The Miami Dolphins pulled out an absolute miracle with two laterals on a 69-yard touchdown on their final play to beat the New England Patriots, 34-33.
The Dolphins stun Patriots with a double-lateral touchdown for the Miracle in Miami
The Dolphins needed a miracle on their last play to beat the Patriots and got one.
It’s the type of play that never works, but somehow turned into the play of the year and a moment that will be remembered fondly forever by Dolphins fans:
Instead of lobbing the ball deep into traffic, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill instead connected with Kenny Stills in the middle of the field, who pitched to DeVante Parker.
A second lateral from Parker went into the arms of running back Kenyan Drake, who weaved through the rest of the Patriots defenders and beat tight end Rob Gronkowski to the pylon.
The Dolphins then celebrated the shocking win in the end zone:
Gronkowski, who was presumably in to knock down a Hail Mary, took a bad angle on the play, allowing Drake to score.
Many things went wrong for the Patriots on the play, but the most egregious mistake may have been having Gronkowski on the field at all.
It was unlikely Tannehill had any shot of getting the ball to the end zone, so Gronkowski was only in as a tackler:
It was the longest game-winning touchdown on a final play since the NFL-AFL merger:
But were the Dolphins worried when it came down to the finish? Not a chance:
“We have something for those type of situations. We work on it every Friday and Saturday,” Dolphins coach Adam Gase said after the game, via ESPN. “It’s boring because you might go three years without calling one of them. But these guys stuck with it and they executed that one for sure.”
New England still hasn’t clinched a playoff berth, but it would take a doomsday scenario to keep them out. The bigger consequence of the finish is that the win for the Dolphins keeps them in the hunt.
Miami improved to 7-6 and finishes the year with games against the Vikings, Jaguars, and Bills. The Dolphins are still alive and it’s because of one of the most outrageously miraculous plays ever — one we’ll be talking about for years.
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