Life in the NFL is tough, especially when January rolls around. At that point, the NFL season can persist or come to a crashing conclusion on any given play. These are the tales of the fallen players that were called upon to make the big plays in crunch time and fell flat on their faces. While their failure may be tragic, the stories they gave us are nothing short of phenomenal. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the goats of the 2012 NFL playoffs.
The Steelers’ Defense
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hhcwopdo7WY
The NFL’s top ranked defense was no match for Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos. Tebow, not usually noted for his superior throwing ability, turned in a 316 yard, 2 touchdown performance which catapulted the Broncos into the divisional round of the playoffs and leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense wondering what just happened.
Matt Ryan
The only thing the Falcons could find as a silver lining was the fact that they weren’t shut out by the Super Bowl bound New York Giants. That does little to make Matt Ryan look or feel any better about his performance. The Falcons only score, of course, came on a safety. So much for a high flyin’ offense.
The Packers’ Receivers
I watched the Packers have the crap beat out of them by the Giants while wondering to myself, “Who are these guys, and what have they done with Green Bay’s real wide receivers?” Seriously, they were dropping more passes than the Jaguars’ receivers, and that’s saying something.
Tim Tebow
The NFL is all about chump-to-champ stories, but this isn’t one of those cases. The hero of the Broncos’ upset of the Steelers turned in a horrifying performance against the New England Patriots, completing just 9 passes in route to a 10-45 thrashing. As the score indicates, his defense didn’t give any help, surrendering 6 touchdown passes to Tom Brady and Co.
Lee Evans
Without rehashing too much of what has been says about the Ravens last second implosion, I feel obligated to make some closing statements before putting this issue to bed. Lee Evans blew it. Joe Flacco had his signature win, and Evans tossed it away. In the words of the great Jim Mora, “We gave them the friggin’ game!”
Billy Cundiff
It’s nearly impossible for a single team to have two separate but equally responsible goats in one game, but the Ravens found a way to do just that. The really amazing part is that the two blunders occurred within mere seconds of actual game time. Let’s be realistic here, must of the people reading this could hit a 32 yard field goal if given a few shots. Billy Cundiff could hit it given a few shots too, but he was only allowed one chance. Better luck next year.
Kyle Williams
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QvIKvnfERDY
Many return men get pulled from duty after one terrible mistake in a game. Maybe that’s the policy Jim Harbaugh should adopt moving forward. Williams wasn’t just the goat of the playoffs, he was the goat of the entire year. I don’t want to be too harsh on him though. The 49ers had plenty of chances to get an extra field goal in regulation, but they weren’t able to get it done. At least he didn’t drop a game winning pass like someone else we know.
