Did The Patriots Make The Worst Play In NFL History?

Methstreams is dead (IYKYK), so this past NFL Sunday I was unable to watch the RedZone channel. I was forced to watch whatever New York market football games were showing on basic cable like a disgusting poor person. I wasn't keeping up with the Raiders/Patriots game whatsoever. For some reason Bengals/Bucs was the game provided to me. Whatever. But honestly, I couldn't have cared less about the outcome of the Patriots game (no offense). I paid it no mind all afternoon. Turns out I should have been paying attention. When the Bengals/Bucs game was wrapping up, and the broadcast showed the highlight of the Patriots/Raiders finish, I didn't believe it was real. I thought the score on the bottom of the screen must have been wrong. Surely the Patriots didn't start lateraling the ball in a tie game, did they?

Yep, that's exactly what happened. It was the cherry on top of a wild weekend in sports. Without giving it much thought, I declared it the worst play in NFL history. 

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I've been thinking about this ever since. What is the worst play in NFL history? Was its the Patriots lateral disaster? The Colts horrendous fake punt? The Mark Sanchez Butt Fumble? Something I'm forgetting? (probably that one). But those 3 are the first ones that come to mind. Gun to my head, even as a Colts fan, I would have to admit that the fake punt was worse than the Butt Fumble. But the Colts Fake Punt compared to what happened last night? The Patriots Lateral Disaster might be worse.

There are some other plays that come to mind as well.

Note: I'm writing this off the cuff. I'm positive I'm missing some plays. Please let me know if I'm a fucking moron and am forgetting something.

Anyways, Dan Orlovsky still owns one of the worst highlights of all time from when he ran out the back of his own end zone.

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Jimmy Garoppolo channeled his inner Orlovsky, and tried his best to let up 8 points in one single play earlier this year.

There's something inherently funny about saftey-ing yourself, so those plays get a lot of run on social media, but when it comes down to it, it's just a bad mistake. None of those safeties had major implications.

You also can't rule out ANY play where a player drops the football before he gets to the end zone for no reason whatsoever.

But usually the guy who dropped the ball early made a great play leading up to that moment, so it'd be hard to call one of those the worst play of all time.

The reason I think the Patriots play might be worse than the Butt Fumble, and the Colts Fake Punt, is because the implications were so much greater. The Butt Fumble and Colts Fake Punt were horrible plays made in the midst of games that were never going to be wins for either team. There was really nothing lost by either of those plays, aside from years and years of online ridicule. The Patriots right now are in the middle of a playoff race. They were going to OT. Even if Jakobi Meyers completes that pass to Mac Jones, what the fuck does he think is going to happen? Meyers decision might have been the nail in the coffin for the Patriots playoff hopes. 

There have been other terrible plays made with a lot on the line as well. For some reason this Jets defensive play comes to mind. Jets coach Gregg Williams (Dr. Heat) deciding to bring the heat (obviously) when the Raiders had to throw the ball to the end zone at the end of the game.

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The Jets were shit that year, so this play is definitely not a winner. But it's a good example of another play terrible play that cost a team a win.

One of the worst plays of all time, which has kind of skated by over the years, was the Dee Ford offsides play. The stakes could not have been higher. It was the AFC Championship game. The Patriots were down 4 points on their final drive. On a 3rd & 10 from the Chiefs 34, Tom Brady threw an interception that should have sealed the game. It was called back because Chiefs' Defensive End Dee Ford decided to line up on the wrong side of the ball. He didn't affect the play whatsoever. He just lost the game for his team because he didn't understand angles or something. 

Another fuck up with major implications happened in the best game I've ever watched. The Miracle At The Meadowlands. It was the Eagles vs Giants in week 17, the last game of the 2010 NFL season. The winner of the game made the playoffs. The loser was eliminated. The Giants got out to a huge lead before Mike Vick and the Eagles made an insane comeback. The game was tied 31-31 with 13 seconds left, and the Giants were punting away on 4th down. The ONLY thing they had to do was not give Desean Jackson a chance to return the punt, and the game was going to OT. Just punt it out of bounds. If the Giants punt it out of bounds, the Eagles would have had time for 1 more play. Not enough time to set up for a field goal. But Giants punter Matt Dodge kicked the ball directly at Desean Jackson. It was over from there.

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Determining the "worst play of all-time" is an impossible task. There are so many different ways you can define it, and so many factors to consider. I know there's probably a shit load of plays that I'm forgetting as well. 

When you're determining what the worst play of all time is, you need to consider 2 things. 

1) The stupidity of the play
2) The implications of the play

When you combine both of those things, I'm not sure you can beat what the Patriots pulled off last night. If you wanna say that the Colts Fake Punt was worse than that, I don't think that's a crazy argument. The Colts clearly have the worst "play call" of all-time. But the worst play? I think when you consider the circumstances, the Patriots are now owners of the worst play in NFL history. Unless it's Dee Ford. I could be convinced that it's Dee Ford. Let me know what I missed.