Furman’s miraculous upset of Virginia draws comparisons to Patriots’ gaffe against Raiders

Time may or may not be a flat circle, but it certainly has an uncanny repetitive ability. Almost everything that happens can be re-contextualized and compared to something that has happened before.

Take the 2023 NCAA Tournament. This year’s March Madness was kicked off earlier this week, with the first round starting on Thursday.

It did not take long for the first upset to take place either, with 13th-ranked Furman beating No. 4 Virginia 68-67. The score alone does not tell the whole story of the game, or the miraculous fashion in which it ended — a fashion that might bring back some memory of last December, and a New England Patriots loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Let’s just use the word “ill-advised” to describe what happened.

While the play in action was described as a “steal” it was more of a collapse by Virginia; a player blindly tossing the ball across the field in the final seconds to effectively lose the game. Basically, it was what happened to the Patriots against the Raiders.

That game, of course, was decided on an ill-fated lateral attempt on the game’s final play. Instead of going down in the tie game, running back Rhamondre Stevenson tossed the ball back to wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, who then went on to try to throw it back to quarterback Mac Jones.

You know what came next: Raiders defender Chandler Jones picked off the pass attempt, and returned the ball to the end zone for the game-winning points.

One can only hope that Virginia’s Kihei Clark will also be able to turn his gaffe into a learning experience just like Jakobi Meyers.

“That was a humbling experience,” Meyers said on Tuesday at his introductory press conference after signing, of all teams, with the Raiders in free agency. “As a man, as a football player, that was just tough. I knew what it meant to the team I was on at the time. So it really hurt me because family is really big for me. When I went through it, in the moment my heart was broken.

“But days after, just seeing how guys rallied around me, it built me up as a person. So now I know whenever one of my teammates messes up, who I want to be in the situation. How I want to help them. What type of love, what type of support I want to give.”