Revisionist history has long been popular among fans of losing football teams, and that fact has been ever apparent following New England Patriots’ walk-off loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
No, we’re not talking about Rhamondre Stevenson and Jakobi Meyers deciding to lateral the ball in a tie game with no time left on the clock. That was the wrong decision before, during and after the play was made. We’re talking about the standpoint that New England should have attempted a hail-mary pass instead of the draw play that resulted in one of the worst losses in recent Patriots memory.
A popular stance since the ending of Sunday afternoon’s mayhem, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked whether he regretted not calling for the hail mary at the end of the game. His response? “Couldn’t throw it that far.”
Well, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, the man who would have been tasked with trying to throw it that far, disagreed.
“No,” Jones responded if he thought the throw would have been too far, per his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “Merloni, Fauria & Mego.” “I think we obviously have a plan in that situation. You obviously have to think about everything in that situation, and that’s what (Belichick) did. That’s his job and he’s obviously done that for a long time, but whatever the play call is — I’m going to run it and do it the best I can.
“If it was a hail mary, it was a hail mary. If it was a run, it was a run. That’s what I always tell myself regardless of the situation, ‘What’s my job and how do I do it?’ “
Lost in the revisionist history has been some context. Not only would Jones have to reach the end zone, but his receivers would have needed to have been given enough time to get down the field, with Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones rushing against a suspect Patriots offensive line. The odds of all of that happening, and Jones completing a pass to one of his receivers were about as long as they get.
On the other hand, they were far greater than the chances of seeing what we saw happen.
