Most NFL games turn on a play here or a play there. Sometimes, one boneheaded play can be the play here or the play there that causes the player’s team to lose.
There were two in recent days. On Sunday, Bears defensive back Tyrique Stevenson taunted Commanders fans before — and during — a fateful Hail Mary throw, On Thursday, Jets rookie receiver Malachi Corley dropped the ball before taking it into the end zone.
On Friday, Broncos coach Sean Payton was asked during a press conference about practicing Hail Mary defense. He provided a much more informative response.
“In the morning, the meeting starts with like, ‘What are they thinking?'” Payton said. “There were a few of those, ‘What are they thinking?’ plays this week. I wasn’t watching the game last night, and the Jets has a good win and you have a rookie. . . . So we show all those plays, the Hail Mary, all of it because we could find ourselves in those situations and there’s a responsibility to everyone, the team. We cover that usually Friday morning. So that’s usually the past weekend’s [games]. There might be some other things on there that are more technical that aren’t as egregious maybe as what we saw this past weekend.”
There are obvious issues and less obvious ones, sometimes in the same play. On the Hail Mary, Stevenson’s gaffe stood out. But the Bears also failed to have someone deeper than Washington’s deepest receiver. After the tip by Stevenson, the pass interference rules were off — and Noah Brown could have been prevented from catching the ball. On the Corley play, a teammate could have picked up the loose ball in the end zone, scoring a touchdown for the Jets.
With so much time and effort spent on complex concepts and convoluted play calls that most fans will never comprehend, there are still basic blunders that most fans will never understand. Those moments become valuable lessons for the players who commit them, and everyone else.