River City Relay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The River City Relay is a famous play in a NFL game involving the New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars that took place on December 21, 2003 in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Jaguars (4-10) were leading the Saints (7-7) 20 to 13 with seven seconds left in the game. The Saints were on their own 25 yard line looking at a 2nd and 10. Quarterback Aaron Brooks started from a shotgun formation and dropped back to pass. He passed the ball to the right side of the field to receiver Donté Stallworth, who caught the pass at midfield. Stallworth then bounced off of a tackle and turned inside and broke two more tackles. The clock had already reached zero, and Stallworth lateralled the ball at the 34-yard line to Michael Lewis, who ran the ball to the 25-yard line of Jacksonville. He then turned and pitched the ball to Deuce McAllister, who ran to the Jacksonville 20-yard line. McAllister then pitched the ball to the right side of the field to Jerome Pathon, who caught the ball at the 24-yard line of Jacksonville. Brooks then laid a block on the last Jacksonville defender and Pathon dove into the end-zone.

There was a lengthy delay while the officials determined that all of the ball transfers were indeed legal laterals. All the Saints needed was a John Carney extra point to send the game into overtime, but in an ironic twist, Carney missed the extra point wide right and the Saints lost 20-19.

The River City Relay later went on to win the 2004 ESPY for best play.