Let’s face it, the game was over. Washington had no chance. The final play was a formality, an act of desperation, a tradition all teams employ where they at least tried when the odds were a million to one against them.
Then came the unexpected. Emotions in the stadium and households across the country went from “we blew this game” to “oh my Lord, we won.”
Call it Noah’s arc.
The winds of good fortune blew in. Jayden Daniels, given enough time to make TWO ham sandwiches by the offensive line to wait for everybody to get downfield in their proper position, threw the ball as high and as far as he could. When Daniels first danced around in the backfield to buy time, Chicago Bears defensive back Tyrique Stevenson wasn’t even paying attention. He was down around the goal line, taunting fans in the stands to let them know he thought they had no chance.
As the ball flew through the air, even Chicago fans in the end zone screamed at him the play was going on. Stevenson then ran to the middle of the field, jumped up with his fellow defenders and a gaggle of Washington receivers, and hit the ball with his hand. But instead of knocking it to the ground as you are coached to do since you were 6 years old, he ended up knocking it up in the air like a volleyball at the net.
It fell into the grateful arms of one Noah Brown, who was waiting behind the mass of humanity as if he knew it was coming. Then he simply turned and jogged a few steps out of the end zone as if to say “had ‘em the entire time.”
Pandemonium exploded in the stadium. Dogs barked in a heightened state of alarm in neighborhoods all over the region as their owners deliriously ran through the house screaming at the sudden change in fortunes. Karma shone down on Stevenson as if to say “that’s what you get for running your mouth before the play even started.”
The magic was back in Washington.
There have been other games with exciting plays at the end in Washington football history. The game where Troy Vincent blocked a Dallas Cowboys field goal, Sean Taylor picked it up and returned it to the other side of the field, and Nick Novak kicked a game-winning field comes to mind. Washington was dead in the water in Dallas in a 2005 Monday night game when Santana Moss caught two touchdown passes in the final 4 minutes, causing me to run through the house and wake everyone up with my observations of “he did it, he did it” in a rather loud voice.
There were also plays like John Riggins scoring on “70 Chip” in a Super Bowl, or Darrell Green knocking down a 4th down Minnesota Vikings pass at the end of a game to get the team into another Super Bowl. Ken Houston bear-hugging Walt Garrison at the goal-line to preserve a 14-7 Monday Night win over the Cowboys is another.
But for sheer madness at the finish to a game – when you are convinced you are leaving the stadium with that feeling of defeat, and just as you’re pulling your keys out of your pocket and telling the family “c’mon, let’s go,” things change and you somehow win…yesterday’s game was the greatest finish I’ve ever seen in my 60 years of watching the team.
It’s the kind of win that washes away the stench of the previous regime and reminds you of those days in the 1980s when all things were possible for this team. It puts a smile on your face the next day on Victory Monday, where the color of the leaves seem more vibrant, and the sun seems to be shining brighter.
It’s also the answer to the question “why am I pulling for this team after all these years of losing” we all have asked ourselves occasionally the last 20 years.
I don’t know how this team will end up doing this season with its new coaches, ownership and players, but they seem to have a special chemistry about them. Plus teams that end up having memorable seasons somehow always seem to have a special moment or two along the way.
None get any more special than this.
