Jakobi Meyers made as costly of a mistake as you could make in the New England Patriots' 30-24 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
With three seconds remaining and the game tied, Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson tossed the ball back to Jakobi Meyers hoping that they could try and score a touchdown to avoid overtime. When Meyers got the ball though, he ran several yards backward before tossing the ball many yards back to Mac Jones. However, Raiders defensive end Chandler Jones intercepted Meyers' pass to his teammate. Chandler Jones ran over Mac Jones after he got the ball and easily ran into the end zone to win the Raiders the game.
Meyers took immediate responsibility for the play following the Patriots loss.
“Nah [it wasn't the plan to throw the ball back to Jones],” Meyers said. “I tried to do too much. I tried to be a hero, I guess. I didn't see the dude back there trying to throw him the ball. Like I said, I was just doing too much. I should've went down with the ball.”
“I thought I saw Mac open,” Meyers added. “I didn't see Chandler Jones at the time. Just thought he was open and tried to get it to him. I tried to make a play with it, but the score was tied.”
Meyers was asked if he knew Stevenson was going to pitch him the ball back. But Meyers responded that “it didn't matter” and that he was ultimately at fault for the play.
“I promise you that was me just trying to make a play,” the Patriots wideout said.
An emotional Jakobi Meyers said he was “trying to do too much and trying to be a hero” on the final play. Said he knew the score was tied and the play didn’t call for a lateral. pic.twitter.com/KiOIjKOqcR
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) December 19, 2022
The Patriots RB also took some blame for the play, saying he should've been more aware of the situation.
“I think the coaches gave us a play for us to just run the time down and get down,” Stevenson said. There were only a couple seconds left on the clock and I feel like I should've just done that and gone down.”
“The play started off with me with the ball. So, if I didn't pitch it back to him, Jakobi wouldn't have had the chance to do that,” Stevenson added. “So, I take full responsibility for the play. I've just got to know what's going on in the game.”
The Patriots' second-year running back had a good game on Sunday outside of that play, rushing for 172 yards and a touchdown. Meyers, who returned Sunday after missing Week 14 due to a concussion, only had two catches for 47 yards.
New England fell to 7-7 on the season with the loss and fell out of the seventh and final playoff spot in the AFC playoff picture with three games remaining.
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