During Friday afternoon’s game against the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins star safety Jevon Holland changed the game when he intercepted a Hail Mary pass just before halftime and returned it 99 yards back the other way for a Dolphins touchdown. But if he would have listened to his coaches, that play never would have happened.
During a recent interview with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on PFTPM, Jevon Holland admitted that he actually ignored his coaches by intercepting the pass and bringing it back for a touchdown, because the coaches always tell players to simply knock the ball down and do not return it.
“I have the red light to return any Hail Mary,” Holland said. “They want me to knock it down, 100 percent. But in that moment, it was going into halftime, score was close. I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve always wanted to do that,’ and I was like, ‘You know what? Might as well try it.’ It turned out to fall on my side.”
Holland said he knew he had a touchdown as soon as he saw that the only person in front of him was Jets quarterback Tim Boyle.
“When I cut back and it was just me and the quarterback one-on-one, I was like, ‘OK! This could be my first touchdown of my career,’” Holland said. “That right there, I was excited at that point. When it was Tim Boyle and me, I was like, ‘There’s no tackling me right here.’”
Obviously, everyone on the Miami sideline was happy he ignored the coaching in this instance as the play totally changed the game before halftime.
