As is frequently the case with scapegoats in sports, and more specifically in the NFL, it seems rather unfair to lay an entire loss or meltdown on one specific person and their mistake(s). Historically we’ve seen players take the brunt of the public’s animosity over a big mistake at the worst possible time. In the past we’ve seen guys like Earnest Byner and Gary Anderson take the heat for their teams’ losses over late game mishaps. More recently we’ve seen Blair Walsh take the heat for a Minnesota playoff loss due to a missed 27 yard field goal as time was winding down (Twas reminiscent of the same Gary Anderson field goal miss in the 1998 NFC championship game against Atlanta that turned him into a goat as well), and we’ve witnessed Pacman Jones and Vontaze Burfict’s stupidity and lack of discipline lead to their own goat-labeling following the Bengals’ Wild Card loss at Pittsburgh, also in last January’s playoffs.
While the circumstances may call for folks to receive blame for a loss, it is unfair to scapegoat most players and I will specifically delve into reasons as to why the players I’ve mentioned above, should be absolved of their scapegoat-worthy sins or transgressions!
Let me start Earnest Byner’s “The Fumble” in Denver, during the Browns-Broncos 1987 AFC championship matchup. There were 72 seconds left in the game and Cleveland was down 38-31 when Earnest Byner uncharacteristically fumbled the ball at the Denver 1-yard line (four career fumbles in 2,095 career carries; regular season stats). The Broncos would intentionally take a safety but go on to win the game 38-33. Byner would go on to become the scapegoat of the game, and face brutal backlash from obsessive fans who even went as far as to elicit death threats to Byner over his costly mistake.
I for one find it embarrassingly unfair for him to have received this treatment. I mean after all, the Browns were only still in this game due in large part to Byner’s performance throughout the game up until that point. Byner had caught and carried the ball a combined 22 times resulting in 187 total yards and two touchdowns. Simply put, he was vital in the Browns success and ability to stay in the game against Elway’s Broncos. I also have a hard time blaming a loss on any offensive player when his surrenders 38 points and 412 yards on defense. Did the Browns have more total yards on offense? Yes. Did Earnest Byner let up 38 points? Nope. His mistake was costly and came at the worst possible time, but he didn’t deserve to take the kinds of backlash he did from the fans and city of Cleveland at the time!
Now allow me to continue onto Gary Anderson and his late game blunder in the 1998 NFC championship game, for one of the greatest teams to not win the Super Bowl, the ‘98 Minnesota Vikings (15-1 regular season and Randy Moss’s 17 TD rookie year). This team was stacked and in my eyes should’ve repped the NFC in Super Bowl XXXIII against another John Elway led Broncos team. I still maintain that Minnesota would’ve won that game, but the world will never know so who cares.
But I digress, Gary Anderson was a kicker who knocked down 35 out of 35 field goal attempts during the 1998 regular season. He also converted all 59 of his extra point kicks for a high-powered offense led by Randall Cunningham, Cris Carter and Randy Moss. With Minnesota leading Atlanta 27-20 late in the 4th quarter, Anderson missed his first field goal attempt since December of 1997. It was a 39 yard attempt and the miss allowed Chris Chandler’s Falcons to march down the field, tie the game with a TD, and then win the game on a Morten Andersen field goal in overtime to advance to the Super Bowl where they were then waxed by the defending world champion Denver Broncos by a score of 34-19.
Here’s why you really can’t blame Gary. His 100% field goal percentage was a key factor in getting the Vikings as far as they went, and it’s possible that say he had missed more kicks during their regular season, that the Vikings wouldn’t have gone 15-1 and locked down the 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. He was due for a miss and of course it never helps when the announcers bless you with the kiss of death as Pat Summerall (inaccurately) pointed out that Anderson “hadn’t missed a kick in over two years.” His math was wrong but he still provided the dreaded and superstitious “kiss of death,” that sports fans talk about from time to time.
The pain and heartache of Vikings fans provides me with an easy segway into Blair Walsh’s plight as a scapegoat. This is probably the most simple of circumstances for why it’s unfair to scapegoat this guy. The Viking kicker missed a chipshot (27 yard field goal) with little time remaining on the clock at home against Seattle in last year’s Wild Card round. Minnesota would fall to the Seahawks by a score of 10-9 in one of the biggest defensive struggles in recent playoff history. The reason you can’t really scapegoat here is because Walsh had been dynamite as a kicker all season and his big leg had helped Minnesota dig itself out of some holes. However, my biggest argument in Walsh’s defense is the simple fact that he hit three field goals from 22, 43, and 47 yards out during the same game. I mean if he misses any one of those three kicks, Minnesota is forced to try and net a touchdown on their final drive as opposed to the field goal. Essentially, much like the others in this article, Walsh had provided his team with a chance to win the game, he just came up short on a kick that would’ve appeared to have been easyish for him to make given the big boot he’s got!
Finally, Vontaze Burfict and Pacman Jones both made mistakes during the final drive of their Wild Card playoff game against the Steelers this past January. The mistakes proved costly and in many ways ultimately led to the team surrendering a game-winning field goal to their division rivals. Once again, it’s unfair to blame these cats with the loss when their team was only provided an opportunity to win by their stellar play on defense throughout. Burfict had six tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble in the game, while Pacman did a solid job of keeping the Steelers receivers out of the endzone for the most part. It was Dre Kirkpatrick who was beat by Martavis Bryant for the only Pittsburgh touchdown of the game. Jeremy Hill’s fumble could be cause for goating but he also had a TD to help Cincy carry the lead up until that final drive.
Case and point, you cannot scapegoat one or even two specific players for a loss in a team game. Especially not when those players were pivotal in putting their teams in a position to be successful…
