With one second left throughout the fourth quarter of Sunday’s recreation between New England and Indianapolis, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo took of venture that no NFL coach had made in additional than 10 years.
With the Patriots trailing 25-24 and sitting on the 50-yard line with simply that one tick remaining, Mayo solely had two choices: He might have Drake Maye try a Hail Mary or he might ship Joey Slye out to attempt a doable record-setting 68-yard discipline objective.
In the long run, Mayo determined to go together with Slye and the gamble really virtually paid off with Slye’s kick falling simply brief.
Here is a more in-depth take a look at simply how shut the ball was to going by way of the uprights.
The rationale sending out Slye was of venture is as a result of most NFL coaches in that very same scenario do not go that route. As an alternative, they ship their quarterback on to the sector to aim a Hail Mary. As matter of truth, the final time a staff tried a discipline objective when caught in a scenario the place they have been at the least 50 yards away from the top zone with time to run only one play within the closing seconds got here all the best way again in 2014 when Mike Zimmer despatched Blair Walsh out to aim a 68-yard discipline objective in a 16-14 loss to the Lions. Walsh missed.
Since then, there have been two different makes an attempt of at the least 68 yards within the NFL, however neither of these got here on the ultimate play of the sport just like the kicks by Slye and Walsh.
The issue with the sector objective determination is that Mayo was asking Slye to do one thing that had by no means been performed within the historical past of the NFL. The document for the longest discipline objective in NFL historical past is 66 yards, and Mayo was asking his kicker to prime that by 2 yards. Then again, though a Hail Mary has a low chance of being accomplished, they do occur and we have already seen one in 2024 when Jayden Daniels threw a 52-yard landing cross to assist the Commanders beat the Bears 18-15 in Week 8.
So why did Mayo go together with Slye over sending out Maye for a Hail Mary?
“That was 100% me,” Mayo stated of the choice to attempt the sector objective. “Look, [Joey] Slye was hitting it properly in pregame, and I felt that that was the perfect factor to do to assist our staff win the soccer recreation. Unsure what the numbers are on Hail Marys versus the sector objective there, however that is what I felt was proper.”
The largest quantity is zero: That is what number of 68-yard discipline objectives have been made in NFL historical past. Having Drake Maye try a Hail Mary would positively have been the upper proportion play. However that being stated, Mayo’s determination would not look as loopy in hindsight since Slye got here only a yard or two away from making the unbelievable kick.
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