Miami Dolphins Win Thanks To Rugby Style Touchdown

The Dolphins beat the New England Patriots thanks to a crazy, rugby style, last minute play.

Miami Dolphins Win Thanks To Rugby Style Touchdown

Miami Dolphins Win Thanks To Rugby Style Touchdown

Aside from the obvious violence and tackling, there is rarely commonality between rugby and American football, especially in relation to passing the ball. After all, the quarterback throws the ball forward with regularity, which of course is not allowed in rugby.

However, the Miami Dolphins performed a brilliant rugby-style move last weekend to pull off a comeback win against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Needing to go 70 yards with time expiring, quarterback Ryan Tannehill made a quick pass to receiver Kenny Stills who passed to DaVante Parker who then passed to running back Kenyan Drake in a move that would have looked at home in Eden Park or Twickenham.

Drake then sprinted down the sideline before receiving good blocking to eventually run the ball into the end-zone in what is now being called the ‘Miracle in Miami’.

Clearly, World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper saw the similarity to rugby in the play….

Indeed, that was not the only rugby-esque move in the NFL this weekend.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were facing the same kind of scenario against the Oakland Raiders. With 11 seconds left on their own 30-yard line, Ben Roethlisberger passed to James Washington, who produced a small pop pass to fellow wide-receiver Juju Smith-Schuster, who performed a slick loop move to get into open space.

However, this time the defence was just about able to recover and stop him from scoring a touchdown, which proved decisive because the Steelers kicker came on and missed his kick to tie the game.

Given the success of both of these plays, who knows, maybe more NFL coaches will start looking towards rugby for inspiration in their moves.

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