While the Seahawks won the coin toss and had first possession, it was Geno Smith’s decision to call heads (or tails, for those who can’t make up their mind on what they hear) that’s getting a ton of attention. Video makes it appear as if Smith said tails, but he’s defending the fact that he did, in fact, call heads — which was the winning side of the coin toss. The Internet hasn’t had this type of controversy in quite some time.
Reporting on the issue was Jim Trotter of the NFL Network, who said he spoke with Geno Smith to get his side of the story. According to the quarterback, not only did he definitely call heads before the coin toss, but he even gave us a reason as to why he did, stating it was opposite the tails that Russell Wilson went with prior to the coin toss to start the game. Here’s Trotter explaining it to Andrew Siciliano.
I asked Geno Smith what he called during the coin toss for overtime. His answer … pic.twitter.com/Idz3KRNU1z
— Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) November 12, 2019
Like Trotter, I have no idea what kind of math Geno Smith is referring to — after all, a coin can only be heads or tails, so this probability thing he states doesn’t seem to hold true. However, he does give insight as to why he was even out there in the first place, as well as defending the support that he did, in fact, call heads.
Sure, it’s easy to just take Smith’s word for it, but the fact that the Niners’ Richard Sherman didn’t flinch at all after the result of the overtime coin toss should tell us everything we need to know about Smith’s choice — because the cornerback would’ve gone apeshit had the refs screwed that up. So let’s just move on and put this weird controversy to rest already.