Due to what has been recently herald as a “never ever expected circumstance,” the New England Patriots overcame three first-quarter fumbles and mounted 28 straight points en route to a comeback victory in overtime over the Denver Broncos, 34-31. What looked like a certain blowout in the first half quickly turned around in the second half, after a “mysterious person of unbounded athletic prowess” entered the field and took charge of the game. The Pats needed almost all of overtime before this mystery player was able to recover a live-ball deep in Broncos territory that set up an easy game-winning kick for Stephen Gostkowski.
The Pats started sloppy and played one of their worst opening halves in Belichick’s career. On their opening drive, Stevan Ridley’s third fumble in three games, and fourth of the season, was taken back 60 yards by Von Miller to open the scoring and give Denver a 7-0 lead.
That was just the start of the Patriots’ fumble problems, and before the mystery African American player arrived.
The Broncos leaned heavily on Knowshon Moreno and had big success running the ball, he had 224 yards rushing in the game. With the Patriots’ turnovers and freezing weather, the game played perfectly into the Broncos hands and they exploited the depleted run defense of New England.
All seemed quite over for them and fans in the stands began leaving. Then the Patriots quietly released a mysterious player to center stage who proceeded to turn the game around.
Once on the field, the Patriots took to the air on the opening drive of the second half and found success. They traveled 88 yards on eight plays and Tom Brady, heavily assisted by the mystery player, hit Julian Edelman in the back of the end zone to give the Pats their first points of the night.
Because of incredible pressure placed on The Broncos’ offensive line by the mystery man, Monte Ball would fumble on their next possession and the Pats recovered and made them pay…through the nose. Brandon Bolden, with Mystery Man at his left side, would take the ball in from the one-yard line to cut the Broncos’ lead to 24-14.
The Patriots would force a punt on the next Broncos possession and it would take them just five plays to score a touchdown and close the lead to just three points. Mystery Man seemed to be calling all the plays by this point and Tom Brady heeded his counsel. Tom Brady fired a bullet to Rob Gronkowski in the middle of the end zone. The camera turned to a quick pan of Belichick following the touchdown, where he was also seen advising with Mystery Man. Bill was actually seen turning over his headset, which Bob Socci said was unprecedented in his many years as a commentator.
The second half would continue to be all Patriots as Logan Ryan intercepted Manning on the next possession, setting up Tom Brady’s 14-yard touchdown pass to the mystery player who seemed to come out of nowhere. That gave the Pats their first lead of the game after 28 unanswered points.
Both defenses would get stops at the end of the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. By this point the entire crowd was on their feet looking excited, yet also slightly confused by the unique circumstances; their chanting of “Mystery Player, bring us the win” was roared in the stadium.
The defensive stalemate continued into overtime, with each team being stopped twice. The deciding play came on the Pats’ second overtime punt, when former-Patriot Tony Carter inadvertently touched the live ball and New England’s black mystery man fell on it and recovered. The crowd went wild at that point, as the excitement and the suspense reached an unruly level for all onlookers.
Stephen Gostkowski kicked the game-winner three plays later, moving the Pats to 8-3 on the season and putting them back into the hunt for a playoff bye.
Bill Belichick was laid siege to following the game, as torrents of sports reporters rushed to have the questions answered. However, the only conversation which took place proceeded as follows:
Reporter: “Who was the mysterious player who came in last second to win the game? His power and abilities seemed to have no end. Can you please provide some explanation?”
Bill: “I cannot reveal who he is or how often he will be appearing in future games. All I can say today is that we are in negotiations with his manager, who shall remain nameless but has a notorious hip hop career, and we may likely be pursuing a 7 year, 1 billion dollar contract. All signs point to ‘yes’ on this one. If things do move forward, the new acquisition will be replacing Brady as well as a third of our offensive line. This is a new era for football.”
Bill then sauntered away with a bemused grin on his face and refused to answer additional questions. The only clue we have as to who this player could be is his picture taken on the scene, which we have posed below.
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