The repeated coin toss in overtime during at an N.F.C. divisional game between the Cardinals and the Packers in Arizona was at the discretion of the referee, an N.F.L spokesman said.
“The rule book does not specify when the coin must be retossed, but the referee used his judgment to determine that basic fairness dictated that the coin should flip for the toss to be valid,” the league spokesman, Michael Signora, said in an email to The Associated Press on Sunday. “That is why he retossed the coin.”
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers called tails on the initial toss, which landed on the ground as heads — the same side the referee Clete Blakeman showed in his hand before the failed flip.