Marcus Williams Gets Distracted
I heard someone say that Marcus Williams made the worst playoff defensive play in history the day after the Minneapolis Miracle happened. My gut instinct was to think “Naw, that’s just recency bias hyperbole”. But then I thought about it a little bit, and while I still feel like I have to be forgetting something…I can’t think of a worse defensive play in the playoffs.
Leon Lett sprung to mind, with his mistake against the Bills. But that fumble didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. The Bills still got annihilated. This whiffed tackle literally cost the Saints the win. It directly lost the game. Yes, had he tackled Diggs, the Vikings may have won with a field goal, but the chances are much slimmer. Most great plays in the playoffs we think of as fantastic plays, not terrible ones. This is the worst defensive play I can think of off the top of my head. This poor dude is going to be fending off jokes and harassment about this play for the rest of his career, possibly his life. I genuinely feel bad for Marcus Williams. Also, I don’t want to take anything away from Diggs, he did everything right, and it was amazing.
At the same time holy shit what a finish. That’s one for the record books.
I’m super happy for the Vikings and I want them to win it all (A Jags/Vikes SB is my dream scenario, NE/PHI the nightmare) and it was nice to see the Vikings on the positive side of a miracle for once. I was all ready to write the choking comic for the Vikes but then…they swallowed! That was a bad way to put that.
Since I tend to write from the perspective of the victim with my jokes I spent a lot more time thinking about the Saints and Williams. We kind of forget that for all the Vikings playoff tragedy, the Saints have actually had quite a number of heartbreaks themselves. The Beastquake, the Catch 3, the Minneapolis Miracle. 3 of the best playoff moments of the last decade have come at the expense of the Saints and if they didn’t sneak in that SB win in ’09 we’d be talking about how snake-bitten this team is. When you have plays against you that are nicknamed, that stuff sticks around forever.
The Saints had a miracle of a season and shouldn’t feel too bad all in all. They have a recipe to keep Drew Brees around now (That run game, bah gawd) for at least a few years. We will likely see them again here soon. But in the meantime…way to blow it! Hahahahaha.
Instant classic. That was one of those games that reminds you of how good football can be.
EDIT: Some folks have reminded me of some other bad plays, namely the Tebow overtime TD against the Steelers and the Rahim Moore whiff against the Ravens. The Tebow play wasn’t great defense but I don’t think it was necessarily a mistake, more DT just outrunning a bad safety who possibly took a bad route, but I buy this argument enough. I don’t buy the Rahim Moore miss simply because while it was a bigger mistake, it didn’t directly lose the Broncos the game, just forced overtime.
If 15 minutes saves me 15% or more on car insurance, then shouldn’t 100 minutes equate to it being free or them paying me to have it?
Do you wanna get murdered by talking geckos? Cause that’s how you get murdered by talking geckos.
What are the best animal sightings at an NFL game. The real question on everyone’s mind
I’ve got an easy one that’s much worse for you. Rahim Moore fails to cover Jacoby Jones deep and costs the Broncos a win against the Ravens, who go on to fluke their way to a super bowl victory.
I disagree only because that play didnt lose the game directly. It forced overtime. This play directly lost the game.
Forcing overtime against a John Fox coached team = virtual win.
The only defensive play that is even close to being as bad as this from recent years is from 2012, when the Ravens played the Broncos. 40 seconds left, 3rd & 3, Ravens down by 7 and Flacco throws deep to Jacoby Jones and Broncos safety Rahim Moore completely misjudged the ball’s trajectory. Ravens tied and then eventually won the game in OT.
The one that immediately came to my mind was Rahim Moore in the final seconds of Ravens/Broncos in 2013. Although that was also a last-second TD pass, it only tied the game. So it didn’t directly cause the Broncos to lose, because they went on to lose in double-OT. But still, amazingly bad defensive play in a scenario where the ONLY play the Ravens could run was a hail mary-type pass.
The Saints also have the River City Relay that knocked them out of the playoffs in week 17 of 2003… sure, later events in the 4:00 games would have eliminated them anyway, but I always enjoy re-watching the RCR just to hear the announcer blow up over the missed extra point.
Whoops, my bad, it was week 16. Still a very bizarre way to get yourself KO’d from the playoffs, it’s such a “YES YES YES YES what NO” moment.
A story so Pretty Good that Jon Bois made a video of it: https://youtu.be/2Yru_1al8EY
The only excuse I can make for Williams is that he was trying to do too much. (Yes, it’s still stupid but still, it makes more sense that him intentionally missing the tackle.) All he really needed to do was contest the throw. At worst it’s a questionable PI call and you can blame the refs in the end. Instead, he opted to go for the hit stick on Diggs’ leg and wiffed so badly that, well, that happened. That’s what happens when you try too hard to be the hero I guess.
Don’t forget Jacob Jones & Joe Flacco’s Mile High Miracle or Ray Rice’s 4 & 29 run during their last Super Bowl run.
Jacoby* stupid auto-correct
In an interview Marcus Williams said he was a little early and I believe he was worried about getting a pass interference penalty. Possibly the last play of the game. Vikings still may have had time to kick the field goal. Maybe it was nerves? Keenum and Diggs made a great play to win the game. Honestly, this was an enjoyable playoff game that was played by two teams with great players.
The Gecko was cute, but I think you shoulda had him chasing the Lucky Charms leprechaun instead. I really looks like he veers off at the last second (diving after a squirrel that caught his eye or something…)
I think the Vikings still would have won even if Williams made the tackle. Sean Payton going full heel this season was hilarious though, especially his Skol sign right before that play
Karma, right? Ugh, I had accepted the lose, then that came up. Suddenly, the worst tackle I’ve ever seen at any level of football (I’ve seen 3rd graders tackle better than that) doesn’t look as bad. The coach who taunts fans with THEIR move gets burned immediately thereafter….
I don’t want my Jags to be the first team to play against the home team in a Super Bowl so I guess I’ll have to root for the Eagles with their gawd awful battery tossing horse punching fans.
Keep your gradient helmets on guys.
WHY, DAVE, WHY???? Comedy, they say, is tragedy plus time. This is too fresh. The pain is real man. The pain is real. I mean, congratulations to the Vikings for making an incredible play. They won it because they fought for it. My Saints had a great season (when compared to expectations). Battling back from a 17-0 halftime deficit against that defense, I thought we had it. I honestly still feel numb. I’m not mad though. Just shocked. The Vikings are a great team and I think Keenum is finally getting the shot he deserves. If nothing else, that was the playoff game we all wanted and needed.
My wife is a Saints fan. I was hoping for a Jags v. Saints Super Bowl. She would have likely been on board with the money I am willing to spend visiting frigid Minnesota in February. You blew it Williams! Arrggh.
I love the scoreboard. That sums it up.
What happened next? Well, in New York they say,
Joe Buck’s emotions grew three sizes that day
Thank god someone pointed this out. This easily beats almost anything Leon Lett has pulled out of his ass (with the exclusion of the Dolphins field goal thing. That was bad). This is a major “what-if” moment in recent memory. If Marcus Williams managed to wait half a second then he probably would’ve laid out Stefon Diggs and maybe even knocked the ball loose, causing an incompletion
Miami filed goal wasn’t playoffs. My pick goes to Sunday.
So easy a caveman can do it.
What about Ike Taylor not tackling Demaryius Thomas and sending Tim Tebow to New England
As a Panthers fan, fun isn’t something one considers after losing a wild card game.
But this did put a smile on my face.
that image of brees mocking the crowd right before this happened
can’t put a price on bliss like that
Yea.. somehow lost in this is the fact that this is a re-occuring thing for the Saints.
*Goes away to check real number*
Counting back to 2006 counting all games where the Saints took the lead with 5 minutes or less remaining – the Saints have loss 15 of those games including 2 playoff games.
I always go for the team that’s never won a SuperBowl.
Dave
Serious question
As a Cowboys fan, I need to know your opinion on this…if the SB is NE/PHI who would you rather have win?
I’m only gonna cross that bridge if I have to
meteor
Yes, meteor. In fact, I want on THAT bandwagon right fucking now!
Bane?
Maybe end of the world.
added benefits of multiple metaphorical birds with but one literal stone
Dave will root for the Patriots if that happens. It’s obvious.
He openly proclaimed he’d root for the Patriots last year, if they happened to go against the Cowboys in the Super Bowl(which seemed so likely at the time…). I don’t think replacing the Cowboys with the Eagles would change anything, since it seems Dave hates both of them equally.
Two plays about as bad. Colts – Saints Super Bowl in 2009. Hank Baskett fumbling the onside kick at half. Peyton throwing a slant directly to tracy porter for a pick 6
Neither one had the Colts 20 seconds away from eating the W. Only the Falcons loss is worse and maybe the 1998 Vikings loss (watch that replay sometime), and if I’m being honest with myself – the Alex Smith 2011 loss – only because that team was better than the 2017 one, and the Minnesota 2009 loss are about on par with this one. Not sure where to put the Music City Miracle Bills but only because that team wasn’t that good and probably would’ve been blown out anyways…
5/6 games I could mention featured the Saints, Falcons or Vikings (and sometimes both). Why is that? Win one of those teams beats another does the curse transfer (please oh please let that be the case).
This did not happen in the playoffs, but is arguably the worst play in NFL history.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2015/10/19/colts-failed-trick-play-was-the-nfls-worst-since-jim-zorns-swinging-gate/?utm_term=.45b8439f3e03
Was this a sponsored post /s
The crowd in the last panel looks like a bunch of Pikachus
but what did the gecko do next
Become gex
The Vikings were on the other side of buffoonery before.
The 2015 Divisional round comes to mind. Namely the entire secondary of the Packers A) Leaving Fitzgerald in space and B) Whiffing on tackling him when half the defense was in a position to do so comes to mind. 75 yard gain on the first snap of overtime made scoring for the Cards almost automatic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zvSwdFFsaA
Once again news about Brady’s hand is getting blown up. Reminds me of an old web comic from a while ago.
Watching him miss that tackle is the equivalent to watching the ball go through Buckner’s legs…except the Sox still had another game to play to win and still couldn’t close it out.
Didn’t directly lead to a loss, but the stakes were higher when Asante Samuel dropped the interception before the Helmet Catch destroying the Pats perfect season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOKT5KI2oTg