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Have You Seen This? When a coin flip can predict the NFL future

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Estimated reading time: 2-3 minutes

COIN FLIP — The New York Jets have been in the news recently — it feels like it’s all ESPN wants to talk about — due to the poor performance of its offense.

The Jets defense, however, did its job and kept the team in the game in a 10-3 loss against the New England Patriots on Sunday. And if you’ve followed the NFL for some time, it’s not really a surprise that the Jets lose regularly — it’s kinda been their thing for a while.

Except, the 2022 season has been different.

The Jets sit in last place in the AFC East with a 6-4 record, but they’re a playoff contender and one game separates them from the first-place Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, who are tied at the top. The playoffs are a real possibility, so any loss comes as a real blow to the team’s chances.

But we’re not here to talk about their playoff odds … well, kinda.

A tweet on Aug. 21 has started to pick up attention recently for all the right reasons about the Jets’ season. The person behind the Twitter account decided to do a coin flip (before the season) for each game of the Jets schedule this season, which had the Jets losing in the AFC championship game.

It’s a 50/50 chance for each game result with each coin flip, and you’re bound to get the pick right every once in a while — maybe even a couple in a row. But that’s not why the tweet has recently gained attention.

With 11 games played already, the coin flips have been 100% — a perfect 6-4 record and something like a 0.00048828125 chance. How? Obviously, magic. I’m fairly confident this is the magic behind how Las Vegas sets their betting odds, too. Not sure how a coin flip would work in that instance, but convince me otherwise.

There are seven games left in the regular season, and the prediction has the Jets finishing 5-2 down the stretch, which would mean an 11-6 record to make the playoffs.

Could it happen? Maybe. Will it? Probably not unless the Jets can score some points. But according to Jets head coach Robert Salah, “everything is on the table.”

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Josh is the Sports Director for KSL.com and beat writer for University of Utah athletics — primarily football, men’s basketball and gymnastics. He is also an Associated Press Top 25 voter for college football.

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