‘Desperado’ Dolphins stun Pats
THE Dolphins scored a touchdown on a wild final play on Sunday to edge New England 34-33 in Miami and put the Patriots’ National Football League playoff plans temporarily on hold.
The Patriots led 33-28 with seven seconds remaining, but couldn’t stop what coach Bill Belichick dubbed a “desperado” play.
Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill took the snap and connected with Kenny Stills, who made a 14-yard gain before shovelling a lateral pass to DeVante Parker. Parker made it another five yards then flicked another lateral pass to Kenyan Drake, who raced in to complete the 69-yard gain for the winning TD.
“They could throw it deep or run one of their ‘desperado type’ plays,” Belichick said of what he thought the Dolphins’ choices were coming down to the wire. “Twenty-yard pass, and then it turned ‘desperado’.”
It was the fifth defeat in the Patriots’ last six trips to Miami, and prevented them, for now, from clinching a 10th straight AFC East division title.
“The way it ended sucked,” said New England tight end Rob Gronkowski, who was on the field in a defensive role and was the last Patriot player with a chance to stop Drake.
The Dolphins, who erased five deficits on the way to victory, improved to 7-6 to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.
“Those guys executed it as well as you could,” Dolphins coach Adam 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.”
In the late game, on a chilly Chicago night, the Bears defense was lights out as they held the Los Angeles Rams to a meager amount of points in a 15-6 victory.
The New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs punched their playoff tickets — the Saints locking up the NFC South division crown with a 28-14 victory over the Buccaneers in Tampa and the Chiefs securing a playoff spot with a 27-24 overtime triumph over the Baltimore Ravens.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes connected on a stunning cross-body fourth-down pass to Tyreek Hill to keep a game-tying fourth-quarter TD drive alive.
Kansas City’s Harrison Butker missed a 43-yard field goal as time expired in regulation, but made a 36-yarder in OT that proved the difference after the Chiefs stopped the Ravens on fourth down in the extra period.
New Orleans trailed 3-14 at halftime, but their potent offense led by QB Drew Brees came alive in the second.
Brees completed 24 of 31 passes for 201 yards with a TD and an interception.
Elsewhere in the NFL on Sunday, it was: Chargers 26, Bengals 21; Cowboys 29, Eagles 23 (OT); Packers 34, Falcons 20; Raiders 24, Steelers 21; Browns 26, Panthers 20; Colts 24, Texans 21; Giants 40, Redskins 16; 49ers 20, Broncos 14; Jets 27, Bills 23; and Lions 17, Cardinals 3.