Written By Alex “MereKat” LeMere
The NFL Combine has descended upon us again, giving football fans a fresh outlet to obsess and argue over in this dreary post-Super Bowl world. I mean, what better way to really flex your football prowess than evaluating kids who can’t legally drink yet and slapping a grade on them based off whatever you want? Kidding (sort of, some of y’all are wild on the timeline this week), but really the combine is one of the lone saving graces off the offseason, along with the draft and free agency, to keep us sane in these trying times.
Quick side note before we actually get into the meat of this article – we’ve had a lot of funny Bills adjacent content come out of the combine this last handful of years. These are my favorites:
From Josh Allen’s running style being compared to Mose from The Office.
To Taron Johnson looking the wrong direction and taking one to the dome.
And even the, now departed, Trey Adams becoming the first guy in combine history to truthfully answer this question!
Now that we got the silliness out of the way, we need to dive into the super serious topic of this very well written and thought out blog. THE NFL COMBINE NEEDS TO EVALUATE PLAYERS ABILITIES TO WIN A COIN TOSS! Sure, things like running fast and being strong “help” athletes excel and are “necessary” traits in the NFL, but what about the intangibles? Like a player’s ability to win a coin toss???
Intangibles you say? In case you’re unclear, they’re the traits that “can’t be sized up, measured, timed or weighed. You either have them or you don’t”. Mostly looked for in QBs, these factors can range from moxie and poise to leadership and a bunch of other things you can really construe any way you want! And YES, I am now placing CTA (coin toss ability) under the umbrella of intangibles NFL front offices should be monitoring during the draft process.
Outside of what’s covered by media or word of mouth – combine interviews, private workouts and team visits are the only options to really offer a peak into a prospect’s intangibles. The biggest problem though, is all of it is just so rehearsed nowadays. We get more cookie cutter bullshit and less Trey Adams (small penis is also an intangible, but that blogs next week).
So how can we reveal even more about a QB and who they truly are as a man?
Coin Toss Ability.
I don’t care if you have the hands of a 6 year old child, if Kenny Pickett can hit 80% of his coin tosses under the bright lights of Lucas Oil Stadium, that’s a firm top 5 grade by my metrics.
You see a guy call tails 20 straight times as he mutters “tails never fails” to himself, you know you have someone who can’t think critically for themselves and is unable to adapt to the situation at hand. A prospect decides to alternate between heads and tails every flip? Absolute zero, trying to play both sides and just hoping for the numbers to fall in his favor. There is A LOT that can revealed by how a man calls a coin toss!
You want someone out there who makes the call, as that coin gyrates throughout the air, like his life depends on it. I think it was great Gary V who said, “If you want to win a coin toss, pretend your family is being held above a tank of starving tiger sharks and getting the call wrong drops them in”. That’s the mindset I want to see out there in my signal caller.
So how would they even measure CTA in the combine setting? I’m glad you asked because it is all too simple to integrate into the current workouts. After a player completes all of his physical workouts (40 yard dash, bench, ect.) you march him directly in the middle of the field amidst the chaos, and make him call a quick, 500 consecutive coin tosses.
Of course, by this time NFL front offices will have implemented CTA experts into their analytics department. Every one of these experts will dissect each of the 500 decisions and following results from a NFL hopeful into meaningful data for a GM! It’s not as simple as winning or losing the toss, there’s thousands of metrics to be measured upon each flip!
Take Josh Allen for a prime example of someone who’s draft stock may have been hindered by the lack of CTA at the combine. Sure he wowed with his unique, but effective, running and absolute rocket of an arm…but if you let #17 rip off some coin tosses? Well, I think the first overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft may have played out differently. Guy’s like Josh Allen just want it more and it’s evident from the start of the game when the ref pulls that big shiny coin out. You want a guy who’s energy for calling a coin toss can be felt throughout the locker room, like Allen.
“When he steps out there, just know he’s not blinking at all,” Bills running back Devin Singletary said. “He’s not blinking. No matter the situation, he’s always in kill mode. … He’s the ultimate competitor. He doesn’t even want to lose the coin toss.”
– Buffalo Bills RB Devin Singletary, via The Buffalo News
I won’t turn this into yet another love letter to Josh Allen (we were getting there fast), but he’s a prime of example for my argument. Josh used that kill mode to will himself to a perfect 9-0 coin toss record this regular season. We refuse to get into the fact he went 0-2 in the Kansas City game, but even that shows how important it is to nail that heads or tails call. I might be getting mad all over again that a simple “tails” call kept the Bills from a guaranteed Super Bowl win (that’s what Twitter told me at least), but again it reiterates just how important that shiny, little commemorative fucker is in the game of football.
Since the current overtime rules have been implemented, the team that has won the opening coin toss is 86-67-10 overall (52.8%). Maybe not a massive advantage overall, but when you break it down to just OT in the playoffs, where it truly matters, it’s importance becomes evident. Only one team, of the eleven to win their toss, has lost a playoff overtime game (the Saints in the 2018 NFC championship) with 70% of them closing it out on the first drive since the new rules have been applied.
So yeah, it’s pretty important to have someone you can rely on to make the correct call.
It doesn’t matter their approach – whether calm, cool & collected or straight up in kill mode – you just need a WINNER. A guy to go out there with a big stick for every toss that you’re confident in their decision. I always say it, anyone can win a football game, but not everybody can win a coin toss! So here I am, proposing a fix to the problem that has eluded NFL general managers and scouts since the combine’s inception 40 years ago.
Do the right thing for the first time in your life Roger Goodell and help me bring Coin Toss Ability into the limelight. Only together can we lead the game of football into a better and brighter future!