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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Robert Zeglinski

The Patriots lost to Josh McDaniels’ Raiders in the dumbest way possible and NFL fans ate it up

Patriots NFL Raiders Chandler Jones Mac Jones Bill Belichick Jakobi Meyers Football

Sometimes, you have to see the impossibly dumb ways an NFL team can lose a game to believe them. That’s precisely what happened to the New England Patriots at the end of a tight battle with the Las Vegas Raiders.

With the game tied at 24 points apiece, the Patriots had a chance to theoretically — and this is key, theoretically — go and beat the Raiders before their matchup even went to overtime. But New England couldn’t muster up much offense and stagnated at their own 45-yard line with only a couple of seconds on the clock.

Rather than take a knee and let the game go to extra time, the Patriots unthinkably broke out the laterals. Why? Well, I don’t know.

But I’m pretty sure they regret this impossibly stupid decision given the ensuing result — a Chandler Jones’ fumble-six (because it was a lateral) for the 30-24 win with no time on the clock:

Absolutely amazing for the Raiders. I can’t think of a cooler way to win a football. Absolutely and incredibly dumb for the Patriots. I can’t think of a worse way to lose a football game.

Again, it can’t be emphasized enough that the Patriots didn’t have to do this! Never mind Jakobi Meyers’ terrible toss backward. Jones never gets the ball in his hands before unleashing a disrespectful stiff arm on Mac Jones if the Patriots simply sit on the ball with two seconds left. Or, I don’t know, try a Hail Mary downfield instead.

For a team coached by Bill Belichick, I’m shocked at this late-game decision-making by the Patriots on the field. We’re talking about what truly might be the dumbest play of the 2022 season — likely one of the dumbest plays in NFL history — when all is said and done.

NFL fans ate up the Patriots losing on a last-second lateral-six from Chandler Jones

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