This is about as bizarre as it gets.
Tom Brady threw a pass that was batted by the Rams’ Terrell Lewis. The deflection wound up back in the hands of Brady, who quickly threw another pass — on the same play — that went for a completion to Mike Evans.
However, you can’t throw two forward passes on the same play, which caused a penalty flag to be thrown.
Brady really caught a pass and completed a pass on the same play 👀 @TomBrady @Buccaneers
📺 #LARvsTB on ESPN pic.twitter.com/MI80s77SYb
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) November 24, 2020
The Rams declined the penalty, deciding they would rather have it as fourth-and-2. So, Brady to Evans was an eight-yard completion.
3rd & 10 at TB 34
(12:17 – 4th) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass short middle to 12-T.Brady to TB 25 for -9 yards. T.Brady pass short middle to M.Evans to TB 42 for 8 yards (J.Johnson III). Penalty on TB-T.Brady, Illegal Forward Pass, declined. Statistically, no completion for first pass as a result of the declined penalty
The rule book:
Item 1: Illegal Passes. Any other forward pass by either team is illegal and is a foul by the passing team,
(b) For a second forward pass from behind the line, or for a forward pass that was thrown after the ball returned behind the line: Loss of five yards.
Because the penalty did not involve loss of down the Rams actually benefited by declining the penalty and having the Bucs eventually pung
