The Patriots captain said he had to confirm Bill Belichick's game-losing coin toss decision several times

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick
(Image credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots gave football fans everywhere the best of all holiday gifts Sunday: a giant helping of schadenfreude. When the Patriots won the coin toss to start overtime, special teams captain Matthew Slater, much to everyone's confusion, elected to kick off to the Jets.

Surely enough, the Jets capitalized on their first possession, going 80 yards for a touchdown to end the game at 26-20 before the Pats even had a shot. The decision, which clearly lowered the Patriots' odds of winning, came from Belichick himself, CBS Boston reports.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.