Hail Mary, The Commanders Win

The Call

The Bears Commanders game would be one of the less exciting games of the weekend as the Commanders could not find the endzone without a penalty bringing it back, and the Bears got in late to put them ahead 15-12. Washington had about 19 seconds on the clock and a lot of field to go.

At the 2 second mark, the Commanders came out to the field and everybody knew which play was coming, the Hail Mary. Everyone might remember the Hail Mary Aaron Rodgers threw in a game against Seattle. Probably one of the most memorable in history.

Till Now.

The Play

Daniels took the shotgun snap and assessed the field. He needed to give time for the receivers to get in their positions, so Daniels did some off schedule pocket dancing. With the clock on :00 seconds, Daniels took a step from the left hash mark and launched the ball nearly 60 yards to the pile of players from both teams standing on the goal line.

The strategy for offense is to have one person back and another person in the endzone for any good tipped balls. The defense is coached to bat the ball downward to avoid any good tips. With both team's players in position, Daniels launches the ball. All expectations were slim that anything would come of the Hail Mary, where most of the time, they don't work.

The Tip

Tyrique Stevenson had been shadowing Terry McLaurin all game and was in on defense for the last play of the game. As the ball approached the player pile at the goal line, it was Stevenson who jumped and got his hand on the ball. This tipped the ball up and forward towards the middle of the endzone, where, WR Noah Brown was waiting to make the easy catch.

The rarity of success on the play, and the smallest of chances in which a player would catch the ball, let alone a player from the team behind at the time of the play, overshadowed that the play actually worked and Noah Brown made the catch, from Jayden Daniels, with :02 left at the start of the play.

Noah Brown Patiently Waiting

This play will likely be the talk of the NFL for the rest of the season and possibly longer.