By Jordan Long
The Minnesota Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship Game 29-24. It took a 61-yard pass from Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs with no time left for them to knock off the New Orleans Saints. The goat of the play is Saints’ safety Marcus Williams. He tried to hit Diggs as he caught the ball but missed, taking out his own player, allowing Diggs to run all the way to the end zone. This had me thinking about other consequential mistakes by one athlete allowing a team to win an important NFL contest.
The first that comes to mind is safety Rahim Moore in the 2012 Divisional Round; a game I attended. The Broncos were leading the Ravens with 35-28 with 1:57 left in regulation. All they had to do was stop the Ravens from scoring. The Ravens were at their own 30 yard-line. On third down, Quarterback Joe Flacoo launched a ball to Jacoby Jones. Moore was playing in front of Jones rather than behind him. Moore leaped up to try to knock the football down but it was over his head right to Jones who ran it in for a touchdown and tied the game.
The difference between this play and Williams’ is Denver had a chance with 30 seconds to win the game with Peyton Manning. The Broncos decided to take a knee and take their chances in overtime. They had their chances to win in overtime but the Ravens kicked a field goal in double overtime sending them to the AFC Championship game. The Ravens ended up winning the Super Bowl that year.
In week 15 of the 2010 regular season the New York Giants were tied 31-31 with the Philadelphia Eagles with 12 seconds left. The Giants were forced to punt the ball away. All they had to do was keep it away from punt returner DeSean Jackson and take their chances in overtime. That didn’t happen. They kicked it right to Jackson and he ran it 65 yards for a touchdown with no time left, lifting the Eagles over the Giants 38-31.
The last one that comes to mind is the 2003 NFC Wild Card game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers. This game was tied at 27 heading into overtime. The Seahawks won the toss and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck wanted the ball to score. He threw an interception to Al Harris who took it 52 yards for a touchdown lifting the Packers over the Seahawks 33-27.
These are just a few of the biggest mistakes in NFL history that allowed one team to be victorious. All of them could have been avoided if something else went differently. Hopefully teams will learn from this so their teams won’t be on this list.
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