Falcons-Colts refs made critical coin-toss mistake before overtime

Falcons-Colts Officials Make Critical Coin Toss Error Before Overtime

During Sunday's NFL game between the Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts, the referees made a significant error before overtime. The Colts, on an impressive 2025 NFL run, defeated the Falcons in an international game held in Berlin, Germany.

Daniel Jones and the Colts' offense positioned the team for a game-tying field goal late in the fourth quarter, sending the match into overtime. Veteran referee Clete Blakeman conducted the pre-overtime coin toss at centerfield and declared Indianapolis the visiting team at Olympiastadion Berlin.

The Colts won the toss and chose to receive the ball to start overtime. However, this was incorrect, as the NFL had designated Indianapolis as the home team for this international fixture.

During an NFL Network commercial break, the officials redid the coin toss. This time, the Falcons won and opted to receive the ball.

Additional Officiating Mistake

This was not Blakeman's only blunder in the game. At the end of regulation, he called an intentional grounding penalty on Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr., stating that Atlanta could not stop the 10-second runoff since they had no timeouts left.

"There was 11 seconds remaining in the game and Atlanta had two timeouts."

Despite this, the penalty was enforced under the assumption that the Falcons had no timeouts available.

Game Context

Author's summary: The Falcons-Colts game in Berlin was marred by officiating errors, including a mistaken coin toss and a controversial penalty, highlighting challenges in international NFL games.

more

Newsweek Newsweek — 2025-11-09

More News