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Buccaneers’ Hail Mary botch results in serious injury to officer in end zone

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Buccaneers’ Hail Mary botch results in serious injury to officer in end zone

Officer Knocked Down at Buccaneers Game

While much of the attention has rightly been focused on the Washington Commanders’ miraculous Hail Mary play, there was another, much less successful Hail Mary effort in Week 8 in the NFL.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to their NFC South rival Atlanta Falcons 31-26 on Sunday. On the last play of the game, Tampa quarterback Baker Mayfield attempted to say a Hail Mary. However, he sent the ball through the air a little and the ball was caught by receiver Rakeem Jarrett… but way out of bounds.

As Jarrett carried the ball out of bounds, he fell backwards onto a police officer assigned to the end zone to monitor the crowd. The officer turned his back and was stunned as Jarrett fell onto his foot. The television broadcast showed Falcons cornerback Mike Hughes trying to help the officer to his feet, but the officer appeared unable to do so.

Here is another angle of the moment of impact.

WFLA in Florida reported Monday that the Florida Highway Patrol officer suffered a broken ankle during the performance.

“FHP thanks the Falcon player(s) who initially assisted our member after the game,” the department said in a statement to WFLA.

Live NFL action can be especially dangerous for those on the sidelines. Just a couple of weeks ago, we saw the boy with the ball had to be carried off the field after a violent collision on the sideline with Tennessee defensive end Will Levis (video here).