The Green Bay Packers' 33-30 overtime win against the Carolina Panthers could have played out a lot differently, thanks to a blunder by cornerback Jaire Alexander — and head coach Matt LaFleur was not pleased.
According to the New York Post, the Packers' cornerback made himself an honorary captain, running onto the field for the pre-game coin toss with teammates Aaron Jones, Eric Wilson, and Quay Walker.
When the Packers won the toss, Alexander proceeded to tell referee Alex Kemp that the Packers wanted to be on defense. In coin toss parlance, that's not the same as deferring.
“By rule, the winner of the coin toss can choose to receive, kickoff or defer the choice to the second half,” writes ESPN's Rob Demovsky. “With Alexander saying they wanted to be on defense, it could have been interpreted as choosing to kickoff.”
“I said, ‘I want our defense to be out there,' and they all looked at me like I was crazy,” said Alexander of the incident. “I'm like, I mean it's pretty simple what I said, like I want the defense to be out there. They like, ‘You mean defer?' and I'm like, ‘Yeah, I guess.'”
Check out the Packers' cornerback's explanation of events here.
The incident was just another strange chapter in Alexander's 2023 season. He's been practicing with the Packers for over a month but has not played in games since injuring his shoulder on November 5th.
“That was a big mistake,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said of Alexander's call. “That's something that you review with the guys before they go out there every time about, ‘Hey, we win the toss, we're going to defer.'”
Follow Us
Subscribe
