Quantcast
HOFMAG.com Newsleter Signup

Search HOFN

EDITORIAL

COMMUNITY

DIRECTORY

EXTRAS

MORE INFO

Home arrow Sports arrow Super Bowl's Infamous Ten

Super Bowl's Infamous Ten

by Jim Weber
HOFN.com Exclusive

4. Leon's Lapse

Super Bowl XXVII (1993): Cowboys 52, Bills 17

Leon Lett showboat

The third-most lopsided game of all-time was a complete snoozer, but fans paid dearly for turning off Super Bowl XXVII early.

In the waning moments of the Cowboys romp, defensive lineman Leon Lett scooped up a fumble and started rumbling toward the end zone. To showboat, Lett held the ball out on his side while coasting toward the goal line. But right before he crossed the plane, Bills receiver Don Beebe knocked it out of his hand. The ball rolled out of the end zone for a Bills touchback.

Lett had a similar mental lapse against the Dolphins the following season by touching a dead ball that cost the Cowboys a win. Let's hope Leon thanked the person who decided he was better fit for the defensive side of the ball.

3. Jackie Drops the Ball

Super Bowl XIII (1979): Steelers 35, Cowboys 31

Jackie Smith drops wide open pass

Jackie Smith knows the feeling. Also a Hall of Famer, Smith is best remembered for dropping a wide-open touchdown pass from Roger Staubach in Super Bowl XIII. Having to settle for a field goal, the Cowboys eventually lost by four points.

Like Bill Buckner, over time he has unfairly become remembered as the sole reason the Cowboys lost. The drop wasn't on fourth down and it wasn't during Dallas' final drive. Heck, it wasn't even in the fourth quarter (it was the third).

Smith never played again. After more than a decade of torture by the media, Smith declared in 1993 he would never again answer a question about that play.

2. Wide Right

Super Bowl XXV (1991): Giants 20, Bills 19

Scott Norwood wide right

The way Scott Norwood is now referenced, you'd think he missed a chip shot to blow Super Bowl XXV. In fact, the 47-yard field goal was just a yard shy of his longest kick all season. But when Norwood pushed the kick wide right he became, as he once said, "the poster child for last-second missed field goals." Don't sell yourself short, Scott: You're the poster child for Super Bowl goats.

Thankfully, most Bills fans have supported Norwood ever since. In a touching moment, Bills fans gave Norwood a standing ovation at a team rally the following day in Buffalo. Norwood broke down in tears. Then at a charity flag football event in the summer of 2002 featuring former Bills and NFL greats, the crowd of 15,000 at Rich Stadium gave him one of the biggest ovations of the night.

Still, Norwood has said he dreads the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl in which TV always reminds him of his greatest failure. He must be thrilled to know it's now available all the time thanks to YouTube.



 

HOFN Poll

Which do you most enjoy about the holiday season?