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Lunatic Lateral
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Lunatic Lateral
On December 18, 2022, the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL), who were playing the Las Vegas Raiders, attempted a lateral pass play at the end of regulation with the score tied at 24–24. However, the play failed as Raiders defender Chandler Jones intercepted the Patriots' second lateral pass and ran the ball in for a walk-off touchdown.
The play has been referred to as the Lunatic Lateral, the Las Vegas Lateral, Col-lateral Damage, the Hail Moron, the Vagary in Vegas, the Sin City Miracle, and the Flick Six by various media outlets. The play quickly became notable due to its unusual result and circumstances and having taken place just over four years after the Miracle in Miami, a successful lateral play (which the Patriots coincidentally also lost), though this play resulted in the opposite outcome. Several analysts criticized the team for attempting the play, which is normally attempted only when the team is trailing in the final seconds of a game and not with the game tied and have considered it one of the worst in NFL history. In addition, the blunder stood in stark contrast to the Patriots' success and disciplined play during the Brady–Belichick era, becoming emblematic of the team's decline since quarterback Tom Brady left New England after 2019.
During the 2018 season, the Patriots had fallen victim to a successful lateral pass play by the Miami Dolphins, who scored a last-minute game-winning touchdown off the hook-and-ladder play to win in week 14 of that year. Despite that loss, New England eventually went on to win Super Bowl LIII, their final championship win during the Brady–Belichick era. This Patriots–Raiders game coincidentally occurred just over four years after the date of the Miracle in Miami. Additionally, this was the first time the Patriots played against the Raiders while their former long-time offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was the Raiders' head coach.
The Raiders took a commanding 17–3 lead at halftime, but a pick-six thrown by Derek Carr to Patriots safety Kyle Dugger sparked 21 unanswered points by the Patriots, who capped off a 24–17 lead with a Rhamondre Stevenson touchdown run and a successful two-point conversion pass from Mac Jones to Jakobi Meyers. With only 32 seconds remaining, the Raiders tied the game with a Carr touchdown pass to Keelan Cole, which was arguably caught out of bounds as Cole's foot stepped on the outer boundary of the end zone but was ruled a touchdown.
The Patriots received the ensuing kickoff at their own 25-yard line with a touchback. They drove to their own 45-yard line before two incomplete passes set them up with a 3rd-and-10.
With just three seconds left in regulation and the score tied 24–24, Jones took the snap and handed the ball off to Stevenson on a draw play with the Raiders playing in prevent defense, presumably to run the clock out and send the game to overtime. Stevenson eluded several Raiders defenders and ran the ball 23 yards towards the right sideline to the Las Vegas 32-yard line. With Raiders safety Duron Harmon closing in, Stevenson pitched the ball a short distance over his shoulder to Meyers, who ran back to the 40-yard line before throwing the ball towards the middle of the field and roughly 12 yards backwards towards Mac Jones's vicinity, unaware that Raiders defensive end Chandler Jones, who had earlier missed a tackle on Stevenson during the play, was guarding him. Jones then intercepted the ball and stiff-armed New England quarterback Mac Jones to the ground before running the ball back 48 yards for the improbable game-winning touchdown.
Chandler Jones, who had played for the Patriots from 2012 to 2015, was credited with a fumble recovery due to the backwards motion of the ball. He later described to Peter King of NBC Sports:
Instead of pursuing the ball, I just started playing back into saying, alright who's the next passer? Who could they possibly throw it to next that's behind the line of scrimmage? Because they're playing this whole hot potato game. Sure enough, I saw Jakobi Meyers kinda look back at Mac Jones, the quarterback. He was standing in the middle of the field. I literally just jumped up when I saw the ball coming, intended for Mac. Mac was kind of standing there, looking at me with big eyes. I literally just jumped up and intercepted it. I just gave Mac a nice stiff arm with my right hand. The rest was history.
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Lunatic Lateral
On December 18, 2022, the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL), who were playing the Las Vegas Raiders, attempted a lateral pass play at the end of regulation with the score tied at 24–24. However, the play failed as Raiders defender Chandler Jones intercepted the Patriots' second lateral pass and ran the ball in for a walk-off touchdown.
The play has been referred to as the Lunatic Lateral, the Las Vegas Lateral, Col-lateral Damage, the Hail Moron, the Vagary in Vegas, the Sin City Miracle, and the Flick Six by various media outlets. The play quickly became notable due to its unusual result and circumstances and having taken place just over four years after the Miracle in Miami, a successful lateral play (which the Patriots coincidentally also lost), though this play resulted in the opposite outcome. Several analysts criticized the team for attempting the play, which is normally attempted only when the team is trailing in the final seconds of a game and not with the game tied and have considered it one of the worst in NFL history. In addition, the blunder stood in stark contrast to the Patriots' success and disciplined play during the Brady–Belichick era, becoming emblematic of the team's decline since quarterback Tom Brady left New England after 2019.
During the 2018 season, the Patriots had fallen victim to a successful lateral pass play by the Miami Dolphins, who scored a last-minute game-winning touchdown off the hook-and-ladder play to win in week 14 of that year. Despite that loss, New England eventually went on to win Super Bowl LIII, their final championship win during the Brady–Belichick era. This Patriots–Raiders game coincidentally occurred just over four years after the date of the Miracle in Miami. Additionally, this was the first time the Patriots played against the Raiders while their former long-time offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was the Raiders' head coach.
The Raiders took a commanding 17–3 lead at halftime, but a pick-six thrown by Derek Carr to Patriots safety Kyle Dugger sparked 21 unanswered points by the Patriots, who capped off a 24–17 lead with a Rhamondre Stevenson touchdown run and a successful two-point conversion pass from Mac Jones to Jakobi Meyers. With only 32 seconds remaining, the Raiders tied the game with a Carr touchdown pass to Keelan Cole, which was arguably caught out of bounds as Cole's foot stepped on the outer boundary of the end zone but was ruled a touchdown.
The Patriots received the ensuing kickoff at their own 25-yard line with a touchback. They drove to their own 45-yard line before two incomplete passes set them up with a 3rd-and-10.
With just three seconds left in regulation and the score tied 24–24, Jones took the snap and handed the ball off to Stevenson on a draw play with the Raiders playing in prevent defense, presumably to run the clock out and send the game to overtime. Stevenson eluded several Raiders defenders and ran the ball 23 yards towards the right sideline to the Las Vegas 32-yard line. With Raiders safety Duron Harmon closing in, Stevenson pitched the ball a short distance over his shoulder to Meyers, who ran back to the 40-yard line before throwing the ball towards the middle of the field and roughly 12 yards backwards towards Mac Jones's vicinity, unaware that Raiders defensive end Chandler Jones, who had earlier missed a tackle on Stevenson during the play, was guarding him. Jones then intercepted the ball and stiff-armed New England quarterback Mac Jones to the ground before running the ball back 48 yards for the improbable game-winning touchdown.
Chandler Jones, who had played for the Patriots from 2012 to 2015, was credited with a fumble recovery due to the backwards motion of the ball. He later described to Peter King of NBC Sports:
Instead of pursuing the ball, I just started playing back into saying, alright who's the next passer? Who could they possibly throw it to next that's behind the line of scrimmage? Because they're playing this whole hot potato game. Sure enough, I saw Jakobi Meyers kinda look back at Mac Jones, the quarterback. He was standing in the middle of the field. I literally just jumped up when I saw the ball coming, intended for Mac. Mac was kind of standing there, looking at me with big eyes. I literally just jumped up and intercepted it. I just gave Mac a nice stiff arm with my right hand. The rest was history.
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