‘Desperado’ Dolphins stun Pats
Bears rough up Goff, Chiefs and Saints win
LOS ANGELES: The Dolphins scored a touchdown on a wild final play on Sunday to edge New England 34-33 in Miami and put the Patriots’ NFL play-off 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 play-off hopes alive.
In the late game, on a chilly Chicago night, the Bears defence was lights out as they held the Los Angeles Rams to a meagre amount of points with a 15-6 victory.
Chicago quarterback Mitch Trubisky completed 16 of 30 passes for 110 yards with one touchdown, but it was the Bears defence that provided the fireworks by holding the Rams to just 214 yards of offence.
Los Angeles quarterback Jared Goff completed just 20 of 44 passing attempts for 180 yards with zero touchdowns and a career-high four interceptions. He was also sacked three times by the Bears defence.
The New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs, meanwhile, punched their play-off 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 play-off spot with a 27-24 overtime triumph over the Baltimore Ravens.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes connected on a stunning cross-body fourth-down pass to Tyreek Hill to keep a game-tying fourth-quarter touchdown drive alive.
Kansas City’s Harrison Butker missed a 43-yard field goal as time expired in regulation, but made a 36-yarder in overtime that proved the difference.
While the Chiefs clinched a play-off spot, the AFC West title will be in the balance when they face on Thursday division rivals the Los Angeles Chargers, who beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21.
The Saints, coming off a shock loss to the Dallas Cowboys, had to rally to beat the Buccaneers.
New Orleans trailed 14-3 at half-time, but their potent offence led by quarterback Drew Brees came alive in the second.
Brees completed 24 of 31 passes for 201 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Elsewhere, the Indianapolis Colts halted the Houston Texans’ nine-game winning streak with a 24-21 triumph in Houston.
The Texans lead the AFC South division at 9-4 with the Colts and Tennessee Titans tied at 7-6.
The Green Bay Packers, who sacked coach Mike McCarthy after last week’s embarrassing loss to the Arizona Cardinals, also rebounded, beating the Falcons 34-20.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed 21 of 32 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns.
Dak Prescott threw his third touchdown pass to Amari Cooper on the first possession of overtime, and the Dallas Cowboys continued their march towards the division title with a 29-23 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.