Your favorite NFL bonehead play of all time?

Question

Mine was way back in the days when Doug Williams was in Tampa Bay still and the Buccs still didnt know how to win. Against the Steelers the Buccs had opportunity to pull off the upset. Doug Williams thought it was third down instead it was fourth down and the defense came with a pretty good rush, he instead of dumping it off to his saftey valve , left wide open, throws the ball out of bounds purposely thinking that not only he had an extra down to set up a field goal but stops the clock. Bzzzzzzzzzd wrong it was fourth down and the steelers take over on downs, Im still in disbelief til this day about that one. Of course later in his career he made up for it though with a

super bowl win with the skins though.

Answer 1

Mike Ditka and the Saints trading away the entire 1999 draft to get Ricky Williams. Hey, when it comes to the Saints, stupidity trancends the playing field....

Answer 2

One kick off returner ignored the ball that was hit right toward him.  He didn't move and the other team grabbed the ball and ran it in for a touchdown.  He had the idea he had to touch the ball first for it to be a live ball.

Other favorites:

One one place two linemen (one on each side of the line) never left their stance while the play was going on around them.

A kick return was fairly close to his end zone and he caught it was quickly tackled.  His team could have been 17 yards ahead if he let the ball bounce into the endzone withou touching it.

I heard of Brett Farve mentioning a game where his team was ahead a few points and it looked like the other team was going to score in the final minutes.  His team let the other team score since they would have enough time to go back and score since they were doing well themselves.  Well they got the ball and were stuffed on all four downs and the game finally ran of time.  So that bonehead play would be the purposely eased up defense that allowed the other team to score.

There is of course the guy that ran the wrong way and scored for the wrong team, but that story is getting old and he could have been in shock from a hit he took on the play.

The QB forgetting the play, calling a time out going back into the game, sees something he doesn't like and blows another time out.

They use to allow multiple time outs when they were called at the same time.  So if both sides called time out, both would be docked a time out.

Answer 3

THE BIGGEST BONEHEAD PLAY WAS WHEN JOHN KASAY OF THE PANTHERS KICKED THE BALL OUT OF BOUNDS WITH 50 SECONDS LEFT IN THE SUPERBOWL!!!!! NO DOUBT!

Answer 4

My fave was in 1983 right after a huge sack that rung his bell, a rookie John Elway lined up behind the guard for the snap....

The Marshall wrong way run was for a safety, not a TD by the way.

Answer 5

When Jim Marshall ran the fumble the wrong way for a touchdown for the other team. Great player. Bonehead move.

Answer 6

Lol when the saints had to win their final game to make the playoffs and after a play where it was almost like the cal stanford game the saints score and john carney misses the extra point and keeping the saints out of the playoffs.

Answer 7

Leon Lett being run down the length of the field by Beebe when the Bills played the Cowboys, and, instead of wrapping up the football and getting it in the end zone for a TD, allowing Beebe to rip it from his arms just before he crossed the goal line.  This is followed closely by the "snow day" experience (same player, Leon) with the Dolphins.  Neither were good memories at the time, but are funny now watching the films.  I loved Leon, but these were all time bonehead quality.

Probably the biggest TEAM bonehead move was when the Vikings allowed Jimmy and Jerry and the Boys to talk them into trading them a boatload of draft choices for Herschel Walker - a great colleage player, but not the right chemistry/situation for the Cowboys and/or the Vikes.  This allowed the Cowboys to build a dynasty with top draft choices for the next few years - and win 3 Super Bowls with that new talent.  One of the greatest game-changing trades of all time.

Answer 8

LOL excellent question. i would say gus frerotte. when he was with the redskins, he ran for a touchdown and trying to celebrate he runs DIRECTLY INTO THE CONCRETE WALL WITH HIS HEAD!!! he came out the game after that with a concussion and was out for a while. lol but your question is GREAT! its not very often we find an interesting question like this one

Answer 9

Jim Marshall running the wrong way is my #1.

Clay Matthews of the Browns lateraling the ball away (after a fumble recovery) in a near-loss to the Houston Oilers in 1989 may be my #2.

Gus Frerotte giving himself a concussion is up there too.

Answer 10

Leon Lett - showboating in the Superbowl and getting the ball knocked out of his hands was a classic.  So was his touching the blocked field goal on Thanksgiving which allowed the Dolphins to recover and run another play-the FG that won the game!  Classic blundering a great play away into giving the other team the ball.

Now, in HS, the biggest blunder I saw was a NJ state playoff game where the offense was up by 5 and, as the clock ran down to 0:00, the QB celebrated by throwing the ball in the air.  The ball went backward so it was still live, the defense picked it up and ran in for the game winning touchdown.