If you had the New England Patriots in your survival pool you’re probably still wondering what the heck happened Sunday afternoon.
The Pats fell to 9-4 on the season after losing to the Miami Dolphins 34-33 on an incredible, dramatic final play that has been dubbed the “Miami Miracle.”
With seven seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, down five points with no timeouts and the ball on their own 31-yard line, the Dolphins had to flip to the back of the playbook and dust off the type of play that rarely results in a touchdown.
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill completed a pass to Kenny Stills near the Miami 47-yard line and the receiver lateraled it back to DeVante Parker at the 45 before Parker pitched it to running back Kenyan Drake near midfield. Drake was initially holding the football like a loaf of bread, which resulted in some hesitancy from the Patriots who were expecting Drake to pass the ball off to a teammate. Drake held onto the ball, however, found a running lane near the Patriots’ 35-yard line and bolted for the goal line.
Rob Gronkowski was lined up deep at safety for the Patriots – having someone with great hands like Gronk available to defend a Hail Mary throw is a common tactic from NFL teams in these game situations – but the star tight end couldn’t get a proper angle on Drake. Gronk stumbled near the 15-yard line and Drake streaked down the sidelines to score.
Dolphins centre Ted Larsen, all 323 pounds of him, ran 40 yards down the field and picked up a key block on Patriots defensive back Patrick Chung that made the final sequence possible.
It was perhaps the wildest play of the 2018 NFL season and it has been immortalized in 8-bit video game form thanks to @Benstonium on Twitter.
The video is in the style of the popular arcade game Tecmo Bowl.
The 69-yard touchdown set an NFL record for being the longest game-winning touchdown scored in the Super Bowl era with no time remaining on the clock in regulation.
The Dolphins have flown swam under the radar all season but the win has them 7-6 and in a battle for the final AFC wild-card spot.
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