Braxton Berrios reveals Mike LaFleur’s name for Jets’ lateral play in Miami
With less than two minutes remaining in the first half of the New York Jets’ Week 15 game against the Miami Dolphins, Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur pulled a trick play out of his hat to try and convert in a 3rd-and-15 situation.
The play – which involved Zach Wilson, Jamison Crowder, and Braxton Berrios – ended up working, and it quickly went viral on social media.
Jets get creative on 3rd & 15! #TakeFlight
📺: #NYJvsMIA on CBS
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/ZFWPFNUxLq— NFL (@NFL) December 19, 2021
Exactly one month later, Berrios made an appearance on the Barstool Sports podcast “Pardon My Take” and revealed the name of the play: “Cocaine”.
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) January 19, 2022
“Cocaine. That was it,” said Berrios. “That was the play call.”
According to Berrios, it wasn’t a new play, either. That was just the first time they called it in a game.
“We had that one in the playbook, actually, for a few weeks. We’d put it in when the defense, on third and whatever, third and long-long, would give us the look,” said Berrios. “Finally, we called it and everybody in the huddle is like smiling and like ‘all right, well this is going one or two ways,’ and it worked. It worked phenomenally.”
It all started with a short pass over the middle from Wilson to Crowder. When Crowder caught the ball, he immediately looked to lateral the ball to Berrios, who was near the line of scrimmage. All Berrios had to do was follow his blockers, which he did. And it worked out great – or to put it in Berrios’ words, it worked “phenomenally.”
Play: 👉 the Jet X Offseason Simulator
A month has passed since the viral play in Week 15, and over that time, a couple of other teams have had the chance to try and replicate it. Nobody has succeeded.
Just last weekend, the Cowboys and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore tried to run a variation of the Jets’ play. They failed miserably.
Cedrick Wilson CANNON
— Barstool Gambling (@stoolgambling) January 16, 2022
The play in Miami wasn’t the only example of Mike LaFleur getting tricky, though. Throughout the season LaFleur often used trick plays to get the offense moving. It’s no secret that the Jets struggled with injuries and slow starts this season, so trick plays got things going and kept defenses on their toes.
Now that “Cocaine” is no longer a secret, LaFleur will have to change it up next season if he plans on reintroducing it to the playbook.
