Dolphins pull off miracle play
Miami beats Patriots 34-33 with pass and double lateral on stunning 69-yard final play
Kenyan Drake ran the last 52 yards as the Miami Dolphins scored on a pass and double lateral on the wild 69-yard final play Sunday to beat the New England Patriots 34-33.
It was the longest touchdown to win a game with no time remaining since the 1970 merger.
The Patriots were 16 seconds from clinching their 10th consecutive AFC East title when the Dolphins pulled off their stunner. Ryan Tannehill threw a 14-yard pass to Kenny Stills, who lateraled to DeVante Parker, who quickly lateraled to Drake. He found a seam and beat two Patriots to the corner of the end zone - defensive back J.C. Jackson and tight end Rob Gronkowski, who was on the field as part of New England’s prevent defence.
The Dolphins’ bench emptied as teammates mobbed Drake. Coach Adam Gase said his team had been practicing the play all year for such a situation.
“Those guys executed it as well as you could,” Gase said. “When you practice it, you don’t really know how it’s going to turn out. Kenyan realized he had a lane and took it.”
Tom Brady threw for 358 yards and three scores, but the stunned Patriots (9-4) lost in Miami for the fifth time in their past six visits. The Dolphins (7-6) came from behind five times to help their slim wild-card chances.
The Patriots’ Stephen Gostkowski missed an extra point for the first time in 38 tries this season early in the game, and he also missed a 42-yard field goal try. But his 32-yarder to cap a 55-yard drive put the Patriots ahead 30-28 with 6:45 left.
Coach Bill Belichick opted to have Gostkowski kick a 22-yarder in the closing seconds rather than pin the Dolphins near their goal line. Instead, they returned the ensuing kickoff to the 31 - and on the next play pulled off a miracle.
CHIEFS 27, RAVENS 24 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Harrison Butker atoned for a 43-yard miss as time expired with a 36yard field goal in overtime, and the Chiefs stopped the Ravens on fourth down to clinch a playoff spot.
The Chiefs (10-2) twice converted on fourth down before Patrick Mahomes threw a tying touchdown pass to Damien Williams with 53 seconds left. Moments later, Justin Houston strip-sacked Lamar Jackson to give Butker a chance to win the game for Kansas City in regulation.
He missed that one. He didn’t miss his second chance.
The Ravens (7-6) marched across midfield as they tried to answer in overtime, but Ronnie Stanley’s holding penalty put them in a bind. Jackson was sacked by Houston and Dee Ford — and wound up leaving the game — and Robert Griffin III threw two incompletions to end it.
Mahomes threw for 377 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Tyreek Hill caught eight passes for 139 yards, including three in overtime to set up the eventual winning field goal.
SAINTS 28, BUCCANEERS 14 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Drew Brees threw for one touchdown and ran another to help the Saints rally from an 11-point halftime deficit to clinch their second straight NFC South title.
Brees shrugged off a pair of turnovers to throw a 1-yard TD pass to Zach Line, then scored on a 1-yard sneak as the Saints (11-2) avenged a season-opening loss to the Bucs (5-8) and also rebounded from a defeat last week at Dallas.
New Orleans’ defence did its part after allowing two first-half TDs, too, sacking Jameis Winston four times and limiting the NFL’s No. 1-ranked offence to 81 yards in the second half - most of that on the final drive.
Brees completed 24 of 31 passes for 201 yards and one interception. Michael Thomas had 11 receptions for 98 yards.
COLTS 24, TEXANS 21 HOUSTON (AP) - Andrew Luck threw for 399 yards and two touchdowns and T.Y. Hilton had 199 receiving yards. The Colts (7-6) snapped a nine-game winning streak by the Texans (9-4), trimming Houston’s lead over the AFC South to two games with three remaining.
Hilton entered the game as the all-time leader in receiving yards per game at NRG Stadium with 122.3 yards and finished Sunday just shy of 200 yards on nine catches on 12 targets.
Houston cut Indianapolis’ lead to 24-21 with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson to DeAndre Hopkins with less than three minutes remaining. With the Colts facing a critical thirdand-1 at midfield, Luck drew Jadeveon Clowney offside to secure a first down and the win.
BROWNS 26, PANTHERS 20 CLEVELAND (AP) - Baker Mayfield outplayed Cam Newton, Jarvis Landry caught a touchdown pass and ran for another score and the Browns damaged Carolina’s playoff hopes. The Panthers dropped their fifth straight.
Mayfield bravely threw a 51-yard TD pass into traffic to Landry, who had a 3-yard scoring run and added a long run - on a similar call - early in the fourth quarter to set up a go-ahead touchdown.
Playing the spoiler role down the stretch, the Browns (5-7-1) improved to 3-2 under interim coach Gregg Williams, who needed just five games to match former Browns coach Hue Jackson’s win total over two-plus seasons.
The Panthers (6-7) suffered a loss that could haunt them for months and will increase the heat on coach Ron Rivera.
PACKERS 34, FALCONS 20 GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and set an NFL record for interception-free football, and the Packers won their first game under interim head coach Joe Philbin.
Aaron Jones ran for a 29-yard score in the third quarter. The defence limited quarterback Matt Ryan after a game-opening touchdown drive to hand Atlanta its fifth straight loss and guarantee the Falcons a losing record for the first time since 2014.
The Packers (5-7-1) regained some swagger with Philbin taking over for the fired Mike McCarthy. They’ve still got work to do to avoid a losing record, but at least Green Bay snapped a three-game losing streak.
GIANTS 40, REDSKINS 16 LANDOVER, Md. (AP) - Saquon Barkley rushed for 170 yards, including a 78-yard touchdown to surpass 1,000 for the season, and Eli Manning threw for three scores to effectively end Washington’s already-slim playoff hopes.
Barkley gashed the Redskins’ defence for 12.1 yards a carry to become the first Giants rookie to break 1,000, and set a single-season franchise rookie record with his 13th touchdown. The second overall pick also had four catches for 27 yards against a Washington defence that’s a shell of the unit that led the league early in the season. Manning was 14 of 22 for 197 yards in helping New York take a 34-0 halftime lead before giving way to rookie Kyle Lauletta.