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NFL's biggest individual choke job


sammymvpknight

NFL's biggest individual choke job  

92 members have voted

  1. 1. Who had the biggest choke in NFL history? Realize that I'm only keeping it to players, and I'm only keeping it to particular plays (not careers, or entire games). I understand that people may have differing opinions of the term "choke". As guidance, I'm going to define "choke" as the player was overcome with emotion based on the magnitude of the situation which resulted in a mistake that they otherwise wouldn't make.

    • ​​​​​​​Az-Zahir Hakim’s muff, Saints vs Rams, 2000 NFC wild card game
      0
    • Tony Romo’s botched snap, Cowboys vs Seahawks, 2007 NFC Wild Card
      13
    • Gary Anderson’s missed FG, Vikings vs Falcons, 1998 NFC Championship Game
      26
    • Stevie Johnson’s drop, Bills vs Steelers, 2010 Regular season
      0
    • John Kasay’s kickoff out of bounds, Panthers vs Patriots, Super Bowl XXXVIII
      1
    • Leon Lett’s fumble, Cowboys vs Dolphins, 1993 Regular season
      6
    • Brett Favre’s INT, Saints vs Vikings, 2009 NFC Championship Game
      9
    • John Carney’s missed PAT, Saints vs Jaguars, 2013 Regular season
      1
    • Marcus Williams’ missed tackle, Saints vs Vikings, NFC division
      12
    • Scott Norwood missed FG, Bills versus Giants, Super Bowl XXV
      10
    • Jackie Smith dropped pass, Cowboys versus Steelers, Super Bowl XIII
      5
    • Lin Elliott missed field goal, Chiefs versus Colts, 1996 AFC division
      1
    • Earnest Byner’s fumble, Browns vs Broncos, 1987 AFC Championship game
      9
    • Jim Marshall’s fumble recovery, Vikings versus 49ers, 1964 Regular season
      0
    • Joe Pisarcik’s fumble, Giants versus Eagles, 1978 Regular season
      0


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It has to be Gary Anderson.  Nothing could stop the Vikings' offense in 1998 - except Gary Anderson's miss at that point in the game.  All the air went out of the stadium after that, and you could just feel the change in momentum.  It was over after our "perfect" kicker missed an easy one to put it away.

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Most of this site is probably too young to remember the Jackie Smith drop (for the record I am too, but I have seen the game and that play particularly many times). This is a hall of fame TE in his only SB appearance and while the throw could have been a bit better he still should have caught that easily. Add that it was Cowboys Steelers in their peak. Perhaps given that it was the 3rd quarter and not the end of the game it maybe isn't the biggest choke, but frankly I have more faith in this being the play that "survives" in NFL memory over the others.

Gary Anderson's miss is probably the answer though. If you looked at all the plays up there and said which had the greatest chance of success, that would probably be it.

 

I also think we have to differentiate choking from simply being dumb. Marcus Williams and Leon Lett for example were dumb. Players dropping a ball short of the goal line in celebration are dumb. Those aren't chokes to me.

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The Leon Lett fumble in the Dolphins game was pretty stupid. 

A choke job most people miss is a game in around 1988 the Bengals / 49ers. Bengals winning, kneeling on ball in their own territory. But idiot coach doesn't realize clock stops on change of possession. So they kneel again (or maybe they ran it, I do know they did NOT punt it) on fourth down and clock stops. So they give Joe freaking Montana one play from inside Bengal zone and of course touchdown. DUMB DUMB DUMB. 

I do know this is not a "players choke" as the OP suggests, but maybe it is. Could ONE player have gone up to the coach and ask, "dude, we can't down it here, or they get the ball"

 

Edited by kwolf68
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I still have nightmares about this

 

about as easy a pick as you can get that would have sealed a perfect season from a top 5 CB in the league at the time. Say what you will about the flukey plays, swallowing of the whistle, etc that came after. THIS was the moment. 

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I think it has to be Gary Anderson's missed FG. Easily one of the most talented offenses the league has ever seen, and seemed like they were going to be a shoe in for the Super Bowl that season.

I will say that the Marcus Williams one was quite the roller-coaster of emotions being there watching it happen live. It seemed the Saints had the game in the bag after a big 2nd half comeback and given the history between the 2 teams, I must say I was a bit nervous sporting my Kamara jersey as so many of the fans around me were getting pretty riled up with how the game was unfolding. Then Marcus Williams gave them an absolute gift, which ultimately cost the Saints the game.

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26 minutes ago, SaveOurSonics said:

Entered this thread fully expecting to make a case against the Russell Wilson interception in the Super Bowl and am surprised to see it has only been mentioned once. 

 

The Blair Walsh missed FG is one that definitely sticks out. 

More the call than the player IMO. It was a great play by Marcus jumping that slant, wasnt a bad throw. 

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21 minutes ago, Deadpulse said:

More the call than the player IMO. It was a great play by Marcus jumping that slant, wasnt a bad throw. 

Assume you mean Malcolm. 

Combination of a lot of things, and Russ is not exonerated of blame. No reason to put that ball high and outside; but Kearse got bullied off the snap (which allowed Butler a clear path to jump the route) and Ricardo was insanely soft at the point of contention. Play calling aside, if any of those 3 guys does their job right, it's an incomplete pass at worst. Unfortunately all 3 guys failed. 

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