If you thought the Miami Miracle was a bad loss for the New England Patriots, wait until you see how they gave away Sunday's Week 15 game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Patriots found a new and shockingly bad way to lose.
It looked like the game was headed for overtime late in the fourth quarter. The Patriots handed the ball off to Rhamondre Stevenson on the final play of regulation and he actually gained a bunch of yards, but there was no time on the clock so he decided to lateral the ball in a desperate attempt for a miracle touchdown.
A miracle touchdown was scored, just not by the Patriots.
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Jakobi Meyers got the lateral and, for some strange reason, threw the ball back toward the line of scrimmage. The ball flew right into Raiders linebacker Chandler Jones' hands, and after he trucked Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, he sailed into the end zone for the winning touchdown and a 30-24 final score.
The play has to be seen to be believed. Check it out in the video below:
Wow.
The loss is a brutal one for the Patriots for many reasons.
New England Patriots
The result drops them to 7-7 and makes their path to the AFC playoffs much harder. It's also a demoralizing loss for a team that's already battled a ton of adversity this season.
Now the Patriots end the regular season against three of the best teams in the AFC -- Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills (in that order).
This blunder might have ended any hope of the Patriots reaching the postseason.