Bill Belichick blames himself for final play, explains why Gronk was on the field

USATSI

The “Miracle in Miami” happened for a number of reasons, and Bill Belichick says it begins with him.

The New England Patriots head coach opened up about the Miami Dolphins’ double lateral game-winning touchdown and how his team broke down in coverage on that final play.

“It starts with me. We have to play better situational football. We’ll work to try to achieve that,” Belichick said.

“I think there were a lot of things that could have been better in the entire game. I think the game was a lot more than that play, but certainly that play wasn’t a good one for us.”

But why was Rob Gronkowski on the field instead of a regular defensive unit? Belichick said he never considered putting them out there instead of the Hail Mary unit and cited Gronk’s “ability to play the deep, long throw” as a major reason why.

New England was up 33-28 with 16 seconds remaining before that crazy play happened to give Miami the one-point victory.

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