After the clock flashed zeros in regulation on Monday evening against the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks backup quarterback Geno Smith strolled onto the field with the roar of the sideline behind him chanting his name.
Smith, along with 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, met with referee Alex Kemp before he tossed a silver dollar to determine which team would get the ball in overtime.
What happened next has been a source of controversy for the last few days.
As the representative of the visiting team, Smith was asked to call heads or tails. The call was heads, the coin showed heads and Seattle had the first chance to score in overtime.
That, seemingly, was the end of it.
However, many people felt that Smith actually said tails and that Kemp misheard him and awarded the Seahawks the ball unfairly.
It sounds pretty clear on the TV audio that Smith said “heads,” and surely Sherman would have “griped” — as coach Pete Carroll put it — had the referee made such a huge mistake.
However, other versions make it sound like Smith said “tails,” including this one, although it’s pretty easy to manipulate audio files.
Smith confirmed he said heads and explained he always says the opposite of whatever Russell Wilson called before the opening kickoff.
Smith also had poked a little fun at the brouhaha on Twitter.
HAILS
— Geno (@GenoSmith3) November 13, 2019
Fans, and even Carroll, have likened the “controversy” to the “laurel/yanny” debate that took the internet by storm last year, or the dress that appeared to some people to be blue and black but looked yellow and white to others.
In the grand scheme of things, the coin toss didn’t end up mattering. The Seahawks failed to score on the opening drive, and the teams remained tied until Jason Myers finally hit the game-winner on the final play.
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