Anatomy of a Hail Mary: How Jayden Daniels and the Commanders beat the buzzer

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Jayden Daniels' Hail Mary touchdown pass to Noah Brown that gave the Washington Commanders an 18-15 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday was one of the most memorable finishes to an NFL game in recent history. It went down as a 52-yard completion with the clock expired, but in reality, it was a much longer throw and a product of hours of preparation.

Here's how it went down:

After failing to score a touchdown all game and going 0 for 3 in the red zone, the Commanders fell behind with 25 seconds left on Roschon Johnson's 1-yard TD run that came after a pass interference penalty on Benjamin St-Juste and the ensuing 2-point conversation that made it 15-12 Bears.

Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards: “Offense did an awesome job of scoring and giving us the lead.”

Commanders running back Brian Robinson: “We knew we shouldn’t have been down. That’s something that the whole locker room knew. We knew we had another opportunity, as well.”

After a 24-yard kickoff return by Austin Ekeler, there were just 19 seconds on the clock.

Commanders coach Dan Quinn: “You don’t have timeouts. We used one early, obviously.”

An incomplete pass was followed by Daniels finding tight end Zach Ertz for an 11-yard gain and wide receiver Terry McLaurin for 13 to get to almost midfield.

Commanders center Tyler Biadasz: “Those plays leading up to the Hail Mary, those are huge plays.”

McLaurin: “We just wanted to give ourselves a chance to put it in position for Jayden to throw the ball down there.”

Bears coach Matt Eberflus: “You’re defending a touchdown there, and them throwing a ball for 13 yards or 10 yards, whatever it is, really doesn’t matter."

Quinn: “I thought we’d had a chance if we could get up the field some. And so that’s what I was trying to get to.”

McLaurin: “We know we had enough time left. We practice that literally a few times a week in those situations, got-to-have-it situations.”

Commanders right guard Sam Cosmi: “If you don’t practice it, it’s not going to come to fruition. If you practice it, then you’ll be ready for that moment.”

Ertz: “We walk through the play. Never like full-speed reps. Obviously you’re not going to just burn 70-yard sprints in practice. But we talk about it. I’m kind of the jumper, per se, and then you’ve got a receiver in front, a receiver behind.”

Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu: “I was just walking down just telling guys, ‘Head up, man, it’s not over yet.'”

There were two seconds left on the clock.

Daniels: "Buy some time and don’t throw the ball out of bounds. Try to give your guys an opportunity.'"

Brown: “We are a team full of fighters. We don’t give up to the final whistle."

The Bears sent three pass rushers with another near the line of scrimmage and the remaining seven defenders dropping into coverage. Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson had his back to the line of scrimmage and was taunting fans when the ball was snapped.

Eberflus: “We chose to do the three-man rush. I think he had the ball for over 12 seconds, and I’m not sure what happened back there in terms of blocking and getting after the quarterback.”

Commanders left guard Nick Allegretti: “It’s chaos. You’re just trying to hit somebody in a different color jersey, give Jayden a shot to rip the ball.”

Cosmi: “Two of them went this way, came back, swung around to the left. Nick cleaned somebody’s clock.”

McLaurin: “You got guys dumping guys on the ground. We know that’s a physical play, and you got a chance that you can make a play and change the game.”

Edwards: “He’s fast, right? He does a good job of keeping the play alive. It’s a long time for our guys to be covering stuff like that.”

Quinn: “Jayden did a fantastic job of buying time, buying time, over to the right side. I don’t know how long the play was. ... Thirteen seconds? Yeah, I felt every bit of them."

Commanders center Tyler Biadasz: “We just wanted to give him time. Jay did a great job of scrambling around like he did to get to a stop. Having all the wideouts and the tight ends get down there, that’s the biggest part for that type of play.”

Brown: “Try and get down there as fast as you can, box out, keep good position and hope Jayden can get the ball down there. He did a phenomenal job keeping the play alive."

Daniels, playing through a rib injury, heaved the ball up from the Washington 35-yard line.

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams: “I thought it was going to be a little short."

Daniels: “Let the guys get down there and get in kind of that formation and put some air on the ball and let them go make a play.”

McLaurin: “He has an unbelievable arm.”

Daniels: "Just throw the ball up, give my guys a shot. I didn’t see anything.”

Cosmi: “I just saw him chuck it. I’m just sitting there.”

Allegretti: “What’s the percentage on those? Not high. And it was like the perfect tip and then just one guy standing there.”

McLaurin: “Zach had an unbelievable tip. It ran just like we practiced it.”

Eberflus: "The guy that we were boxing out was (McLaurin), so it just depended on where he was.”

Allegretti: “I looked up on the screen and saw the ball get tipped.”

Ertz: “I don’t think I actually touched the ball. I don’t know what the film says, per se. But I’m taking the hockey assist, for sure. I know I impacted the play and Noah ended up with a touchdown and so we won the game and that’s all the matters.”

Brown: “That happened to be my assignment on the Hail Mary. We got one guy in front and two in the back, try and throw it up to the jumper and Zach did a great job getting a hand on the ball, allowing it to get back to me and we made the play.”

McLaurin: “It felt like it was going in slow motion, honestly. That ball fell right into Noah’s arms. I don’t think I’ve seen a Hail Mary fall that perfectly off of a tip drill.”

Biadasz: “You’ve got to have a little bit of luck. Coach always talks about the ball finds energy, and we were in the right spots at the right time and that’s an amazing moment you don’t forget.”

Cosmi: “I see the ball come down in Noah’s hands. I just couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Is that a black jersey?’ And then just sprinted 60 yards.”

Allegretti: “I got a charley horse so I was wandering somewhere while the ball was in the air and looked up and I was like, ‘Let’s see what happens.’”

Daniels: "I just heard people screaming and our sideline rushing the field. That’s how I knew.”

Quinn: “I felt, rest in peace, a little like (late N.C. State basketball coach) Jim Valvano just running around, not sure what to do and where to go.”

Robinson: “I went and jumped in the stands and everybody was just excited.”

McLaurin: "In the big moments, you want to come through for your team. We were just telling each other, ‘It’s not over till it’s over.’"

Daniels: “I was juiced up, for sure. Excited because that’s kind of like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not too many people get to experience stuff like that. That was my first time.”

Allegretti: “I couldn’t believe it. It was disbelief.”

McLaurin: “We made it happen. It wasn’t just one guy. But for us to execute that play, it doesn’t happen a lot, I haven’t been part of a win like that in the league.”

Quinn: “I feel like I’m 6 inches off the ground with a big hug.”

Bears tight end Cole Kmet: “A Hail Mary is a Hail Mary. It’s a prayer. You’re just tossing up a prayer. ... When you talk about losing a game off a Hail Mary and you’re trying to fix that, that’s not really a play you want to obsess over. It’s a Hail Mary. It is what it is. The ball literally just fell their way.”

Eberflus: "We did everything we could at the very end, and we just have to execute better.”

Biadasz: “Every win, you never take one for granted, however it happens.”

McLaurin: “It was pandemonium out there. It was real pandemonium. I couldn’t breathe.”

Cosmi: “It was like a movie, to be completely honest with you. To be a part of that, it’s like, ‘Oh, front-row seats to something amazing.'"

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) leaves the field after an 18-15 win over the Chicago Bears in an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn and tight end John Bates (87) celebrate after the Commanders beat the Chicago Bears 18-15 in an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown (85) catches a 52-yard touchdown pass in the end zone as time expires to give the Commanders an 18-15 win over the Chicago Bears in an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown (85) catches a 52-yard touchdown pass in the end zone as time expires to give the Commanders an 18-15 win over the Chicago Bears in an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Anatomy of a Hail Mary: How Jayden Daniels and the Commanders beat the buzzer

Anatomy of a Hail Mary: How Jayden Daniels and the Commanders beat the buzzer

Washington Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown (85) catches a 52-yard touchdown pass in the end zone as time expires to give the Commanders an 18-15 win over the Chicago Bears in an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are climbing Monday ahead of a big week for profit reports from Big Tech stocks. Oil prices, meanwhile, are tumbling toward their worst loss in more than a year.

The S&P 500 was 0.5% higher in morning trading. The main measure of the U.S. stock market is coming off its first losing week in the last seven, but it’s still near its all-time high set earlier this month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 261 points, or 0.6%, as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was approaching its all-time high set in July with a gain of 0.7%.

Several Big Tech stocks helped lead the way, and five of the behemoths known as the “Magnificent Seven” are on this week’s schedule to report their latest profits. These high-flying stocks have been at the forefront of Wall Street for years and have grown so big that their movements can singlehandedly shift the S&P 500.

After suffering a summertime swoon on worries that their stock prices had risen too quickly when compared with their profits, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are under pressure this week to deliver more big growth.

Another member of the Magnificent Seven, Tesla, soared to one of the best days in its history last week after reporting a better profit than analysts expected.

Monday’s gains for Big Tech helped offset drops for stocks in the oil-and-gas industry, which were hurt by the plunging price of oil. Exxon Mobil’s 1.3% drop and ConocoPhillips’ slide of 1.6% were two of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500.

A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell 5.2%, and Brent crude, the international standard, slid 5.1%. It was the first trading for them since Israel attacked Iranian military targets on Saturday in retaliation for an earlier barrage of ballistic missiles. Israel’s attack was more restrained than some investors had feared it could be, and it raised hopes that a worst-case scenario may be avoided.

Beyond the violence that is taking a human toll, the worry in financial markets is that an escalating war in the Middle East could cut off the flow of crude from Iran, which is a major oil producer. Such worries had sent the price of Brent crude up to nearly $81 per barrel in early October, despite signals that plenty of oil is available for the global economy. It’s since fallen back below $72.

Financial markets are also dealing with the volatility that usually surrounds a U.S. presidential election, with Election Day fast approaching in two Tuesdays. Markets have historically been shaky heading into an election, only to calm afterward regardless of which party wins.

The trend affects both the stock and the bond markets. In the bond market, Treasury yields were holding relatively steady after rising sharply for most of this month.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.25% from 4.24% late Friday. It’s well above the roughly 3.60% level where it was near the start of October.

Yields have climbed as report after report has shown the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected. That’s good news for Wall Street, because it bolsters hopes the economy can escape from the worst inflation in generations without the painful recession that many had worried was inevitable.

But it’s also forcing traders to ratchet back forecasts for how deeply the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates, now that it’s just as focused on keeping the economy humming as getting inflation lower. With bets diminishing on how much the Fed will ultimately cut its overnight interest rate, Treasury yields have also been given back some of their earlier declines.

Yields have also climbed as investors have seen former President Donald Trump's chances of re-election improving. Economists say a Trump win could help push inflation higher in the long term, and worsening inflation could push the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that tends to move more with Trump's re-election odds than on its own profit prospects, jumped 16.7% Monday to $45.46. The parent company of Trump's Truth Social platform has been rallying since hitting a bottom of roughly $12 in late September, though it's still well below its perch above $60 reached in March.

In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.8% as the value of the Japanese yen sank after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’ s ruling coalition lost a majority in the 465-seat lower house in a key parliamentary election Sunday.

Stock indexes were mostly higher across much of the rest of Asia and in Europe.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is shown on Sept. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader works near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)