January 1, 2006: The Flutie Dropkick

January 1, 2006: The Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots, 28-26 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. Standings-wise, this regular-season finale doesn't make much of a difference: The Pats finish 10-6, and had already clinched the AFC Eastern Division title; while the 'Phins finish 9-7, and missed the Playoffs.

The game was in doubt until the end, as the Patriots scored a touchdown on the final play, but the 2-point conversion failed. Had they gotten it, and then won in overtime, it would only have moved them up 1 seed in the Playoffs.

With 6:10 left in the game, the Patriots were down 25-13, when Matt Cassel, substituting for Tom Brady, threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Tim Dwight. Then, instead of a standard point-after-touchdown attempt, Doug Flutie, executed a dropkick for the extra point, closing them to within 25-20. (Had he tried a dropkick from scrimmage, it would have been a field goal, and 3 points.)

It was the 1st dropkick attempted, let alone converted, in the NFL in 64 years, since Ray "Scooter" McLean of the Chicago Bears did it in the 1941 NFL Championship Game, with the Bears beating the New York Giants.

Flutie, who grew up in nearby Natick, Massachusetts, starred at Boston College, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1984. But NFL teams literally looked down on him, thinking him too short to play quarterback at the professional level: Both the Bears and his "hometown" Patriots briefly tried him and let him go.

He starred in the Canadian Football League, and was finally welcomed back, leading first the Buffalo Bills, and then the San Diego Chargers, to the Playoffs. Still, he was let go by both teams. The Patriots picked him up as a backup to Brady, and this would be his last NFL game. He was 43 years old.

The Patriots beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 1st round of the Playoffs, before losing to the Denver Broncos.

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January 1, 2006 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills, 30-26 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-20 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Carolina Panthers beat their arch-rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, 44-11 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans, 40-13 at Alltel Stadium (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville, Florida.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New Orleans Saints, 27-13 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions, 35-21 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens, 20-16 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field).

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Arizona Cardinals, 17-13 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in Indianapolis.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 23-17 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 34-10 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 37-3 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys, 20-10 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Houston Texans, 20-17 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Joe Nedney kicked a 33-yard field goal with 3:52 left in overtime.

* The day before, New Year's Eve, December 31, 2005, the New York Giants beat the Oakland Raiders, 30-21 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* Also the day before, the Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 23-7 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

There was no Monday Night Football game in this last week of the regular season.

As usual, when New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the NCAA pushed the traditional New Year's Day game back to January 2.

Baseball was out of season. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The Miami Heat beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 97-70 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 98-94 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 100-94 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 3 games played in the NHL: 

* The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* And the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the Nashville Predators, 4-2 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.