The Miami Dolphins’ last-second, double-lateral, walk-off miracle touchdown Sunday afternoon knocked viewers off their couches, unleashed a torrent of indecipherable shrieks and stunned both poles of the Eastern Seaboard. It was a play that happens once or twice every couple of decades. After the initial shock wore off, another reality started to set in, one nearly as shocking and rare as the play itself.
Bill Belichick screwed up the end of the game. Completely botched it. In more ways than one.NFland physicality makes Gronkowski ideal for the role. But the Dolphins’ snapped the final play from the Miami 31-yard line with seven seconds left. To believe Miami would run a Hail Mary, you’d have to believe the Dolphins would trust quarterback Ryan Tannehill to throw a pass 75 yards in the air. Miami’s only choice, it should have been obvious, was to run some of kind lateral-heavy play.
KENYAN DRAKE. FOR THE WIN. pic.twitter.com/mWcSQQ9GPP
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 9, 2018
Gronkowski’s presence was not only unnecessarily. It was detrimental. The Patriots’ final defender should have been their fastest player who is also a sure tackler. When Kenyan Drake bolted through the Patriots’ secondary, Gronkowski stumbled, lost any angle to chase him and watched helplessly as Drake sped into the end zone. But you couldn’t blame Gronkowski. You could only blame Belichick for putting him out there.
Review the final play closer, and another curious tactical choice by Belichick sticks out. Linebacker Kyle Van Noy lines up on the right side of the line and, rather than pressure Tannehill, drops back and spies him. On a Hail Mary, that might be an effective move — it would keep the quarterback from escaping the pocket and buying time. But on a play with multiple laterals, it would basically force the Patriots to play with 10 defenders.
Van Noy hustled back into the play, but he couldn’t recover. He was right behind Kenyan Drake when Drake caught DeVante Parker’s lateral at the Miami 48. At the Patriots’ 43, Van Noy dives for Drake’s ankles and comes up just short. Had Van Noy simply dropped into coverage rather than pointlessly hovering around the line of scrimmage, he may have made the disaster-saving tackle or otherwise help the play stall.
The Patriots could have prevented Miami from running the play at all had Belichick chosen a better endgame strategy. The Patriots led by two points and faced fourth and goal at the Miami 4-yard line with 21 seconds left. Miami had used all of its timeouts. Belichick chose to kick a field goal, which served the purpose of putting the Patriots up by more than a field goal.
By: Adam Kilgore
