DENVER — Leading 10-7 with less than two minutes left in the AFC title game, Josh McDaniels scanned his call sheet for the play that would send the Patriots to the Super Bowl.
He landed on an outside zone run.
It was a basic play, where Drake Maye would hand the ball off right to Rhamondre Stevenson, who would then run behind his fullback, Jack Westover. Meanwhile, the offensive line would move in unison at the line of scrimmage as it moved Denver’s defense laterally, letting Stevenson pick his running lane of choice to convert this third-and-5 near midfield.
But Maye had other ideas.
At the snap, Maye turned right into the backfield but never took his hands off the ball. As Stevenson opened his arms, Maye peeled the other way and broke from the play design.
“I hit my block, and all the defenders started running the other way,” Pats center Garret Bradbury said. “I’m like, ‘What? Oh my God.’”
Four seconds and seven yards later, Maye crossed the first-down marker on the Patriots’ sideline. His little secret had clinched the AFC title.
“After the game, Drake’s like, ‘I debated telling you guys if I was gonna (keep) it or not. But I just decided not to,” Bradbury said.
Replaying the final drive, Bradbury admitted most of his focus was on simply snapping the ball. He was worried he would botch a snap and cause a fumble. Bradbury called the snow and wind that dominated Sunday’s second half “the worst conditions I’ve ever played in.”
But in the end, he had the best finish he could have asked for — even if he didn’t see it coming.
“I’m expecting Rhamondre to try and hit a hole. And I turn around, Drake’s over there with the ball, and I’m like, ‘Go, go, go!’ Because we didn’t know.’”
