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Dumbest play in NFL history? (1 Viewer)

What was the dumbest play in NFL history?

  • Wrong-way Marshall

    Votes: 4 6.1%

  • Miracle at the Meadowlands

    Votes: 9 13.6%

  • Miracle at the New Meadowlands

    Votes: 1 1.5%

  • Leon Lett's Thanksgiving blunder

    Votes: 13 19.7%

  • Griff Whalen fake punt

    Votes: 16 24.2%

  • Washington's "Swinging Gate" fake FG

    Votes: 1 1.5%

  • Orlovsky runs out of the end zone

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • DeSean Jackson drops the ball at the 1

    Votes: 14 21.2%

  • Something else (explain in comments)

    Votes: 8 12.1%
  • Total voters
    66
ignatiusjreilly

ignatiusjreilly

Footballguy
The ending to today's Pats-Raiders game was so completely idiotic, it had me wondering if it was the dumbest play in NFL history. So I decided to list all of the other dumb ones I could think of and see how it compared.

Looking over that list, most of them were brain-fart moments by an individual player. Those may be dumb, but they invariably happen. The Washington/Indy fake punts were ridiculously poor planning by coaches -- especially the Colts having Whalen receive the snap despite the fact that he had never practiced the play -- but both plays came in games where their teams had no chance.

IMO the only one that truly compares to today's screw-up was the first Miracle at the Meadowlands. I can see the argument that the Giants were having a terrible season whereas today's loss may kill the Pats' playoff chances, but I still think former was worse because the Pats were at best going to OT, while the Giants had the game locked up. Reading through the Wikipedia entry on the play, I didn't realize that rules at the time didn't allow QBs to simply take a knee, though clearly they could have done something better than what they ended up doing. Also, the play was the culmination of a season's worth of dysfunction between the players and coaching staff (I wonder if something similar is going on with New England and their co-OCs). So I'd give MatM a narrow victory over whatever we end up calling today's ending as dumbest play in NFL history.
 
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ignatiusjreilly said:
The ending to today's Pats-Raiders game was so completely idiotic, it had me wondering if it was the dumbest play in NFL history. So I decided to list all of the other dumb ones I could think of and see how it compared.

Looking over that list, most of them were brain-fart moments by an individual player. Those may be dumb, but they invariably happen. The Washington/Indy fake punts were ridiculously poor planning by coaches -- especially the Colts having Whalen receive the snap despite the fact that he had never practiced the play -- but both plays came in games where their teams had no chance in the game.

IMO the only one that truly compares to today's screw-up was the first Miracle at the Meadowlands. I can see the argument that the Giants were having a terrible season whereas today's loss may kill the Pats' playoff chances, but I still think former was worse because the Pats were at best going to OT, while the Giants had the game locked up. Reading through the Wikipedia entry on the play, I didn't realize that rules at the time didn't allow QBs to simply take a knee, though clearly they could have done something better than what they ended up doing. Also, the play was the culmination of a season's worth of dysfunction between the players and coaching staff (I wonder if something similar is going on with New England and their co-OCs). So I'd give MatM a narrow victory over whatever we end up calling today's ending as dumbest play in NFL history.
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All are stupid but I have never seen a last play so stupid as today that cost his team a win. I actually only saw the last play as I was walking into the house and I thought NE was down and needed to score and had to lateral all over the place.. Had no idea the score was tied.

#16 was throwing it 20 yards back to Mac Jones..what was Mac going to to do and nobody was behind him to lateral to and he can`t run more than 10 yards.
 
The Griff Whalen and Swinging Gate plays were the dumbest because they took some sort of forethought and nobody to check the result of that forethought. It's like when nobody has the guts to stand up and say "Hey coach, you know what? That's stupid. I'd recommend not doing that."

Those plays were doomed structurally from the start. That's dumber than spur of the moment decisions or not knowing the rulebook in a particular instance.

But, boy, Leon Lett sure is tempting to pick. He was in on two NFL doozies. The field goal and the showboating where Beebe catches him.
 
Da Guru said:
All are stupid but I have never seen a last play so stupid as today that cost his team a win. I actually only saw the last play as I was walking into the house and I thought NE was down and needed to score and had to lateral all over the place.. Had no idea the score was tied.
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The fact that the scored was tied and they were headed to OT made that individual player's decision so incredibly stupid.
 
fatness said:
Da Guru said:
All are stupid but I have never seen a last play so stupid as today that cost his team a win. I actually only saw the last play as I was walking into the house and I thought NE was down and needed to score and had to lateral all over the place.. Had no idea the score was tied.
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The fact that the scored was tied and they were headed to OT made that individual player's decision so incredibly stupid.
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And that he was throwing across the field to Mac Jones. It is so dumb it is laughable and Im a Pats fan.
 
Jakobi is owning the responsibility, and props to him for that but why did Rhamondre lateral it to him in the first place?

And it was such a reckless lateral in the first place. He didn't even have a clear view of Jakobi, he just sort of flipped it back.
 
Aside from the horrible decision to throw the lateral, wtf were the Patriots thinking running a running play there? The Raiders had 4 in the box and 7 defenders at the goal-line preventing a touchdown. The odds of the Patriots scoring on a run/lateral play were were so scant that it wasn’t worth the risk. I’d wager that the odds were better of the defense scoring there.

Seriously, with 7 defenders at the goal-line what were the odds of them scoring a TD? 100-1? 500-1? 1,000-1? I’ve watched thousands of football games and I can’t think of a team winning on the last play of the game with a 55+ yard touchdown run. I have to believe the odds of a defensive score there were as good if not better. So if you can’t win the game with a running play, why run it?

The Pats got the ball at their own 25 with 32 seconds remaining and zero timeouts. Mac Jones was horrific on the day - couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn. In the past Belichik has never hesitated to take a knee on these occasions and go into overtime - and that was with Tom Brady. Running a draw play there had 0% chance of success for a touchdown. The Raiders had 7 defensive backs guarding the goal-line. And on that last play, with no timeouts and 3 seconds left, a field goal wasn’t possible either. So why run the play and risk injury or a turnover? So surprising to see BB and staff make such a terrible decision. Just terrible coaching.
 
Not sure I understand why a bunch are disqualified for being an individual bonehead mistake, and today's wasn't even though it was an individual bonehead mistake. It's not like the Pats called a lateral play in the huddle.

And really, you can see what happened in today's game to make it explainable, whereas in many of the others you can't. Today's play was basically like the old game of telephone we played in elementary school, football style. Stevenson lateraled because it was a relatively safe lateral and he thought maybe something would come of it. Then Jakobi, after seeing the lateral, panicked and thought in the heat of the moment that maybe he'd missed something and mistakenly not noticed that they were actually losing or that they'd called a lateral play, and went with it.

Not really comparable, IMO, to stuff like actually practicing some bizarre fake punt, calling it in the huddle, and then executing it 2v9 when no one can even dream up a scenario where it would work.
 
I went with "other" for that time a coach (I think the Lions) chose to kick to the other team in OT after winning the toss because of the wind. And I believe this was before the rules changed, so any score would win. I don't remember all the details, but I still don't get it. Maybe that's not a "play" per se, but I can't think of anything dumber.

Edit: maybe Gus Frerotte head-butting a concrete wall after a TD and going to the hospital.
 
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It wasn't a game ender, but a few years ago I watched the Browns run a QB sneak on like 3rd and 15.
Not a Josh Allen type designed run. The QB lined up under center and ran the type of play thats designed for a 3rd and inches type of situation.
Some wires got crossed somewhere on that call.
 
ghostguy123 said:
but a few years ago I watched the Browns run a QB sneak on like 3rd and 15.
Click to expand...

You're close. They ran a draw to Chubb on fourth and fourteen. The coach was still employed in football as of last year. Freddy Kitchens.

Joe Judge ran the QB sneak just last year at second and eight or nine from his own five. And then followed it up with another at third and six. He is also still employed in pro football, notably with yesterday's Patriots.
 
rockaction said:
ghostguy123 said:
but a few years ago I watched the Browns run a QB sneak on like 3rd and 15.
Click to expand...

You're close. They ran a draw to Chubb on fourth and fourteen. The coach was still employed in football as of last year. Freddy Kitchens.

Joe Judge ran the QB sneak just last year at second and eight or nine from his own five. And then followed it up with another at third and six. He is also still employed in pro football, notably with yesterday's Patriots.
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This play? -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6cedHzzwhc
 
Neil Beaufort Zod said:
efactor said:
Miracle at the Meadowlands only because all he had to do was kneel down
Click to expand...
Wasn't that the play that begat the kneel down? As in, nobody was doing it beforehand so nobody considered that an option at the time?
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From the play's Wikipedia page (which I highly recommend):
Since the rule to allow quarterbacks to simply kneel was not in effect until 1987, Pisarcik took the snap on first down[3] and rolled on the ground (a common play for quarterbacks in the pre-kneel era). Eagles middle linebacker Bill Bergey charged into Giants' center Jim Clack, knocking him backward into Pisarcik in a desperate attempt to force a fumble. Since defensive players usually are not blocked in this situation, they usually in turn do not rush. Offensive players consider any breach of this tacit agreement as a provocation, particularly linemen whose job it is to protect the quarterback, and fights between angry linemen and the opposition were not uncommon.

Gibson did not want to expose his quarterback to further risk of injury, nor did he want to risk his players being fined for violating the league's rules against fighting. Most importantly, the last thing he wanted was for his team to get a penalty, which could stop the clock and require getting another first down to secure the win. He also personally despised the kneeling play, considering it unsporting and somewhat dishonorable (a view popular among a lot of coaches of the period). Also, given that the play clock at the time was only 30 seconds (as it would remain through the 1987 season), a play had to be run. So on second down he called "65 Power-Up", a standard play which called for Csonka to take a handoff and run up the middle.

In the huddle, the Giants were incredulous when the call came in. "Don't give me the ball," begged Csonka, a former Dolphins star. Other players asked Pisarcik to change the play, but he demurred.[2] Gibson had berated him for changing a play the week before and threatened to have him waived if he ever did so again. Gibson did not take the time to explain his decision to Pisarcik. As a result, the rest of the offense simply viewed Gibson's call as a power trip. Because he was a second-year starting quarterback who still had not totally proven himself, in the era before free agency, Pisarcik lacked the stature to prevail in this kind of dispute. Csonka claims that, as he walked away from the huddle, he told Pisarcik he would not take the ball if he went through with it. However, it is not known whether the quarterback heard him. McVay's headphones, which normally allowed him to communicate with Pisarcik and Gibson, were not working properly at that point either. McVay has since stated that he would certainly have overruled Gibson had he heard what was coming.

Across the line of scrimmage, the Eagles had not huddled, as defensive coordinator Marion Campbell called for an all-out 11-man blitz. Edwards, who as a defensive back normally would have been several yards deep, was instead close enough to Kotar to talk to him (the Giants player assured him that his team was just going to kneel again). Vermeil later said the blitz made the victory possible. The Giants wasted several seconds in the huddle in dismay over the play-calling. At the line, Clack saw the play clock winding down and took it upon himself to snap it with 31 seconds left in the game to avoid a delay-of-game penalty, which would have stopped the clock and cost the Giants five yards. Had the Giants knelt on the subsequent play, there still would have been one second left on the game clock once the play clock ran down, requiring a fourth-down play to be run (the play clock at the time ran for 30 seconds; it now runs for 40).

Pisarcik, who at the time was distracted making sure Csonka was in position, was unprepared for the snap. It struck his middle finger so hard there was still blood on the nail after the game.[4] Nevertheless, he held on to the ball after a slight bobble and tried to hand it off to Csonka; instead, the ball hit Csonka's hip and came loose.

Edwards recovered it on its first bounce as Pisarcik unsuccessfully attempted to fall on it, while Kotar, who could have blocked him or fallen on the ball himself, never even saw the fumble, according to Edwards. Once Edwards got it, he sprinted 26 yards untouched into the end zone for a 19–17 Eagles' lead. There was stunned silence from the stands and the Giants' sideline; the only noise came from the celebrating Eagles fans, players and team officials.
Click to expand...
TLDR: That Giants team was a seething cauldron of dysfunction, and all the elements came together on that play
 
FreeBaGeL said:
Not sure I understand why a bunch are disqualified for being an individual bonehead mistake, and today's wasn't even though it was an individual bonehead mistake. It's not like the Pats called a lateral play in the huddle.

And really, you can see what happened in today's game to make it explainable, whereas in many of the others you can't. Today's play was basically like the old game of telephone we played in elementary school, football style. Stevenson lateraled because it was a relatively safe lateral and he thought maybe something would come of it. Then Jakobi, after seeing the lateral, panicked and thought in the heat of the moment that maybe he'd missed something and mistakenly not noticed that they were actually losing or that they'd called a lateral play, and went with it.

Not really comparable, IMO, to stuff like actually practicing some bizarre fake punt, calling it in the huddle, and then executing it 2v9 when no one can even dream up a scenario where it would work.
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You're saying you don't get my totally arbitrary criteria that I made up on the spot? :lmao:

My logic was that yesterday was more than one brain fart in one individual. It was, as you say, a cascading series of mistakes, each one of which enabled the next.

But I do see your (and @rockaction's) logic that the pre-planned nature of the Washington/Indy plays elevates them to a new level of stupidity. Years ago, I was at a flea market and saw an "Oreo Barbie" doll, and I remember thinking, how many seemingly smart people working at both Mattel and Nabisco involved themselves in the decision to release that product without at least one of them saying, "Hey, maybe this isn't such a great idea"?

As I mentioned in my OP, apparently Whelan was never supposed to snap the ball, but when they had practiced it beforehand, he hadn't been the one behind center, so he didn't know. The level of dysfunction that caused them to run a poorly designed trick play with a guy who hadn't practiced it probably moves the play even higher on the list.

With Washington, I seem to recall at the time some reports about how that play was an FU from HC Jim Zorn to Snyder. I think the common thread on plays like that is that they don't just magically happen. There's usually something rotten within the organization that allows things to get that bad. It wouldn't at all surprise me if it later comes out that yesterday's play was somehow tied to New England having two (totally unqualified) OCs calling plays.
 
ignatiusjreilly said:
Years ago, I was at a flea market and saw an "Oreo Barbie" doll, and I remember thinking, how many seemingly smart people working at both Mattel and Nabisco involved themselves in the decision to release that product without at least one of them saying, "Hey, maybe this isn't such a great idea"?
Click to expand...

That's exactly the kind of organizational incompetence I'm thinking of. How many people in that room either didn't think anything of it or were too scared to say anything to the contrary of the approval seekers? That mixture of stupidity, apathy, and/or fear leads to stuff like Oreo and Cracker Barbie and the Indy "punt." Funny thing is, it's relatable how those that know better stay quiet rather than risk seething rebuke from others who don't know or don't think it's that bad.

There are parallels here, but this is an apolitical board and so I will leave the point so that it remains that way.
 
ignatiusjreilly said:
Neil Beaufort Zod said:
efactor said:
Miracle at the Meadowlands only because all he had to do was kneel down
Click to expand...
Wasn't that the play that begat the kneel down? As in, nobody was doing it beforehand so nobody considered that an option at the time?
Click to expand...
From the play's Wikipedia page (which I highly recommend):
Since the rule to allow quarterbacks to simply kneel was not in effect until 1987, Pisarcik took the snap on first down and rolled on the ground (a common play for quarterbacks in the pre-kneel era).
Click to expand...
TLDR: That Giants team was a seething cauldron of dysfunction, and all the elements came together on that play
Click to expand...
Trying to find video of an NFL QB doing the roll-on-the-ground thing, or any other end-of-game actions comparable to the modern victory formation. There are some full-game broadcasts from the 1970s on YouTube. Might even be a few 1960s broadcasts, too.
 
Doug B said:
ignatiusjreilly said:
Neil Beaufort Zod said:
efactor said:
Miracle at the Meadowlands only because all he had to do was kneel down
Click to expand...
Wasn't that the play that begat the kneel down? As in, nobody was doing it beforehand so nobody considered that an option at the time?
Click to expand...
From the play's Wikipedia page (which I highly recommend):
Since the rule to allow quarterbacks to simply kneel was not in effect until 1987, Pisarcik took the snap on first down and rolled on the ground (a common play for quarterbacks in the pre-kneel era).
Click to expand...
TLDR: That Giants team was a seething cauldron of dysfunction, and all the elements came together on that play
Click to expand...
Trying to find video of an NFL QB doing the roll-on-the-ground thing, or any other end-of-game actions comparable to the modern victory formation. There are some full-game broadcasts from the 1970s on YouTube. Might even be a few 1960s broadcasts, too.
Click to expand...
OK, this is from a 1979 game (Chicago at Green Bay), but it demonstrates what QBs used to do before the kneeldown.

Interestingly, the Bears do use a modern victory formation. Instead of kneeling, Bears QB Mike Phipps takes the snap, pivots to his right, and lays his left shoulder and hip down onto the ground.
 
rockaction said:
ignatiusjreilly said:
Years ago, I was at a flea market and saw an "Oreo Barbie" doll, and I remember thinking, how many seemingly smart people working at both Mattel and Nabisco involved themselves in the decision to release that product without at least one of them saying, "Hey, maybe this isn't such a great idea"?
Click to expand...

That's exactly the kind of organizational incompetence I'm thinking of. How many people in that room either didn't think anything of it or were too scared to say anything to the contrary of the approval seekers? That mixture of stupidity, apathy, and/or fear leads to stuff like Oreo and Cracker Barbie and the Indy "punt." Funny thing is, it's relatable how those that know better stay quiet rather than risk seething rebuke from others who don't know or don't think it's that bad.

There are parallels here, but this is an apolitical board and so I will leave the point so that it remains that way.
Click to expand...
I was a management major in b-school, and one thing that always stuck with me from the various case studies we'd read: Crises can happen to any organization, but it's the ones that compound your internal problems that can become existential. There was one case study about Coke where they had a contamination problem in a Belgian bottling plan. That might not have been a big problem -- those things can happen -- but the company had become way too centralized and run out of Atlanta HQ, so the folks in Belgium weren't empowered enough to do anything about it, and by the time the people in Atlanta figured out what was going on, it had metastasized into a bigger scandal.

I don't think it's at all coincidental that a lot of these plays happened on teams that, a short time later, turned over their coaching staff. I obviously don't think Belichick is going to get fired, although Bill Simmons was speculating on his podcast this morning that he could retire. Regardless, especially after this, it's hard to see how he rolls back the Patricia/Judge combo at OC again. I can't wait to read the "notebook dump" pieces on ESPN or in the Globe the day after the season ends where reporters share all the gossip about how bad things got over the course of the season in Foxboro.
 
I don't see where the original Miracle at Meadowlands was a boneheaded play as much as just terrible execution. That is a different category.

I think the play from yesterday was the dumbest because it directly cost them the game. Leon Lett might be tied because it also cost them the game. Those are both amazingly stupid.

The "planned" blunders I don't think directly cost them the game. They tried to get tricky and failed miserably while looking like bafoons.
 
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Considering the game was tied, no score needed, and two players, not one, went off script from the playcall to allow a walkoff TD, which is unfathomable, yesterday might be the one.

You can make an argument that Rhamondre wasn't all time stupid there. But it wasn't smart. For a 2nd player to attempt a much riskier lateral to the worst athlete in the field, which turned into a TD, puts it in a category where it might be by itself.
 
Not a “play” but Staley calling timeout, costing a playoff berth last year was really stupid.
 
-OZ- said:
Not a “play” but Staley calling timeout, costing a playoff berth last year was really stupid.
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Not to sidetrack the thread, but IIRC we litigated this at the time and the timeout absolutely did not cost them the game. Rather, it was their inability to tackle Jacobs on 3rd down
 
rockaction said:
ignatiusjreilly said:
Years ago, I was at a flea market and saw an "Oreo Barbie" doll, and I remember thinking, how many seemingly smart people working at both Mattel and Nabisco involved themselves in the decision to release that product without at least one of them saying, "Hey, maybe this isn't such a great idea"?
Click to expand...

That's exactly the kind of organizational incompetence I'm thinking of. How many people in that room either didn't think anything of it or were too scared to say anything to the contrary of the approval seekers? That mixture of stupidity, apathy, and/or fear leads to stuff like Oreo and Cracker Barbie and the Indy "punt." Funny thing is, it's relatable how those that know better stay quiet rather than risk seething rebuke from others who don't know or don't think it's that bad.

There are parallels here, but this is an apolitical board and so I will leave the point so that it remains that way.
Click to expand...
I wonder how many people have intoned, "That would never happen to a Bill Belichick coached team!"
 
daveR said:
rockaction said:
ignatiusjreilly said:
Years ago, I was at a flea market and saw an "Oreo Barbie" doll, and I remember thinking, how many seemingly smart people working at both Mattel and Nabisco involved themselves in the decision to release that product without at least one of them saying, "Hey, maybe this isn't such a great idea"?
Click to expand...

That's exactly the kind of organizational incompetence I'm thinking of. How many people in that room either didn't think anything of it or were too scared to say anything to the contrary of the approval seekers? That mixture of stupidity, apathy, and/or fear leads to stuff like Oreo and Cracker Barbie and the Indy "punt." Funny thing is, it's relatable how those that know better stay quiet rather than risk seething rebuke from others who don't know or don't think it's that bad.

There are parallels here, but this is an apolitical board and so I will leave the point so that it remains that way.
Click to expand...
I wonder how many people have intoned, "That would never happen to a Bill Belichick coached team!"
Click to expand...
Maybe Belichick is entering the "Willie Mays on the Mets" phase of his career.
 
Pip's Invitation said:
daveR said:
rockaction said:
ignatiusjreilly said:
Years ago, I was at a flea market and saw an "Oreo Barbie" doll, and I remember thinking, how many seemingly smart people working at both Mattel and Nabisco involved themselves in the decision to release that product without at least one of them saying, "Hey, maybe this isn't such a great idea"?
Click to expand...

That's exactly the kind of organizational incompetence I'm thinking of. How many people in that room either didn't think anything of it or were too scared to say anything to the contrary of the approval seekers? That mixture of stupidity, apathy, and/or fear leads to stuff like Oreo and Cracker Barbie and the Indy "punt." Funny thing is, it's relatable how those that know better stay quiet rather than risk seething rebuke from others who don't know or don't think it's that bad.

There are parallels here, but this is an apolitical board and so I will leave the point so that it remains that way.
Click to expand...
I wonder how many people have intoned, "That would never happen to a Bill Belichick coached team!"
Click to expand...
Maybe Belichick is entering the "Willie Mays on the Mets" phase of his career.
Click to expand...
Maybe he is "Weekend at Bernie"-ing it
 
I’ve enjoyed all the answers in this thread, but I just have to say that there is something so simplistically hilarious and bone headed about running the wrong way up a field and into an end zone. Had never seen that before.
 
And as long as I'm here, it doesn't get quite to the level of some of these, but The Play never would have happened if John Elway hadn't unnecessarily called Stanfraud's last timeout with 8 seconds left on the clock instead of letting it run down before the FG attempt.
 
FWIW, Michael Irvin was just on 95.7 the game, and he said he saw nothing wrong with Stevenson’s play - maybe he (Meyers) gets an opening, or maybe he steps out.

He put it 100% on Meyers, because “even if he got it to Mac Jones, he’s not Justin Fields”

but he also questioned the draw play with 3 seconds on the clock.

That said, he also mentioned the Leon Lett thanksgiving day play when he touched the ball.

And Irvin is a good judge - he knows a thing or two about bad decisions. :oldunsure:
 
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