Aaron Rodgers, thanks to a fake spike play, leads Packers to last-second win
In The House That Dan Marino Built, of course the go-to play for a future Hall of Fame quarterback was the fake spike.
Aaron Rodgers pulled a rabbit out of his hat against the Miami Dolphins, in more ways than one. When the Packers looked to be in a lot of trouble, Rodgers saved them. He was magnificent on a game-winning drive, hitting Andrew Quarless for the win on a 4-yard touchdown with three seconds left to give the Packers a 27-24 win. But it was the play before that which people will remember.
Rodgers, with time ticking after a short completion to Randall Cobb, came up to the line looking like he would spike the ball. Instead, he hit rookie Davante Adams on a quick pass to the right, and Adams picked up 12 yards to the 4-yard line. It was reminiscent of Marino’s famous fake spike against the Jets that gave the Dolphins a memorable victory in 1994. A couple decades later, Rodgers did the same thing. The Miami defense didn’t move at the snap, assuming Rodgers was going to spike it. The cornerback was playing about 10 yards off Adams and he didn’t react right away. That catch and run by Adams made the game-winning score to Quarless an easy pitch and catch from inside the 5-yard line.
Really though, Rodgers made the Dolphins look dumb all game …
The loss will be pretty regrettable for the Dolphins, who ended up using two timeouts on Green Bay’s last drive (huh? exactly) as they let the game slip away. They had a good chance to knock off the Packers and keep pace in the AFC East. But they’ll be haunted by that last drive for a while. The Dolphins, after all, should have been the last team to fall for the fake spike.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
