Leon Lett lost a game for the Dallas Cowboys last season trying to recover a blocked Miami field goal. Thanks to videotape, we’ll see the play, oh, a few times this year.
If it makes Lett feel any better, he’s not alone. There is a long list of NFL players who have made monumental blunders. Here’s a short history of some of the more memorable goofs:
– In 1964, Minnesota defensive end Jim Marshall ran back a fumble 66 yards-into the wrong end zone against San Francisco.
– In 1962, the Dallas Texans’ Abner Haynes won the coin flip during the AFL’s first sudden-death overtime period. He elected to kick off.
– In 1978, the New York Giants could have had their quarterback kneel in the waning seconds and run out the clock for a victory over Philadelphia. But the Giants handed the ball to Larry Csonka. It hit his hip and dropped to the ground. The Eagles’ Herman Edwards picked it up and cruised 26 yards for the winning touchdown.
Some blunders have happy endings:
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– In 1983, the Cowboys wanted to run a simple handoff to Ron Springs. But he forgot to go into the game. So Tony Dorsett, with only 10 Cowboys on the field, ran an NFL-record 99 yards for a touchdown.
– In 1992, Sterling Sharpe thought he had scored a touchdown on snowy Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. He was actually at the 5-yard line when he stopped running. An alert Detroit defender knocked the ball loose, but it bounced back into Sharpe’s hands. He scored-and saved face.