Cardinals missed field goal leads to 109-yard touchdown run by Jaguars’ Jamal Agnew
Jamal Agnew did the unthinkable.
The Jaguars receiver on Sunday returned a Cardinals’ missed field goal 109 yards to the house for one of the longest touchdowns in NFL history.
Jacksonville was tied 7-7 with Arizona towards the end of the second quarter of their game at TIAA Bank Field. The Cardinals elected to try for a 68-yard field goal to help break that tie going into the half. So they sent kicker Matt Prater — who just last week set a new franchise record with his 62-yard field goal against the Minnesota Vikings — out for the attempt.
Prater lined up his shot and made the attempt. It fell short, right into the arms of Agnew, who was waiting almost dead center, one-yard shy of the back boundary of the endzone.
Agnew broke out of the endzone, avoiding the first Cards defender by breaking left. Two Jaguars linemen helped clear his path as his shifted slightly back right. He narrowly escaped two tackles, both Cardinals of whom fell short behind Agnew, but one of which managed to swivel him back left. He escaped another charging Cardinal as he slowed up down the sideline.
The celebrations started just shy of the five-yard line as Agnew put his hands up completing his run into the Cardinals’ endzone. Touchdown.
He was rightfully mobbed by his teammates as he caught his breath by the back wall behind the goal post. And the Jaguars were able to take a 13-7 lead into the half. The Cardinals, behind quarterback Kyler Murray, went on to beat the Jags, 31-19.
This is the second time in NFL history a missed field goal was returned 109 yards for a touchdown. Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie completed the feat back in 2007 against the Vikings.
Agnew’s touchdown wasn’t quite as dramatic as Cromartie’s as the then second-year player stretched his arms out passed the back boundary in order to make his catch. But Agnew will still go down in NFL lore with one of the most exciting plays ever.
Then later in the day, Baltimore Ravens’ kicker Justin Tucker added to those say history books with a record 66-yard field goal against the Detroit Lions.
What a Sunday afternoon.
