Green Bay Packers left scratching heads over coin toss, catch ruling in loss to Arizona Cardinals

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- No wild NFL game would be complete without a coin-toss dispute. Saturday night's divisional playoff game at University of Phoenix Stadium was no exception.

And it even came close on the heels of a playoff staple -- a catch controversy.

Referee Clete Blakeman called off the first toss prior to overtime because the coin did not flip. The Arizona Cardinals won the second toss, setting up the only possession in overtime in their 26-20 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

The NFL rule book contains detailed instructions for a coin toss but does not mention a requirement that it flip. An NFL spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for clarification.

The Cardinals would have won either toss.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers

was at midfield as one of the team's captains and called "tails" before the first toss. It landed on "heads." Rodgers said he was upset that Blakeman did not allow him to make a new call for the second toss.

"Clete had it on heads," Rodgers said. "He was showing heads, so I called tails, and it didn't flip. It just tossed up in the air and did not turn over at all. It landed in the ground. So we obviously thought that was not right.

"He picked the coin up and flipped it to tails, and then he flipped it without giving me a chance to make a recall there. It was confusing." Rodgers indicated he would have called "heads" on the second toss if given the chance. It landed on heads again.

"I think he was trying to avoid the embarrassment of what just happened," Rodgers said. "He flipped it quickly."

Packers linebacker Clay Matthews theorized that "there was a little protective case that might have been weighted in the heads favor."

Added Matthews: "The first one, it didn't turn. It just sat there like a saucer. They still won the second one. I'm sure that would have been a little bit of controversy if we had won."

Blakeman's coin toss wasn't his only call that had the Packers up in arms on a night filled with crucial, game-changing plays.

His ruling that Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald had maintained control of a 22-yard sideline reception late in the third quarter left coach Mike McCarthy exasperated.