The silence was eerie on the brilliant throw from Patriots quarterback Drake Maye down the field to wide receiver Kayshon Boutte with 3:19 to play in the game. As has so often been the case between that pair, Boutte had done well to get free and put himself in a winnable one-on-one matchup down the field, and Maye rewarded him with a catchable ball 40 yards down the field in the shadow of the end zone.
The only problem was that Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey decided his best defense was to simply tackle Boutte well before the ball arrived. And that’s what he did. The Patriots trailed, 24-21, and New England badly needed a score. So Humphrey wrapped his hands around Boutte’s waist, then his thighs, and dragged him to the ground as Boutte still wrapped up the ball for a catch. But the ball trickled out when Boutte hit the ground.
In the broadcast booth, after a pause to allow the flag to come in, Cris Collinsworth was incredulous that no call was made on Humphrey. He just … got away with it. Sort of. Because where the Patriots folded under pressure last week against Buffalo, on Sunday they pulled out a gritty win in Baltimore, 28-24, to move to 12-3 and clinch a place in the AFC playoffs.
Patriots’ Kayshon Boutte Was Robbed
The plays down the stretch were critical, and no doubt, it should be pointed out that the Ravens lost star quarterback Lamar Jackson to an injury in this one. The Patriots had some luck int hat regard. But they also had a roadblock thrown up by the officials, who, shortly before that, had called a questionable touch-foul offensive pass interference in favor of Humphrey against Boutte.
Speaking after the Patriots win, coach Mike Vrabel was still irritated by those calls.
“Kayshon, it was unfortunate for Kayshon, the penalty or whatever they called over there was completely—ah, whatever they called over there,” Vrabel said, paushing before he said something that would draw a fine from the league office. “And I thought his ability to compete for that ball and I thought we were gonna have that one. Kayshon is gonna help us out. All the receivers are gonna play roles for us.”
Asked about the deep ball from Maye, Vrabel said he got an explanation for why the play was not ruled a catch, but not why Humphrey was given free rein to tackle Boutte.
“Here’s the explanation I got: You have to survive the ground. So, I am very aware of the catch rule. But that’s all I got,” Vrabel said.
GettyPatriots coach Mike Vrabel
Injury Ravaged the Roster in Week 16
The Patriots had some problems, too, that went well beyond the refereeing crew. They were also shelled with injuries, starting with right tackle Morgan Moses, who missed time in the first half. The team also lost his backup, Thayer Munford. They lost rookie sensation TreVeyon Henderson (head), plus defensive lineman Khyiris Tonga (foot) and Joshua Farmer (hamstring). Cornerback Charles Woods went out, as well as receiver Pop Douglas (hamstring).
All were beat up on the night. But Vrabel said the team, already without left-side blockers Will Campbell and Jared Wilson, as well as star linebacker Robert Spillane and defensive lineman Milton Williams, has been focused on just surviving.
Patriots Packed Their ‘Belief and Identity’
Getting ready for the Jets and Dolphins is next up, but Vrabel will have to count up the number of healthy Patriots he has for those jobs.
“That’s on the players, the training staff to work hard to evaluate guys and then on the coaching side, just being able to figure out what packages we can still get into, what we’re able to do and some of the things we weren’t able to do. We lost a lot of defensive linemen,” Vrabel said.
He added that the team came to Baltimore determined to be resilient.
“We talked about bringing a belief in our identity,” he said. “Believing that under any circumstances, we were going to win the football game. That’s what we talked about before we left, we said we needed to pack two things, we needed to pack our belief and our identity. And I think we did.”
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