FOXBOROUGH – Go for the Hail Mary, or have Joey Slye attempt a field goal that was two yards longer than the existing NFL record?
For Jerod Mayo, that was the decision he was left with with one second left in regulation after Drake Maye managed to advance the ball 20 yards to the 50 yard line with one tick remaining on the clock.
The odds for both were long shots at best. But Mayo put his faith in Slye after the Indianapolis Colts drove the field, scored a touchdown, and made the two-point conversion to go up 25-24 with 12 seconds to play.
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“Look, Slye was hitting it well in pregame, and I felt that that was the best thing to do to help our team win the football game,” Mayo said when asked about the decision. “Not sure what the numbers are on Hail Marys versus the field goal there, but that’s what I felt was right.”
While the Patriots did lose, Mayo almost looked like a genius.
When the ball left Slye’s foot, both he and holder Bryce Baringer thought they did the impossible.
“I thought he made it” Baringer said. “Off his foot, I can kind of feel if he catches one or not. And he smashed it.”
The ball had the right line. It was dead center, just a yard or two short, hitting the padding at the base of the goal posts.
“I’m not into hypotheticals, but a yard closer, or two yards closer, I think we’re having a different outcome,” Baringer said. “It was a good operation. He slaughtered one. I was ready to celebrate. He just smashed it.”
Slye said the longest field goal he ever hit was a 73-yarder in college. He converted from 63-yard out earlier in the year, and hit a 62-yarder in warmups in the opposite direction. He has the leg, and he, too, thought it might go.
“I hit it clean. It was dead down the pipe from where I was looking,” Slye said. “I knew if I just had the distance it would be fine.”
Cold weather days aren’t typically conducive to making long field goals. Slye had kicked three of them, including one from 54 earlier in the game, but also missed a chip-shot 25-yarder.
“I knew I pretty much had to put everything I had into it,” he said. “It was a little bit short.”
Following the loss, Slye indicated he wasn’t surprised Mayo sent him out.
“I know Coach (Mayo) has a lot of faith in me that I have a strong enough leg to hit from distance,” Slye said. “I knew … when they did the chunk play at the end. I figured it was going to be a better situation for me to kick it in field goal range. I don’t think we’re taking that opportunity to get a Hail Mary in that situation. It jut seemed like everything was leaning toward kicking a field goal.”
Baltimore’s Justin Tucker holds the NFL record with a 66 yarder on the books.
