None other than Tom Brady burned the Rams last season with a bizarre double-pass after he caught his own deflected throw that and then completed it to Mike Evans. The pass to Evans went for an 8-yard gain, and because the Rams declined the penalty for an illegal forward pass, the 8-yard completion stood.
It was a bizarre loophole inadvertently exploited by the Bucs, but the Rams successfully closed it. NFL owners voted to pass the Rams’ proposal to add a loss of down for a second forward pass behind the line of scrimmage.
Also …
• Chicago’s extra point proposal passed.
• The Rams’ double forward-pass rule passed.
• All overtime rules proposals failed.— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 21, 2021
In the case of Brady’s pass, the Bucs would’ve had third-and-15 if the Rams accepted the penalty, giving them another chance to pick up the first. Now with this rule change, it would’ve put the Bucs in fourth-and-15 if the Rams accepted the penalty.
ESPN currently has this scored as Tom Brady completing a negative-9 yard pass to himself, followed by a 17-yard pass to Mike Evans for two completions and a catch by Brady on the same play.
That’s some 🐐 stuff! #Buccaneers pic.twitter.com/tcVKehUYaF
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) November 24, 2020
The Rams still beat the Bucs despite Brady’s weird double-pass, so it didn’t come back to bite them. But they still wanted to prevent a play like that from happening in the future – and who could argue with it?
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