NFL Old School Game of the Week: Fryar's Hail Mary TD Gives Patriots Win over Rams

Irving Fryar holds the ball up high after catching the game-winning touchdown in the Patriots' 1986 game with the Rams.

In Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship Series, the California Angels were one strike from advancing to the World Series until Dave Henderson hit a two-run home run to give the Boston Red Sox a 6-5 in the 9th inning of a game in which Boston would win 7-6 after innings as the Red Sox would overcome a 3-1 series deficit to win the American League pennant to earn a trip to the World Series.

Almost a month after that fateful game, another Boston sports teams would pull off a miracle win in that stadium, Anaheim Stadium, as the New England Patriots faced off with the Los Angeles Rams in a key week 11 game of the 1986 NFL season.

The Patriots came into the game with a 7-3 record as New England was hoping to make another run to the Super Bowl were one year earlier, the Patriots made the NFL playoffs as a Wild Card team and won three games on the road to win the AFC championship.

New England was led by head coach Raymond Berry, who was in his second full season as the Patriots head coach with his starting quarterback being Tony Eason, who was selected with the #15 overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft as Eason was the fourth of the six quarterbacks picked in the first round in a class that included John Elway, Jim Kelly, and Dan Marino.

After going back-and-forth as the Patriots starting quarterback for the past two seasons with veteran Steve Grogan, Eason was firmly set as the starting quarterback in the 1986 season as he had started all but two games up to this point in the season.

While the Patriots had seemingly found their franchise quarterback, the Rams were still looking for their as they also came into the game with a 7-3 record under head coach John Robinson, who was in his fourth season as the LA head coach.

The Rams had made the playoffs the previous three seasons primarily on the legs of Eric Dickerson, as he had finished as the NFL's leading rusher in his first two seasons in 1983 and 1984 with Dickerson breaking the single season rushing record in 1984 as he ran for 2,105 yards.

However, the Rams' fortune relied on finding a new quarterback as they had finished toward the bottom of the league when it came to passing offense in 1984 + 1985 as the likes of Jeff Kemp and Dieter Brock had served as the team's starting quarterbacks during that time.

For 1986, the Rams had signed veteran Steve Bartkowski as a free agent to become the new starting quarterback only to be replaced after six starts by backup Steve Dils as Ram fans were clamoring to see if rookie Jim Everett, who had been acquired in a trade after Everett could not come to a contract agreement with the Houston Oilers after they selected him with the #3 overall pick in the 1986 NFL draft, could take the reins as the LA quarterback.

Everett would go into the New England game as the team's backup quarterback behind Dils as Los Angeles was seeking on at least a return to the NFC Championship Game, where they would fall to the Chicago Bears in the previous year.

   The Patriots would get the ball to start the game as Stephen Starring would return the opening kickoff 42 yards to give the New England offense the ball at their 44-yard-line.

From there, Eason would complete three straight passes, totaling 27 yards, to move the Patriots deep into LA territory to set up a 42-yard field goal by Tony Franklin to give New England a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter.

The Rams would start their initial possession of the game at their 31-yard-line as a 21-yard pass from Dils to David Hill would help Los Angeles get to the New England 25-yard-line where Mike Lansford would come on to attempt a 42-yard field goal, which would sail wide left to keep the score 3-0 in favor of the Patriots.

Patriots quarterback Tony Eason would complete 36 of 52 passes for 375 yards and throw touchdown passes.

 

Taking over at their 25-yard-line, the Patriots would drive to the Rams' 46-yard-line until Eason was intercepted by Rams cornerback Leroy Irvin, who retuned the pick 23 yards until he fumbled the football which was recovered by Patriots running back Craig James, allowing New England to retain possession at the Los Angeles 47-yard-line.

From there, the Patriots would drive to the Rams' 28-yard-line until Franklin came on to kick a 45-yard field goal which increased New England's lead to 6-0 with 3:32 left in the first quarter.

The Rams would go three-and-out on their next possession to punt the ball back to the Patriots but would get a reprieve when Irving Fryar fumbled the punt which was recovered by Rams linebacker Norwood Vann to give the ball back to Los Angeles at their 47-yard-line.

However, the Rams could not take advantage of the turnover as they would go three-and-out again, forcing them to punt again when disaster would strike for LA when Dale Hatcher's punt was blocked by Patriots defensive back Rod McSwain, who scooped up the football at the LA 31-yard-line to run it in for a touchdown to increase New England's lead to 13-0 just 15 seconds into the second quarter.

With the game slipping away, Robinson inserted Everett into the game on the Rams' next offensive possession which did not seem to provide a spark as they would go three-and-out again to punt the ball back to the Patriots.

But the Rams would not get another gift from Fryar as he fumbled the football after a hit by LA free safety Vince Newsome as Vann would make his second recovery to give the ball back to the Rams at the Patriots' 34-yard-line.

This time, the Rams would cash in on the turnover as Everett threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Henry Ellard to put Los Angeles on the scoreboard to cut the Patriots' lead to 13-7 with 13:02 left in the second quarter.

The two teams would exchange punts until 3:45 left in the second quarter when the Rams took over at their 21-yard-line as Dickerson got the ball on the first two plays of the drive, gaining 15 yards to give LA a 1st down at its 36-yard-line when Everett completed a seven-yard pass to Ellard, which was followed by an one-yard loss by Dickerson to set up 3rd & 4 at the Rams' 42-yard-line as the two-minute warning hit.

After the timeout, Everett would complete a 10-yard pass to running back Mike Guman to give the Rams a 1st down at the New England 48-yard-line where Everett would find Ellard for 22 yards to give the Rams another 1st down at the Patriots' 26-yard-line.

Following a two-yard run by Dickerson, Everett would scramble out of the pocket before firing a 24-yard touchdown pass to running back Barry Redden that with the extra point gave the Rams a 14-13 lead with 90 seconds left before halftime.

The Patriots would get the ball back at their 23-yard-line as Eason would complete four straight passes for 58 yards to move New England to the LA 19-yard-line when Eason handed the ball off to Tony Collins, who would run for 17 yards to give the Patriots a 1st & goal at the Los Angeles two-yard-line with 48 seconds left in the first half.

However, the Patriots could not punch into the end zone as a run by Mosi Tatupu would go nowhere while Eason would throw back-to-back incomplete passes to bring up 4th & goal when Franklin would come on to kick a 19-yard field goal to give New England a 16-14 lead with 24 seconds left in the first half.

The Rams took a knee to end the first half as they would go on into the locker room down 16-14 but set to get the ball to start the second half.

After both teams punted on their first possessions of the second half, the Rams would get the ball at the New England 37-yard-line as three runs by Dickerson for 17 yards plus a nine-yard pass from Everett to Ron Brown would set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Redden to give the lead back to Los Angeles at 21-16 with 9:15 to go in the third quarter.

Following a New England three-and-out, the Rams would get the ball back at their 20-yard-line as they would drive to the Patriots' 36-yard-line until Redden fumbled the football after he was hit by Patriots linebacker Don Blackmon, leading to a recovery by fellow linebacker Ed Reynolds to give New England the ball at their 33-yard-line.

After another exchange of punts, the Patriots took over at the 50-yard-line when Eason was picked off by Irvin again, who returned the pick 22 yards until like he did in the first quarter, fumble the football which this time was recovered by Collins to seemingly give the ball back to New England.

But an inadvertent whistle by back judge Jimmy Rosser before the fumble allowed the Rams to keep the football at the Patriots' 39-yard-line with 1:16 to go in the third quarter.

Everett would complete a swing pass to Dickerson that would go for 24 yards to put the Rams at the New England 15-yard-line when a holding penalty pushed Los Angeles back to the 25-yard-line as Dickerson would run for five yards on 1st & 20 to put the Rams at the Patriots' 20-yard-line as the third quarter came to an end.

The fourth quarter would begin with a bang as Everett would find Ellard in the end zone for the 20-yard touchdown which extended Los Angeles' lead to 28-16 just six seconds into the fourth quarter.

Rams quarterback Jim Everett would come off the bench to throw three touchdown passes on 12-of-19 passing for 193 yards.

Following another exchange of punts, the Patriots got the ball at their 42-yard-line when New England went into their two-minute offense as Eason would complete four passes in a row, totaling 52 yards to give New England a 1st & goal at the Rams' six-yard-line when Eason would finally throw an incomplete pass to bring up 2nd down.

That is when Eason found Fryar in the end zone for a six-yard touchdown to cut the Rams' lead to 28-23 with 7:06 to go in the game.

The Rams would begin their next possession at their 29-yard-line as LA reverted back its ground attack to try and milk the clock as they would run the ball seven straight times as they picked up a pair of 1st downs as they moved to the Patriots' 33-yard-line where they had a 3rd & 1 with a little over two minutes to go.

Dickerson appeared to get the 1st down only to have it called back because of a holding penalty to push them back 10 yards to the New England 43-yard-line when Everett threw an incomplete pass, forcing the Rams to punt the ball back to the Patriots, who would take over at their 13-yard-line with 1:45 left to play in the game.

The drive would start off with Eason completing an eight-yard pass to Fryar which was followed by a 18-yard pass to Stanley Morgan to give the Patriots a 1st down at their 39-yard-line.

The Patriots would go backwards on 1st down when Rams linebacker Kevin Greene sacked Eason for a five-yard loss to make it 2nd & 15 where Eason found Fryar for 13 yards to set up 3rd & 2 at the New England 47-yard-line.

It looked like the Patriots had converted as Eason completed a 23-yard pass to tight end Greg Baty only to have it nullified because Eason crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing the pass resulting in a five-yard penalty and a loss of down to make it 4th & 7 at the New England 42-yard-line with 34 seconds to go.

The Patriots would keep their hopes alive as Eason completed a pass to Collins for the needed seven yards to give New England a 1st down at their 49-yard-line as Eason stopped the clock with an incomplete pass with 15 seconds to go.

Eason would scramble for 26 yards before stepping out of bounds at the Rams' 25-yard-line with three seconds to go, giving the Patriots a chance at one throw into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.

Eason would loft a pass for the right corner of the end zone where Morgan was able to tip the ball amongst a sea of Ram defenders that would fall into the hands of Fryar for a shocking 25-yard touchdown with no time left on the clock.

After the wild celebration following the touchdown, Franklin would come on to kick the extra point to make the Patriots' victory official with the score of 30-28.

Even though they lost the game, the Rams found their quarterback as Everett would be the starting quarterback for the rest of the season as he helped Los Angeles earn a spot in the playoffs with a 10-6 record as the Rams would fall to the Washington Redskins 19-7 in the NFC Wild Card Game.

Everett would remain as the Rams' starting quarterback for the next seven seasons as he would finish his LA career as the all-time leader passer in Rams history with 23,758 yards.

As for the Patriots, they would finish the season with a 11-5 record that aided with a collapse by the New York Jets, would help New England clinch the AFC East division title for the Patriots' first division title since 1978.

However, the Patriots would fall to the Denver Broncos 22-17 in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs as New England would not return to the postseason until 1994 and with Drew Bledsoe at quarterback.