Maybe Green Bay Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas was busy getting ready for his team’s Monday night matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, and he missed the New England Patriots’ ill-advised lateral at the end of their Sunday loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. On that play, Patriots receiver Jakobi Meyers tried to lateral the ball to quarterback Mac Jones, Raiders linebacker Chandler Jones picked off the lateral, and Jones ran it back for a 48-yard game-winning touchdown.
Ridiculous pic.twitter.com/i1wh1rgFFS
— Ethan Hammerman (@Ethanhamm) December 19, 2022
RAIDERS DOTS OH MY GOD pic.twitter.com/xqG2oK2VwC
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) December 19, 2022
Now, to Monday night’s game. With 12:09 left in the fourth quarter, Rams quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a pass in the general direction of receiver Ben Skowronek, but the ball was closer to Douglas, and he had the interception.
Then, as Skowronek was whipping Douglas around by his undershirt, Douglas decided that it would be a fine idea to lateral the ball to teammate Jaire Alexander. Which did not go well at all.
Rasul Douglas clearly didn’t watch the Patriots game 😬 pic.twitter.com/HmtFOxqKA6
— PFF (@PFF) December 20, 2022
Fortunately for the Packers, safety Adrian Amos was able to recover the ball before another lateral-based disaster occurred. But two plays later, Packers running back Aaron Jones fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
There do appear to be times when teams just don’t want to keep the ball.