Hail Mary pass

From Hail Mary, a prayer for intercession, from Latin Ave Maria, plus pass (“moving the ball from one player to another”). Attested from the 1970s in the context of American football.

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Hail Mary pass

Wikipedia

Hail Mary pass (plural Hail Mary passes)

1. (American football) A 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.
   • 1983, “A Run for the Roses”, in Michigan Ensian‎, page 120:

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

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

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

2. (by extension) An act done in desperation, with only a very small chance of success.
   • 2010 September 11, Mark Mazzetti, “As Time Passes, the Goals in Afghanistan Shrink”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     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.

• forlorn hope (military)
• hospital pass

• “Hail Mary, phr. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.