The 3 plays in sports everybody will be talking about today
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Good morning! Here are the plays everybody will be talking about on Monday:
The Saints lost because the Broncos wear white shoes. With less than 90 seconds to go, the Saints scored what appeared to be a go-ahead touchdown against the Broncos. But the extra point was blocked, seeming for a moment to have left the game tied. The Broncos scooped up the ball, however, and ran it all the way back for a two-point conversion that gave them a dramatic two-point lead. But wait. It sure looked as if Will Parks inexplicably stepped out of bounds during the return. Several replays appear to show half of his right foot on the line. But when officials looked at the replay they could not find definitive proof, in large part because his shoe and the sideline were both white. So the 25-23 score was upheld (read more here).
Ezekiel Elliott blitzed the Steelers for a winning run in the closing seconds. The Cowboys and the Steelers combined to score three touchdowns in the final two minutes, including two touchdown runs by Elliott and a perfectly executed fake spike by Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown. But Pittsburgh's score left too much time on the clock, as the Cowboys came back down and got the 35-30 win on Elliott's 32-yard touchdown run right up the middle with just nine seconds to play (read more here).
Jameis Winston scrambled for his life before hitting a long bomb. The Buccaneers blew out the Bears, 36-10. But early in the third quarter, when the game was still in doubt, Winston had a scramble for the ages. On a play that began at the 23-yard line, Winston scrambled all the way back to his own end zone, avoided several tackles, and eventually found Mike Evans streaking down the middle of the field for a 39-yard pass. The Bucs would score a touchdown on the next play, and they never looked back (read more here).
The Gronk no-call bonus. The Seahawks and the Patriots had another memorable finish. With the Patriots down by seven, they worked the ball down to the 1-yard line in the final minute. After Tom Brady fumbled the snap attempting a quarterback sneak on third down, the Pats were down to their final play on fourth down. Brady tried to hit Rob Gronkowski in the corner, but despite a lot of contact and both Gronk and Seahawks defender Kam Chancellor falling to the ground, no flag was thrown, and it was game over, with the Seahawks winning, 31-24. Did Chancellor hold? Maybe. But it also looks as if Gronk initiates the contact to begin with. Announcer Cris Collinsworth thought it was a good no-call.
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