‘Rest was history.’ Raiders pull off dramatic win over Patriots after Chandler Jones’ TD
For a second, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Chandler Jones thought about pitching the ball to another teammate after he picked up a fumble with no time remaining.
Then it was him and New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.
The Las Vegas defender returned a 48-yard fumble for a touchdown and captured a 30-24 victory over the Patriots at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.
“When I caught it, at first I was thinking who’s around me,” Jones said. “I felt myself stumble a little bit after the stiff arm, and I was thinking, who do I pitch it to? I was just trying to keep the ball alive. It’s when I stayed up, I just turned the jets on, and the rest was history.”
It was a relief for Raiders coach Josh McDaniels after his team surrendered a 17-3 lead earlier.
“I don’t know what the word would be, but once Rhamondre (Stevenson) pitched the ball to Jakobi (Meyers), I figured we’d probably just tackle whoever had it and then that would be it, and we’d go to overtime. And then, when he lateraled the ball, I had no idea. It didn’t seem like a lateral play to me when they handed the ball off to the back. So, when they handed it to the back, I thought, ‘Okay, tackle him and go to overtime.’
“And then when I saw the ball up in the air, and then I saw Chandler underneath it, I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, we might have a chance at this.’ And then when he caught it, I saw Mac was back there, and just hoping that he could avoid whatever effort Mac had to tackle him and then hopefully had enough juice left in his body to get to the end-zone.”
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who completed 20 of 38 for 231 yards and three touchdowns, said he watched the play unfold on the jumbotron.
“I just see Chandler put his hands up, and I started yelling at Bo (Hardegree), my quarterback coach. I was like, ‘Bo, Bo.’; And then he didn’t react until he crossed the finish line. So, respect to Bo, but once he did, we went nuts.”
Jones had a blocked field that was returned for a 58 yards for a touchdown when he was with the Patriots in 2014.
“Situation where we know that there was zero time left in the clock and I think I saw Jacoby kind of spotting up to throw it back, and I was just trying to look for the nearest guy, and Mac Jones was right there, and I kind of just went up there and got it and broke a tackle and scored.
Jones was emotional following the dramatic finish.
He credited his defensive teammates for making it happen. He just wanted to help the team win.
“I definitely did get a little emotional,” he said. “I teared up a little bit because I just love football. I’m a huge fan of the game. I love the sport and I think when I started to tear up, I think it had just hit me how big of the play I had made and it didn’t hit me yet. I was like let me take this moment for myself a little bit and drop a few tears.”
