Patriots' final play and other dumbest plays in NFL history
Jakobi Meyers' bizarre play in Week 15 set the NFL world alight. The New England Patriots pulled off what can only be called a brain freeze of a play, ultimately succumbing to the Raiders this week.
That particular head-scratching play drew the ire of NFL Twitter, but it got us thinking. Where does this play rank among the most bizarre of all time?
Here are the five dumbest plays in NFL history.
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Five dumbest plays in NFL history
1 - Patriots WR Jakobi Meyers' touchdown pass to... the Raiders
It's been that kind of season for the New England Patriots.
With the game tied at 24-24 against the Raiders, New England elected to run a final play to let the clock expire to force overtime. As it turned out, running back Rhamondre Stevenson decided to lateral the ball to wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, who wasn't quite expecting it.
Meyers, inexplicably, also threw the ball laterally, but it was picked by Raiders DE Chandler Jones, who caught the ball, passed through Patriots quarterback Mac Jones and ran to the end zone, finishing the game with a walk-off defensive touchdown. Meyers' dumb decision was costly for his team's chances of getting a playoff spot.
2 - The Butt Fumble
This is probably the most well-known dumb play in NFL history.
During a Thanksgiving night game, New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez ran a play but got confused after the snap and decided to try to make something out of it to get some yards.
But Sanchez did arguably the dumbest thing ever. He ran right into the butt of an offensive lineman of his own team! He fumbled the ball and the New England Patriots instantly recovered it to a touchdown return for a 21-0 scoreline.
October 18, 2015: The Colts fake punt Catastrophe. https://t.co/L0jw2L7vur
After the Butt Fumble, Sanchez's career went downhill. The Jets lost 49-19 that day. It was the dumbest play in league history until a certain Patriots team eclipsed their shenanigans.
3 - The Colts' Fake Punt
When you make a bad play, the internet will get all over it. When you make a bad play in primetime, the whole nation's eyes are on you.
In 2015, the 3-2 Colts lined up for a punt in a tight game against the then-undefeated New England Patriots, but they shifted the majority of the protection to the right. The idea, according to Colts punter Pat McAfee, was to draw an offside penalty to retain possession, but the ball was never supposed to be snapped.
Here's exactly what went down:
October 18, 2015: The Colts fake punt Catastrophe. https://t.co/L0jw2L7vur
Try and explain that.
4 - DeSean Jackson drops the ball
DeSean Jackson is one of the fastest players ever, but that speed just might've played against him in 2008 when he burned the Dallas Cowboys' defenders for a touchdown in Week 2... or did he?
Jackson caught the ball behind the defenders and was running toward the end zone when he started celebrating. The problem? He started celebrating a little too early and dropped the ball before it crossed over.
After the Cowboys challenged the play, it was clear that he dropped the ball before the end zone and the touchdown was null and void, with Dallas retaining possession.
5 - Dan Orlovsky's autosafety
Dan Orlovsky is one of the most-known NFL analysts in the country, but he was not quite one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, to put it mildly.
He started a few games for the 0-16 Detroit Lions in 2008. In his first start that season, he was pressured by Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen and started to run to evade pressure. What Orlovsky didn't realize was that he ran out of bounds, thus committing a safety and giving two free points to the Vikings in one of the dumbest plays ever.
Curiously, the Vikings won that game by two points.