The NFL wrapped up its preseason over the weekend with a slew of games that everyone had forgotten about in the shadow of Week 1, so you'd be forgiven for missing one of the wildest plays you've ever seen in an organized football game on one of the last weekend nights of the summer.
The San Francisco 49ers and Las Vegas Raiders were tied 24-24 with three seconds left on Friday night when 49ers quarterback Tanner Mordecai, a rookie from Wisconsin, tried to squeeze out a win from a tight tie. Standing at his own 45-yard line with three seconds left, Mordecai took a shotgun snap and rolled to the right. Seeing several teammates near the goal line, he threw the ball about 50 yards toward the end zone. While the Raiders reached the pass first, the ball ended up in the hands of Trent Taylor.
From then on everything was magical.
The last game of the preseason was wild 😅#SFvsLV pic.twitter.com/ooKkYdOgJn
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) 24 August 2024
Here is the official game description, which you can find on ESPN and NFL.com.
“T.Mordecai pass deep right to T.Taylor to LV 7 for 48 yards. FUMBLES, touched at LV 10, recovered by SF-S.Gutierrez at LV 14. S.Gutierrez to LV 14 for no gain. FUMBLES, recovered by SF-R.Bell at LV 15. R.Bell to LV 22 for -7 yards. Lateral to C.Schrader to LV 23 for -1 yards. FUMBLES, recovered by SF-T.Mordecai at LV 24. T.Mordecai to LV 32 for -8 yards.
PENALTY to SF-T.Mordecai, illegal forward pass, 0 yards, enforced at LV 32.”
Apparently, whoever was in charge of summarizing the play simply gave up after the illegal forward pass, which is a shame, even if it's standard procedure. Cody Schrader picked up the ball and ran down the sideline before being intercepted by a defender. Schrader then threw the ball backward to offensive lineman Sebastian Gutierrez.
You may remember Gutierrez from earlier in the game when he recovered a fumble and immediately lost it so the game could continue. The fact that he was able to catch a lateral, run with the ball about 17 yards, and almost score is pretty incredible considering he had started the game on the other side of the field.
Based on that one game, he really seems to have a motor. Gutierrez, 26, went undrafted out of Minot State in 2022 and has spent time with the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs and the Raiders twice. With that kind of production, it's no wonder teams keep signing him.
