Hail Mary pass

plural Hail Mary passes

1. American footballA long forward pass with little chance of completion, typically used by the losing team when time is running out and no other play is practical, in a desperate attempt to score the winning points.

   With 11:04 left in the game, and a comfortable 38–14 lead, Smith heaved a 62-yard, Hail Mary pass to Carter.

   1983, “A Run for the Roses”, in Michigan Ensian, page 120

   2 more examples

   Maybe I should just toss up a “Hail Mary” pass deep into their territory, as though I was saying a prayer that one of our players would catch it.

   1990, Michael Teitelbaum, Play Book! Football, →OCLC, page 35

   The black sky emptied as about 50,000 rain-soaked University of Colorado football fans exhaled in improbable joy at Folsom Field. This was after the Hail Mary pass caught as time expired, after the game-clinching fumble that squirted out of the end zone in overtime.

   2024 October 4, John Branch, “What Does College Football Have to Do With College?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

2. broadlyAn act done in desperation, with only a very small chance of success.

   Some liken that offensive to a “Hail Mary” pass, with the Taliban still entrenched throughout southern and eastern Afghanistan and a program to persuade Talib soldiers to lay down arms and be “reintegrated” into Afghan society having achieved little so far.

   2010 September 11, Mark Mazzetti, “As Time Passes, the Goals in Afghanistan Shrink”, in The New York Times, →ISSN