River City Relay The River City Relay is a famous play in a National Football League game involving the New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars that took place on December 21 , 2003 in Jacksonville , Florida . Background . The Saints , at 7 - 7 entering the game , were attempting to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2000 . However , they needed to win both of their final two games to have a chance at qualifying for the postseason . While the Saints led early on in the game 3 - 0 after a John Carney field goal , the scoring had been mostly dominated by the Jaguars . With just seven seconds left at the end of regulation , the Jaguars had built a 20 - 13 lead on the Saints . The play . The Saints were on their own 25 - yard line looking at second down and 10 . Quarterback Aaron Brooks passed the ball to the right side of the field to receiver Donté Stallworth , who caught the pass at midfield . Stallworth then bounced off a tackle attempt by Jaguars cornerback Fernando Bryant and turned inside and broke two more tackles . The clock had already reached zero , and Stallworth pitched the ball to the 34 - yard line to Michael Lewis who ran the ball to the 25 - yard line of Jacksonville . He then turned and pitched the ball to Deuce McAllister , who ran to the Jaguars ' 20 - yard line . McAllister then pitched the ball to the right side of the field to Jerome Pathon , who caught the ball at the 24 - yard line of Jacksonville . Brooks , who had hustled all the way downfield , then laid a block on the last Jaguars defender and Pathon dove into the end - zone . There was a lengthy delay while the officials determined that all of the ball transfers ( after the pass to Stallworth ) were indeed legal laterals . All the Saints needed was a John Carney extra point to send the game into overtime . Aftermath . Carney lined up to kick the extra point , hit a dead push , and the kick sailed wide right . The reaction of Saints play - by - play radio announcer Jim Henderson became legendary : " " NOOOO ! ! ! He missed the extra point wide right ! Oh my God , how could he do that ? " " Due to the play , the Jaguars won the game 20 - 19 . Earlier in the season , Coach Haslett had stated to the media that he trusted Carney so much , that he ' d even stake his life on him . When reminded later that day of those same comments , Haslett stated , " Then I ' d probably be dead right now . He ' s one of the great all - time kickers . I never would have guessed this would happen . " With the loss , the Saints fell to 7 - 8 on the season and were eliminated from contention for the 2003 NFL playoffs . However even if the Saints had won in overtime , they would have been eliminated from the playoffs , as the Dallas Cowboys won their tenth game of the season that day ( 9 was the highest possible number of wins the Saints could have had if they won ) and the Seahawks eventually won their tenth game to gain a wild card . The Saints would , however , finish their season on a high note the next week with a 13 - 7 home victory over the playoff bound Dallas Cowboys . For the Jaguars , the victory would lift them to a 5 - 10 record . They would go on to lose the next week , 21 - 14 , to another NFC South team , the Atlanta Falcons . The River City Relay later went on to win the 2004 Best Play ESPY Award .