Miracle in Miami

Desperation lateral attempts have been used before in American football. In the history of the NFL, only twice in the 21st century has a team successfully converted a lateral pass for a touchdown at the end of a game. The first was on January 8, 2000, when the Tennessee Titans pulled off the Music City Miracle with a lateral pass from the Titans' tight end Frank Wycheck to wide receiver Kevin Dyson for a 75-yard touchdown against the Buffalo Bills. The second touchdown was the River City Relay on December 21, 2003, where the New Orleans Saints successfully completed three lateral passes culminating in a 75-yard touchdown by Jerome Pathon against the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, kicker John Carney missed the extra point, resulting in a 20–19 loss by the Saints.

Entering the game, the Patriots were leading the AFC East with a record of 9–3, while the Dolphins had a record of 6–6. A Patriots win would clinch them their 10th consecutive AFC East title. After the Patriots struck first with a touchdown, there would be a total of eight lead changes, but Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski would miss not only the extra point on the aforementioned first touchdown, but a field goal attempt later on. Leading 30–28 after an unsuccessful attempt to score a touchdown in the waning seconds, he would score another field goal to put them up 33–28 with 16 seconds left to play.

Trailing by five points with seven seconds to go, the Dolphins had the ball at their own 31-yard line. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw a pass over the middle that was caught by wide receiver Kenny Stills, who lateraled the ball to the right side of the field that was caught by DeVante Parker at midfield. Parker then tossed the ball to running back Kenyan Drake, who ran the ball 52 yards for a touchdown to win the game 34–33. The Dolphins declined to kick the extra point, per the rule change for the 2018 season following the Minneapolis Miracle.

One of the keys to the play was the Dolphins left guard Ted Larsen diligently following the play 40 yards downfield and springing a vicious block on the Patriots' Patrick Chung, who otherwise might have tackled Drake.[9]

• Commentators Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts called the game for CBS's NFL coverage. Eagle and Fouts also called the near miracle in Pittsburgh against Miami five years earlier, when the Steelers tried a similar play and appeared to have pulled it off, except for Antonio Brown stepping out of bounds at the thirteen.

Eagle's call of the play:

Seven seconds left. Tannehill will throw it... and this will end it after the shovel. Or will it? Miami running around. Circling. Oh look out! Gronkowski! Didn't have the angle! Touchdown! Oh ho Kenyan Drake! A miracle! Miraculous in Miami! Stills... to Parker, to Drake! A lateral... heard 'round the world!

• Dolphins radio announcers Jimmy Cefalo, Bob Griese, and Joe Rose:[10]

Tannehill. Last shot. Back to throw. They throw it down, they try to pitch it, and they do. To Parker, Parker pitches it, and it's Drake. DRAKE! 30, 20, GRONKOWSKI'S GONNA TACKLE! OH! THAT'S IT! HE GOES INTO THE END ZONE! TOUCHDOWN! UNBELIEVABLE! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THAT IS UNBELIEVABLE! I DON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW! There are no flags and the game is over!

• Patriots radio announcers Bob Socci and Scott Zolak:[11]

Tannehill throws down the middle caught by Stills, laterals, back to Butler. (sic) Or rather Parker, who flips it to Drake, he runs across the 40 of New England, angling inside to the 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, He's gonna win the footrace to the end zone! The Dolphins are going to win it! On the lateral! Once then twice! And Drake takes it in! And the Patriots stand stunned in disbelief!

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was criticized after the game for substituting out safety Devin McCourty for tight end Rob Gronkowski, who missed the final tackle leading to Drake's touchdown.[12] Retired Patriots players Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi, as well as McCourty and Patriots safety Duron Harmon, argued that since the Dolphins were too far away from the end zone to try a conventional Hail Mary pass play, Gronkowski, who has historically been used to defend against long passes in late-game situations, should not have been substituted in for a defensive back on the play.[13]

The press conference following this game is where the well-known "Nobody died" comment from Belichick hails from. Following the game he replied to questioning from reporters by saying, "Look it's the National Football League. Nobody died. Gotta big game against Pittsburgh this week." [14]

The victory improved Miami's record to 7–6, keeping them in contention for a postseason berth and an AFC East title. However, the win turned out to be their final win of the 2018 season. Miami lost all its remaining games, finishing 7–9 and missing the postseason for the second year in a row.

The Patriots' loss dropped them to 9–4, meaning they could not match their 13–3 record from 2017. Ultimately, the Patriots clinched the division for the 10th consecutive season, finishing with an 11–5 record. They fell to the second seed in the AFC playoffs, marking the third time in six seasons that an upset Miami victory over New England cost them the top seed, forcing them to play the AFC Championship game on the road. Unlike the previous two times, however, the Patriots won the conference championship game over the Kansas City Chiefs, and then finished the season with a victory in Super Bowl LIII. After the Super Bowl, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said that he doesn't consider the Miami game a loss.[15]

One year later, the only player who touched the ball on that play for Miami who was still with the team was Parker. Tannehill, Stills, and Drake were traded to the Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, and Arizona Cardinals, respectively.[16][17][18] Gase was fired after the season and moved on to coach the New York Jets; one of the Patriots defensive coaches in the game, Brian Flores, was hired to replace him. Flores himself would lead Miami to another upset victory over New England in his first season, this time knocking them from the two seed to the three seed and forcing them to play in the first round of the playoffs, where they would lose to the Tannehill-led Titans.[19][20]

• Referee: Pete Morelli (#135)
• Umpire: Steve Woods (#54)
• Down Judge: Steve Stelljes (#22)
• Line Judge: Jeff Seeman (#45)
• Back Judge: Keith Ferguson (#61)
• Side Judge: Boris Cheek (#41)
• Field Judge: Anthony Jeffries (#36)
• Replay Official: Brian Matoren

• Dolphins–Patriots rivalry
• Hook and lateral

• Video on YouTube (via the NFL's YouTube channel)