Ryan Fitzpatrick reveals how he drew up crazy pass play that helped beat Raiders
The Raiders’ playoff hopes last season were extinguished thanks to a late-season swoon that included a couple of gut-punch losses in December.
At one point, the Raiders had a 6-3 record and hoped a win over the Chiefs in Las Vegas could put the AFC West in play. Instead, the Chiefs scored a late touchdown and won 35-31.
Then came a blowout loss at Atlanta, a remarkable comeback over the Jets, a lopsided loss to the Colts and an overtime defeat against the Chargers.
That dropped the Raiders’ record to 7-7 heading into a home game on Dec. 26 against the Dolphins.
It was close throughout, but the Raiders went ahead 25-23 on Daniel Carlson’s 22-yard field goal with 19 seconds left after Las Vegas stopped trying for a touchdown.
Miami got the ball back and Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a 34-yard pass down the sideline to Mack Hollins as a Raiders player grabbed Fitzpatrick’s facemask.
Fitzpatrick broke down that play to Pablo Torre on ESPN’s Daily Podcast.
“It was awesome because ... I’ve been known in my day to dial some stuff up to draw it in the dirt, if you will,” Fitzpatrick said. “And that particular play I had a very good feeling they were going to be playing Tampa 2, so I had a very good feeling they’d have a Mike linebacker kind of running in with (tight end) Mike Gesicki, two safeties, and if I could spend enough time staring at Mike, I might, I just might have a chance to hit our single receiver down the sideline.
“And so rarely when drawing plays in the dirt do they happen exactly like you think they’re going to happen. And my career can be a testament to that, but this one did. They came out in the defense we thought they’re going to come out in. I peeked to the left and then stare down Mike and stepped up in the pocket and the safety on my left all of a sudden starts running towards Mike, and I’m in the middle of this play like, ‘Oh my goodness, like this is really going to happen.’”
After the pass completion and penalty, the Dolphins kicked a field goal and beat the Raiders 26-25, ensuring Las Vegas wouldn’t have a winning season.
“So we completed the play, flag, I had no idea after I had thrown it that it was completed,” Fitzpatrick said. “I just knew that my head almost got ripped off. But the amazing thing about that play is like we needed those 15 yards to get into field-goal range, And it was just such a cool play. It was an amazing moment.”
This story was originally published July 20, 2021 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Ryan Fitzpatrick reveals how he drew up crazy pass play that helped beat Raiders."
