MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Kyle Williams, the second-year New England Patriots wide receiver, made the catch. Now he was putting on a drag show as he tried to get into the end zone while the Miami Dolphins' Michael Taaffe desperately held on to his right leg with both hands.
Partly because of all the jostling, the ball popped loose. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye's fine throw was whistled incomplete.
And then Patriots coach Mike Vrabel threw a challenge flag, and he threw it with all the fire and fury of Trevor Megill closing out Game 5 of the World Series for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Now let's stop for a little discussion while watching that replay, over and over and over. For as the ball popped loose, first in slow motion, then slower motion, and then slowest motion, it was as though the Patriots' entire season was hanging in the balance.
If the call is overturned, the Patriots finally have a touchdown on this wet, muggy Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium. And then everything turns around, right? Maye gets into a rhythm. The Patriots keep getting into the end zone. The Patriots win, snuffing out what looked like a big upset for a while there.
But if the call is upheld? It's looking like a throwback loss for the Patriots, who had all kinds of trouble in this ballpark in the days when Tom Brady was throwing the passes and Rob Gronkowski was catching them. And if the Pats lose on this football Sunday, it means another week of talk that too many injuries, notably to receiver A.J. Brown, and now tight end Hunter Henry, have left Maye without the cast members he needs to get the ball into the end zone, and his team into the playoffs.
So, yeah, all of that was at stake as we watched the loose football and awaited the verdict.
And then, finally, after what seemed like 20 minutes, an incomplete pass was a 43-yard touchdown completion from Maye to Williams.
And then, just like that, there was a 2-yard touchdown run by Maye and then a 48-yard touchdown completion. Maye to Demario "Pop" Douglas.
Final score: Patriots 24-19. Crisis averted.
Now, to be sure, the Patriots have their problems, and many of them can be found under a big yellow neon sign that blinks "INJURIES" on and off. That was one of the talking points five minutes into the third quarter, the Patriots trailing 13-3, as we awaited the outcome of Vrabel's challenge.
But the challenge was successful. The Patriots won, and then they won. What could have been a postgame of finger-pointing and excuse-making instead became a victory built on resilience and determination.
All you had to do was follow the bouncing football.
"The touchdown? Yeah, I think it was huge," said Maye, who completed 16 of 20 passes for 199 yards. "We kind of needed to open it up a little bit and break the barrier of getting into the end zone, and I think we did that. And Coach was kind of on us a bit to stop hurting ourselves."
What really would have hurt the Patriots was a referee's decision that, yeah, it was a drop by Williams. And it's worth noting that Williams himself felt the need to offer a bit of a mea culpa about the almost drop before he got around to talking about the almost drop that became a touchdown.
"I was confident that it was a touchdown, but you never try to leave the game in the ref's hands," Williams said. "I definitely gotta be a lot more aware and more secure with the ball. So that's on me. We gotta clean that up."
For bookkeeping purposes, there's nothing to clean up. The kid got the touchdown. But, sure, it was an awkward catch that led to some anxious moments. And Williams owned that. Now, back to the catch.
Once the call was overturned, Williams said, "It was huge momentum for us. We always say it takes one play, and that was the one play. … Shoutout to Vrabes for challenging the call."
Did Williams see the throw?
"Yeah, I saw it," he said. "I was looking at him, hoping he was gonna throw it. And once I saw it, I was, like, OK, 'Preciate you, Vrabes. Thank you."
Vrabel didn't seem interested in investing a lot of analysis in his challenge-flag throw or confirming whether it was the longest toss of his coaching career.
"Hmmm, I was a lot more certain than the officials were the first time they called it; I guess I'd say that," Vrabel harrumphed. OK, fine. And to be fair, it's tough to put a coach on the spot by asking him to grade the distance and technical merit of his challenge-flag tosses.
But no breakdown of this play can be made without including Vrabel's toss. It might not have been as potent as Maye's throw, or as athletic as Williams' (albeit) wobbly catch, but you don't have the touchdown without the challenge flag, and it was a challenge that won't soon be forgotten.
By way of comparison, how many challenge-flag tosses does anyone actually remember?
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
