Newsday · Dec 28, 2015
Patriots back Belichick for his overtime strategy
Referee Clete Blakeman huddled at midfield with the captains for the Jets and the Patriots for the overtime coin toss. The Patriots chose heads and the flip went their way. And the Patriots’ way was to kick off.
Kick off? A mistake, right? Bill Belichick couldn’t have wanted to give the Jets the ball. If they scored a touchdown, the game would be over.
But the postgame media huddle with Belichick and special teams captain Matthew Slater revealed this was no mistake, just Belichick thinking outside the football box again. He said he had no regrets, at least none for public consumption.
“I thought that was the best thing to do,” Belichick said, adding, “There wasn’t any confusion.”
