Late in the third quarter of their Week 11 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, the Miami Dolphins hustled to the line of scrimmage. They had just converted a third-and-8 opportunity from their own 42-yard line with an 18-yard pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill, and with the clock ticking down, they seemingly wanted to get one more play off before the end of the period.
Except, that wasn’t actually the case. With first-and-10 from the Vegas 40, Tagovailoa sent Jonnu Smith in motion from right to left across the formation and then gave a hard count, which drew star Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby offside with just one second remaining in the third quarter.
And that’s when Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel decided to let Crosby know how he’d been fooled.
“Hey! We didn’t have a play called, Maxx!” McDaniel screamed toward the All-Pro defender. “We didn’t have a play called, Maxx! We didn’t even have a play called! L-O-L!”
The Dolphins, who were up 17-12 at the time, would go on to finish that drive in the end zone, with De’Von Achane scoring on a run from 2 yards out. The game would ultimately end in a 34-19 Dolphins victory, and while that specific neutral-zone infraction call obviously wasn’t decisive, it did at least play a role in building Miami’s margin, and is an example of why teams should always try whatever they can, to gain a few extra yards. It just might work — even against one of the NFL’s best players.
