Ranking the 4 best finishes from a wild NFL Sunday
The NFL gave us an early Christmas gift on Sunday with a handful of leap-out-of-your-seat finishes around the league, shaking up the entire complexion of the playoff race.
Here, we rank the four best endings from an unmissable Week 14 slate:
4. Steelers' playoff hopes slip after Raiders upset.@Raiders pull out the W pic.twitter.com/GC47BA6zma
- The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) December 10, 2018
Three weeks ago, the Steelers were considered Super Bowl contenders. Now, after dropping three straight, Pittsburgh might not even make it to January.
And the play that sealed Pittsburgh's loss Sunday against the Oakland Raiders couldn't have been more emblematic of their recent struggles, as kicker Chris Boswell slipped on a potential game-tying kick to give Jon Gruden's squad just its third win.
THE HOOK AND LADDER @steelers @TeamJuJu pic.twitter.com/GXisilOAJD
- The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) December 10, 2018
The miss was even more painful as the Steelers had already pulled off an incredible hooker-and-ladder play to get into field-goal range after the Raiders engineered a long scoring drive to retake the lead with 21 seconds remaining.
3. Magic Mahomes rallies Chiefs past RavensOMG @patrickmahomes5 @cheetah
- NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2018
: CBS #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/UkEHmpn2rZ
It's Patrick Mahomes' world, and the rest of us are just lucky to witness his greatness.
The MVP frontrunner has eye-popping plays seemingly every week, but very few are as spectacular as the game-saving fourth-down conversion in which the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback launched a 35-yard pass across his body while surrounded by Baltimore Ravens defenders to set up a late score. Even better, it probably wasn't even his best pass of the day.
.@LJ_era8 to @Jwalk_back12 for SIX...
- NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2018
And the @Ravens take the lead in KC!
: CBS #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/SKxKt02Upg
Mahomes needed to pull something out of his hat to answer Lamar Jackson's late lead-taking touchdown pass, and the game only went to an uneventful overtime because of a last-second missed Chiefs field goal following a Jackson fumble.
2. Lucky Amari clips Eagles in OTAMARI COOPER FOR THE WIN. pic.twitter.com/oo6CC5I58T
- NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2018
Maybe Amari Cooper was worth a first-round pick after all.
The Dallas Cowboys' young receiver was unstoppable in an NFC East showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles, racking up 200 yards and a hat-trick of touchdowns, with the football gods playing a big role in the final one.
Cooper kicked off an insane series of plays with a 75-yard touchdown after Philadelphia leveled it with just over three minutes to play. Following a controversial nullified 75-yard score for offensive pass interference, Nelson Agholor saved the Eagles with a possible catch of the year to send it to overtime.
.@Cj_Wentz goes deeeeep to @nelsonagholor...
- NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2018
Wowwwwwww.
: FOX #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/jOQTawm6pO
Cooper then struck the final blow, showing amazing concentration to snag a deflected pass for the walk-off touchdown, effectively ending the reigning champion's season.
Now that's how you win the hearts of the Cowboys faithful.
1. The Miami MiracleIT'S A MIAMI MIRACLE! #FinsUp#NEvsMIA pic.twitter.com/qvzsiI9a5g
- NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2018
Everyone should probably stay away from Bill Belichick on Monday morning.
The New England Patriots are held up as the pinnacle of preparedness in the NFL, but for once, they were the ones left embarrassed, confused, and defeated after a stunning last-second desperation play by the Miami Dolphins.
Kenyan Drake's weaving touchdown run after two laterals not only gave Miami a miraculous win over its hated division rival, it salvaged the Dolphins' wild-card hopes.
"To tell you the truth, I just kind of blacked out," Drake said in a postgame interview, according to Nicole Yang of Boston.com.
Us too, Kenyan. Us too.
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