NFL THANKSGIVING COIN-TOSS KERFUFFLE

Tens of millions were watching 25 years ago, on what may have been the most memorably weird, confusing and simply thrilling day of Thanksgiving games in the NFL's history. On Nov. 26, 1998, the Lions beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 19-16, in overtime in a game that included a coin flip that was botched to such a degree that it earned an eternal spot in blooper reels, prompted amateur sleuths to enhance the television audio to get to the bottom of the fiasco, forced the NFL to enact an immediate rule change and, quite possibly, caused the Steelers' season to go kaput.

At the time, the NFL mandated that the captain of the visiting team call heads or tails while the coin was in the air. Phil Luckett was the NFL referee for the game, and he turned to Bettis, one of the Steelers' captains at midfield for the overtime coin flip, and told him to call it in the air. On television, the word, "tails" can be heard. But then Luckett said, "Heads is the call. He said heads. It is a tails."

Charlie Batch, former Detroit Lions quarterback (also a Pittsburgh-area native who later played for the Steelers): We're sitting there and Robert Porcher and Ray Roberts go out for the coin flip, and you see Jerome and Carnell walking out. At that point, as the coin drops, you see the reaction from Jerome and Carnell, and what the heck just happened at the coin flip?

Jerome Bettis, former Pittsburgh Steelers running back: I called the coin flip at the beginning of the game and I called heads. And so in overtime, I was going to call heads. I went to say heads and I said, "Huh-tails." I was trying to change from heads to tails. But when the ref heard me say, "Huh," he said I said heads. He didn't hear me all the way through. I always called heads every game, but it was OT, so I wanted to call tails. I said, what are you talking about; even the Lions players were like, "Whoa!" I called tails.

Lake: I was standing right there, Jerome said tails. He may have double clutched the tails, I'll give people that. But he did say tails. I briefly looked over at the Detroit players, I said, you guys know what he called, too.

Batch: Our two captains run off with big smiles on their faces. We got the ball. Why [are] Jerome and Carnell arguing and now Cowher started walking on the field arguing with the referee? We don't know what the hell just happened, but we got the ball. Porcher said let's just go down and score and get the hell out of here.

The NFL changed its procedure immediately, mandating that the referee ask the visiting team captain to call heads or tails before the coin is flipped and for the back judge and field judge to remain at midfield for the toss -- giving everyone the opportunity to make sure they hear the call correctly, and that there are multiple witnesses.

To read the complete article, see:
Twenty-five years ago, a surreal coin-toss controversy and a jaw-dropping Randy Moss performance made for one of the wildest Turkey Days in NFL history. (https://www.nfl.com/news/sidelines/remembering-coin-toss-randy-moss-and-wild-thanksgiving-1998)

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