The Patriots are winning coin tosses at a next-to-impossible rate

Bill Belichick smiles during a football news conference at Gillette Stadium. AP

By Henry McKenna @McKennAnalysis

November 5, 2015

1 minute to read

The Patriots have gotten lucky — unfathomably lucky.

Sure, they drafted Tom Brady in the sixth round, a man who has become one of the best quarterbacks in history. They benefited from the turn of a snowplow and the “Tuck rule.’’ And the Seahawks elected to throw the ball on the goal line in Super Bowl XLIX.

But maybe the team’s luck runs deeper than those moments.

They’ve won 19 of their last 25 coin flips.

According to CBSSports.com, the probability of that outcome dwells near impossibility at 0.0073.

Sounds like we’ve got a coin-troversy. (Sorry.)

The coin flip determines which team selects to receive or defer the opening kickoff. And like all other things head coach Bill Belichick does, there’s a great deal of thought put into his decision once (not if) he wins.

“It’s one of the things we discuss prior to the game,’’ he said, via The Boston Globe. “We try to do what’s best for that particular game, for that particular situation. …

“[It can be] how you want to start the game. What your offense is, what the defensive game plan is. Maybe not the first play, but in general, here’s how we want to start the game. Maybe that affects it,’’ Belichick said. “There can be a lot of factors, so we try to consider them all and try to do what’s best.’’

Belichick generally elects to defer, forcing Patriots fans to watch an entire drive from the opposing team before Tom Brady takes the field. The Patriots, however, have led at halftime this season in all but one of their games — a 1-point deficit to the Colts being the lone exception — despite opponents’ offenses taking the opening drive in six of their seven games. The strategy allows the Patriots to possess the ball first in the second half.