It’s hard to overstate how crazy the final play of Sunday’s game between the New England Patriots and Las Vegas Raiders was. By the time Chandler Jones caught a lateral intended for Mac Jones, stiff-armed the quarterback into the earth, and scampered 48 yards for a game-winning touchdown, it was all too much for a lot of NFL folks to process. That includes Jones, who finally had a chance to catch his breath and discuss it.
Chandler spoke with Peter King about the historic play, much of which happened pretty far away from where he was.
“It was a desperado situation,” Jones said, “and that was a team that would try to do anything to advance the ball for a touchdown. They’ll throw the ball, pitch it, lateral it. I knew that was a possibility to happen. I thought they would do a hook-and-lateral, or something like that. They had a random run.
“I actually missed a tackle on [Stevenson]. I went to go punch the ball out on that play and I missed. The guy kept running. By the time I stood up, I realized that the ball was being pitched around.”
Jones then recounted the realization that Jakobi Meyers was throwing the ball in his direction.
“They were playing hot potato now,” Jones said. “Instead of pursuing the ball, I just started playing back into saying, alright who’s the next passer? Who could they possibly throw it to next that’s behind the line of scrimmage? Because they’re playing this whole hot potato game. Sure enough, I saw Jakobi Meyers kinda look back at Mac Jones, the quarterback. He was standing in the middle of the field. I literally just jumped up when I saw the ball coming, intended for Mac. Mac was kind of standing there, looking at me with big eyes.”
As for that massive stiff-arm from one Jones to another, Chandler said it was just part of doing business.
“I literally just jumped up and intercepted it,” Jones said. “I just gave Mac a nice stiff arm with my right hand. The rest was history.”
As for what happened after he scored the touchdown and won the game for the Raiders, Jones says it was all a blur, but a pretty fun one.
“Shocked?” Jones said. “No, I’m not shocked at all. I mean, I’m happy that I did something to help the team win. But not shocked at all. Honestly, I was trying to catch my breath, to be honest. It felt like a 100-yard run. I was kinda just getting slapped in the side of the face, in the head. Everyone’s congratulating me, ‘Thank you! Thank you!’ And all I could do was just hang onto the football. I remember vividly the football being in my right hand. [Tight end] Foster Moreau, he came up to me and he said, ‘Chandler, give me the ball. I’ll make sure you get it.’ I kinda just let it go. I just let the ball go and I was like man I just need air. And the game was over. It was such a crazy feeling. It was almost like a Hollywood script that’s unwritten because people won’t believe it. There’s no way, you know?”
Jones’s first season with the Raiders hasn’t gone great overall but that’s a magical moment that he’ll never forget.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.