Patriots' Jakobi Meyers: I Was 'Trying to Be a Hero' on Final Play in Loss to Raiders

Jakobi Meyers will always be part of one of the most unbelievable endings of a game in NFL history.

He surely wishes that wasn't the case.

With Sunday's game tied at 24, New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson ran into Las Vegas Raiders' territory during what seemed to be the final play of regulation. Rather than go down, he flipped it to Meyers.

Meyers didn't have a running lane in front of him, so he turned around and started going backward until he unleashed a long lateral in the direction of quarterback Mac Jones. Chandler Jones of the Raiders snagged it, shoved a flailing Mac Jones to the ground, and ran the rest of the way for a stunning touchdown to win the game.

"I was trying to do too much," Meyers told reporters after the game. "… Trying to be a hero, I guess."

There were a number of things that went wrong during the play, but Meyers' decision-making process was the most obvious one.

He forced the issue as if the Patriots were in desperation mode while trailing instead of just going down or out of bounds and letting the contest go into overtime. To throw the ball that far to his teammate only made things worse.

Yet the quarterback didn't want to blame his wide receiver.

"It's on me," Jones told reporters when speaking about his tackle attempt. "That's my fault … I love Jakobi. It's not Jakobi's fault."

He went on to offer more praise for Meyers:

New England may not have been in that situation if Jones had played better. He finished 13-of-31 for 112 yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions while playing uninspiring football. The inability to establish a consistent passing game meant Stevenson's 172 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries went to waste.

It's more of the same for a quarterback who looks like he has taken a step backward this year and has just seven touchdown passes to eight interceptions on the season.

His poor play in Sunday's game surely won't be remembered, though, as the final touchdown will overshadow everything that happened before it. It was even more costly for the Patriots because it knocked them out of the current AFC playoff picture.

They are now 7-7 and looking up at the 9-5 Baltimore Ravens, 8-6 Los Angeles Chargers and 8-6 Miami Dolphins in the race for the three wild-card spots.