A 25-24 NFL Game Being Decided on a '3-Point Kick' is a True Rarity

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio dipped deep into the bag of sports metaphors and came up with this beauty last night to decry the ongoing election saga in his state. He was, naturally, thoroughly roasted for calling a field goal a “3 pt kick.”

It was the most viral Rubio-football moment since he hit a kid in the face with a soft toss while pressing the flesh with Iowans in 2015.  To be fair, his  pass was right there and the receiver — no matter how inexperienced — has to make this play.

Rubio isn’t going quietly, insisting that he is being big-tent inclusive and speaking to those that don’t speak in field goals, while trashing one of his state’s football team (the one that has the best record of the Florida teams right now).

One might be interested to learn that Rubio’s hypothetical is a true rarity  happened in the history of the NFL. The last game to finish with a 25-24 score was Indianapolis Colts over the Cleveland Browns on Dec. 7, 2014 and it was decided on a last-second touchdown pass by Andrew Luck. Or, as it’s called by football fans in the know, a six-point throwy thing.

There have been only 14 games in NFL/AFL history decided by a score of 25-24 score. Of those, the Buffalo Bills have been involved in nearly half of them, which kind of makes sense. And only four total 25-24 games were decided by a last second three-point kick by the team down 24-22. Two were before the 1970 NFL merger (Gino Cappelletti and Tom Dempsey FTW!) and the most famous recent one came when Tony Romo and and the Cowboys came from down 24-16 in the last thirty seconds to score a TD, miss the 2-point attempt, but recover the onside kick and kick a last-second Rubio.