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 We’ve made it to part three of my three-part series on the NFL salary cap. We conclude with guaranteed money and how it fits into everything. Now guaranteed money has nothing to do with betting that Blake Bortles will never lead a team to a Super Bowl win. Guaranteed money is money in a player’s contract that he will make regardless as to whether he stays with his team for the entirety of his contract. For example if a player signs a five-year, $55 million contract with $22 million guaranteed, it means that even if he gets cut after the first year, he’ll get the entire $11 million from year two of the deal ($11 million for the year he played plus the $11 million for year two gets you the $22 million guaranteed). Guaranteed money gives you an idea of what risk a team takes on with a player’s contract. The Minnesota Vikings signed Kirk Cousins to a three-year, $87 million contract with every dollar guaranteed. No matter what happens, the Vikings are on the hook to pay Cousins ever dime. I’d love the chance to suck at my job and still get all of my money.  Kirk Cousins seen here trying to decide between buying his own island, a jet or a flying island. Guaranteed money can be an issue with salary cap if a player is cut before he actually earns all of his guaranteed money. Let’s take the Cousins’ deal as an example. The current deal, to keep things simple, would count $29 million per season against the salary cap. Now if the Vikings decided in the off season to cut him, the cap hit for the upcoming 2019 season would be $58 million, not $29 million because they’d have to pay him for the remainder of the contract. This is why you see teams hesitant to guarantee money in player contracts but we’re in an age where players have become more aware of health issues related to playing the game so they want their money guaranteed for their own security. As a kind of compromise, you will often see players get large signing bonuses as part of their contracts. Teams are allowed to prorate these signing bonuses up to five years against the salary cap while the player is getting all of the money up front. Let’s look at an example. A player signs a five-year, $20 million contract with no guaranteed money. Teams won’t normally spread that evenly over five years. They’ll probably back load it in case they want to cut the player early in the deal. Backloading will mean less against the cap up front. Let’s say for this contract It’s $2 million for year one, $3 million for year two, $4 million for year three, $5 million for year four, and $6 million for year five. As an incentive to get him to sign, the team pays him a $20 million signing bonus. The team doesn’t need to take all of that against the cap in year one. They are allowed to take $4 million per year over the five years of the contract so it’s actually $6 million against the cap in year one, $7 million in year two, $8 million in year three, $9 million in year four, and $10 million in year five. On the downside if the player doesn’t make it through the entire contract, any remaining balance cannot be prorated and must be taken against the cap in the year the player is no longer with the team. So there’s your tutorial on the NFL salary cap and how certain aspects of a contract affect it. Hopefully you got something out of this. Maybe you’ll amaze your friends at the bar with your contract knowledge. Maybe they’ll tell you they’re going to take a leak and they won’t come back because you’ve bored the hell out of them. In any case, knowledge is power and you just added some. Score! Until next time, don’t take any wooden nickels, tell ‘em you want straight cash, Homie, and don’t take a penny for your thoughts if you put in your two cents because someone’s making a penny there and it’s not you. Yours in football, MZE AuthorMike Zimmers Ears is a Minnesota Vikings fan and regular contributor on Blitzed. He also hosts his own Vikings podcast Sound the Gjallahorn.
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 Welcome back, friends. Last time you visited the blog we got a quick overview of the NFL salary cap and some of its nuances (Like that? Yeah, I’ve been reading my dictionary). In part two we talk about what dead money is and how it affects salary money in the NFL. Now dead money has nothing to do with paying awful players. If that was the case, the New Jersey…sorry New York Giants would need a week-long funeral. No dead money is money that a team has to assign to a player that it chooses to cut. This helps to assure that all salary dollars paid by a team are allocated to its salary cap. By now you may be saying, “MZE, what in the hell are you talking about?” Relax, my students. Let me take you through a little scenario. Let’s just say the New Jersey…New York (I will NEVER get used to this geographic anomaly) Giants decide to overpay an offensive lineman $50 million over five years with $30 million guaranteed. Also under the deal, the player gets a $15 million signing bonus and bonuses of $1 million each year for workouts as soon as he satisfies the offseason workout requirements. With the Giants I’m guessing that would be carrying Eli around on his shoulders to make sure he doesn’t put too much weight on his old knees. I’m big on illustrations so here’s what the contract would look like:
Still with me? Okay prepare to get lost for a second. The signing bonus in the table was prorated throughout the life of the contract, as allowed. However the bonus itself could have paid out entirely up front so in Year 1, the player may have received $19,200,000 in actual cash. That would mean only $6,200,000 paid out in Year 2, $7,200,000 paid in Year 3, $8,200,000 paid in Year 4, and $9,200,000 paid in Year 5. Now that your head feels like that of an actual Giants fan after a day of drinking and watching another disappointing loss, let’s continue. It’s been two years with the overpaid lineman and the Giants think an inanimate carbon rod would be a better left tackle. It looks like the big fella is going to get cut before his third training camp. In total cash payouts, he’s received $25,400,000 but if you remember he’s only cost them $16,400,000 against the cap. Also remember that the Giants, in their infinite wisdom, guaranteed $30 million on this contract. Cutting him will cost the team another $4.6 million dollars. That’s a hell of an alimony payment. So now we can calculate the ‘dead money.’  Brock Osweiler became the poster child for Dead Money ($25M) after signing a $72 Million contract with Houston and getting traded to Cleveland then cut by the Browns. They’ve paid him $25,400,000 in cash. They owe him $4,600,000 to get to $30,000,000 guaranteed. They’ve taken total cap hits of $16,400,000 thus far on the contract. Deduct the cap hits from the $30 million in total pay outs and the team’s dead money is $13,600,000. Here’s the problem for the Giants (aside from not knowing what state they actually play in), Year 3 of the contract was only going to be a $10.2 million hit to the cap. By cutting this player, they take a $13.6 million hit. Not an economically sound decision but neither was the contract in the first place. If cash isn’t a concern, they may as well hold onto Buster McBusterson one more season. Do that and it’s only $6 million in dead money to cut him. Only $6 million. Compare that to the $11.2 million cap hit the Giants would have taken by keeping him on the roster, and it’s the smart thing to do…until they sign Buster’s replacement, Ika Notblock, to an even bigger contract. Hopefully this has been helpful to you, readers. One part to go in my three part series. Don’t worry. You will not be tested on this material. Until we meet again, make sure you get your money up front, know the only guarantee in life is that Robert Kraft likes strip malls, and real dead money is buying a draft beer and spilling it when you go to take off your coat. Yours in football, MZE AuthorMike Zimmers Ears is a Minnesota Vikings fan and regular contributor on Blitzed. He also hosts his own Vikings podcast Sound the Gjallahorn.  The NFL knows no off season. We are into free agency where money talks and fan rationality walks. Big contracts are flying around but why can’t your team participate? You want answers and you want them right now, so MZE has dug into the financial end of the game and is here to help. In part one of this three part series I explore the beguiling world of the NFL salary cap. The NFL has a salary cap in place, which is an excellent policy, because theoretically it gives every team and equal opportunity to compete with each other by giving each team the same amount of money to spend on players. It’s like when you and your siblings all got the same allowance no matter how old you were or which one of you was better at kissing your parents’ asses to get what you wanted (nice try, Becky!). It’s the job of the Collective Bargaining Agreement to set the cap for a season, which is a pre-negotiated percentage of league revenue. Overall, based on the current CBA, between 2015-2020 the players receive 48.5% of total league revenue. Back in 1994, the first year of the cap, each team had $34 million to spend on players. That number for 2019 will be $188.2 million. That’s a whopping 453.5% increase. Now just because this money is available doesn't mean teams have to spend it all. It also doesn’t mean teams can go out and load up on every XFL castoff out there. There is a rule that teams must spend an average minimum of 89% of this money on player salaries over a four-year predetermined period. The current spending period runs from 2017 through 2020. As an example, if a team wants to spend 85% of the cap over two years, it can. That also means over the last two years of the four-year period it has to spend at least 93% of the cap. So if you wanted to see which organizations want to maximize profit (looking at you, Bengals), you'd probably notice them flirting more with that 89% minimum. Spotrac has a great tool to see how teams allocate their cap dollars. Check it out here.  There’s some protection built into the cap for the players as well. A secondary requirement is that a minimum of 95% of the total salary cap for the 32 teams must be spent on player salaries. If it isn’t, the money is distributed among the players. Must be fun being the accountant for the league, huh? Now how the cap gets calculated is a complex thing. There’s a formula used that takes into account all revenue streams for the league. Things like ticket sales, merchandise, television contracts, and seat licenses are all considered when make the annual cap determination. Players receive 55% of media revenue (i.e. television money), 45% of post season revenue and 40% of locally generated revenue (i.e. stadium naming rights). So what happens if a team blows past the cap? Well it all depends upon how the league sees the violation, but the penalties can be pretty strict. For example, the 2012 Washington Redskins took a $36 million hit to their cap space thanks to some creativity taken in 2010 with Albert Haynesworth's and DeAngelo Hall's contracts. That same year saw the Cowboys get hit with a $10 million cap penalty. That’s why teams employ ‘capologists’ now to ensure they’re conforming with league rules.  So that’s part one of the series. In part two we’ll talk about dead money, and no, it is not just a biography of Sam Bradford.
Until next time, make sure you cap your beer so it doesn’t go flat, keep your streams flowing inside the bowl, and collectively bargain to get a two-for-one drink night every chance you can. Yours in football, MZE  Every March it happens. Hundreds of college football players gather in Indianapolis for the Underwear Olympics, wearing shorts and dry-fit muscle shirts to perform all kinds of drills in hopes of impressing potential NFL employers. It's become so big that major portions of it are now televised. But just how big a deal are good or bad performances at the combine? Should scouts really care if a player ran a 4.5 instead of a 4.6 in the 40? From what I can tell, teams should exercise a 'buyer beware' mentality. Here are five college players who absolutely killed it at the combine, but didn't live up to those expectations in the NFL.  Mike Mamula (LB) Philadelphia Eagles Mamula attended Boston College from 1991-1994. His early college career was hampered by a shoulder injury but in his final two seasons he recorded a whopping 29 sacks, garnering him some NFL eyeballs. At the 1995 combine, Mamula became the boy that every team wanted to ask to the dance. He put up a 38 ½” vertical jump and ran a 4.58 in the 40-yard dash. The Eagles fell so hard for him that they moved up five spots in a swap with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and grabbed Mamula with the 7th overall pick. Mamula lasted only five years in the NFL, all with the Eagles, recording just 209 combined tackles and 31.5 sacks. But hey, Eagles fans, don’t feel bad. Tampa drafted some bum named Warren Sapp with the pick you gave them. Wait, what?  Matt Jones (QB) Jacksonville Jaguars Matt Jones spent four years at the University of Arkansas as the team’s quarterback. He threw for over 5,800 yards in his career and ran for over 2,500 more. It was at the 2005 combine when teams stood up and took notice. His sub-4.4 40 time and 10’10” broad jump made the Jacksonville Jaguars use the 21st pick in the draft to take Jones and convert him to a full-time wide receiver, hoping to take advantage of his size and speed. He spent four seasons in Jacksonville averaging 40 catches a year and accumulating only 2,153 yards. Jones missed the final four games of the 2008 season due to cocaine charges and was ultimately dumped before the 2009 season due to a second violation of the NFL substance abuse policy. By the way, three picks after Jones, a quarterback named Aaron Rodgers was drafted by the Green Bay Packers.  Chris Henry (RB) Tennessee Titans Not to be confused with Derrick Henry, Chris Henry went to Arizona University from 2003-2006. As a running back he ran for 892 yards total in his career with a measly 3.3 YPC average. For some reason he felt these numbers were good enough to come out early and enter the 2007 NFL Draft. Like they say, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” and in 2007, it was the Tennessee Titans. Henry’s 4.40 40-yard dash, 26 reps of 225 pounds, and 32” vertical jump got Henry taken with the 50th overall pick in the draft. Henry had just 32 carries and 122 career yards with the Titans and was completely out of the NFL by 2011. Henry was basically the “Achy-Breaky Heart” of Nashville football.  Darrius Heyward-Bey (WR) Oakland Raiders Heyward-Bey played for three seasons at the University of Maryland before declaring for the 2009 NFL draft despite a fairly pedestrian career with only 138 catches and 2,089 receiving yards. At the 2009 combine however, Heyward-Bey blew away the Raiders with his 4.3 40-yard dash and it was enough to get him taken 7th overall. He played just four seasons with the Raiders catching 140 balls for 2,071 yards. He was with the Colts for a cup of coffee and has been with the Steelers since 2014, but has only 33 catches total with them. Speed kills folks, and in this case it killed the Raiders.  Stephen Hill (WR) NY Jets Hill was a wide receiver for Georgia Tech from 2009-2011. Playing WR for Georgia Tech during that time period was like being the organizer of the Vikings Super Bowl parade. Hill had just 49 catches for 1,248 yards in his time at Georgia Tech. At the 2012 combine though, Hill posted a 4.36 40-yard dash time. The Jets decided to spend their 2nd round pick on the speedster just like the girl who thinks she can take the bad boy and make him into someone all parents would love. Hill felt right at home with the Jets catching only 45 balls for 594 yards in two years. So there you go. Five guys who did great things in shorts and t-shirts that did nothing in helmets and pads. I guess game film is just too boring for some scouts to watch. Until next time stretch before you drink a 40, make your only vertical a funnel with a hose attached, and save your shorts and tees for that beach vacation. Yours in football, MZE AuthorMike Zimmers Ears is a Minnesota Vikings fan and regular contributor on Blitzed. He also hosts his own Vikings podcast Sound the Gjallahorn.  Recently it came to light that Adam Silver, current NBA commissioner, was quietly approached by a few NFL owners in 2017 to be commissioner of the NFL. Silver declined, however the thoughts of a 24-second play clock and the ball being advanced to midfield on a time out boggle the mind. In any event it got me wondering about Goodell’s job performance over his 12 years and how his tenure measures up against other NFL commissioners throughout history.   Elmer Layden (1941-46) Elmer was tasked with being the first commissioner of the NFL. There were only 10 teams during Layden’s reign and his contract was for five years at $20,000. You can’t even get an intern to work for that these days. Layden was responsible for enforcing player conduct standards and in 1941 enforced his first fine on players in the amount of $25, roughly equivalent to $450 today. There were also some interesting rule changes made while Elmer Layden was commissioner. At one time if there was offensive pass interference in an opponent’s end zone, it resulted in a touchback. Have to say, I like this one but hasn’t offensive pass interference been abolished in today’s game? Can I get a ruling here? Major Accomplishment: Instituting sudden death overtime in playoff games.  Bert Bell (1946-1959) Bell took over when Layden resigned and held the role until his untimely death. The league expanded to 13 teams in 1950 then dropped to 12 for the remainder of his time as commissioner. It was during this period that the NFL began to rival Major League Baseball in terms of popularity. Bell added the rule allowing punts and missed field goals that go beyond the goal line to be returned by the defense. In 1948 Bell had plastic helmets banned because he felt they were being used as weapons. The helmet used as a weapon? Who comes up with these crazy ide…never mind. The facemask penalty also came into being during Bell’s reign. Major Accomplishment: Bell was at the helm to usher in the television age. The NFL title game was on TV for the first time ever in 1951. Bell also sold the rights to broadcast games to the DuMont television network. In 1955 NBC purchased the rights for $100,000. Thankfully there was no Maroon 5 to perform at halftime.  Pete Rozelle (1960-1989) This began the era of possibly the best commissioner the game has ever seen. When Rozelle took his post at only 33 years of age (I know. I thought he was perpetually 70 too), there were 13 NFL teams. By the time he was through, the NFL had merged with the AFL and there were 28 NFL franchises. In 1960 Rozelle introduced a game for the runners up in each conference that benefitted the players’ pension fund. This game would be played for 10 years. In 1962 the league worked out a deal with CBS making them the exclusive television network for the league until the merger in 1970 when NBC was added to the mix. In 1963 Rozelle dealt with a gambling scandal. It led to the one-year suspension of Paul Hornung and Alex Karras, two of the league’s bigger names. This was also the season where President Kennedy was shot and killed. Rozelle made the difficult decision to play all games two days after the assassination. The 1974 season saw several major rule changes, including the introduction of a 15-minute overtime period for regular season games, the moving of goal posts from the goal line to the end line, and the moving of kickoffs back from the 40-yard line to the 35. More innovation from the Rozelle period was the adding of wireless microphones to officials, giving fans more insight on penalties and complex plays. The explosion of offense also came as a result of Rozelle’s rule changes made in 1978. This is when defenders were allowed contact with receivers only within the first five yards of the line of scrimmage prior to a pass being thrown. The rule still applies today unless you are playing in New Orleans during the NFC Championship game. In 1982 Rozelle dealt with a players’ strike that shortened the season to nine games. The decision was made to have a playoff tournament that put the eight teams in each conference with best records into the playoffs, ignoring division standings. Another shorter strike took place in 1987, leading to replacement players filling in for three weeks. Contrary to popular thought, Shane Falco did not appear. The first attempt at a replay system came under Rozelle in 1986 but it was repealed after the 1991 season as there was no set timeframe in place for finishing reviews. Major Accomplishment: Creation of the Super Bowl. The first Super Bowl was played after the 1966 season. It was originally slated to pit the NFL champion vs. the AFL champion but stuck around once both leagues became one. There may have been talk to rename this game, “The New England Patriots Invitational” over the past several years but cooler heads most likely have prevailed.  Paul Tagliabue (1989-2006) Tagliabue had big shoes to fill following Rozelle. The league expanded to 30 teams in 1995, then to 31 in 1999, finally getting to 32 teams by 2002. Tagliabue added two playoff teams in his first full year as commissioner in 1990. In 1991 Mr. Tagliabue instituted one of my ‘favorite’ rules when he declared a fumble out of the end zone by the offense would result in a touchback and a turnover. I’m not sure what’s worse: the rule itself or the fact that it hasn’t been changed yet. In 1993, a new contract was reached that gave FOX rights to broadcast games beginning in 1994 while CBS was out of the mix. Doh! My favorite NFL rule came during the Tagliabue Era. In 1993 ‘clocking’ the ball became legal as quarterbacks were allowed to spike the ball in front of them immediately after receiving a snap to stop the clock. Isn’t that what time outs are for? The final change instituted in 1994 was the addition of the two-point conversion after touchdowns. This announcement may have led to a party at Mike Tomlin’s house but there is no confirmation. It was in 1997 that CBS got NFL games back with NBC being temporarily on the outside looking in while ESPN became the network for Sunday Night Football. The 1999 season saw the return of instant replay, revamped to save time so at least when the review was wrong it was quicker. There was another ‘little’ rule instituted in 1999 that allowed a player starting his hand forward in a pass attempt to lose possession of the ball in an attempt to tuck it back to his body without consequences of a fumble but that rule would never play a major role in a game. Oh wait. Finally the removal of fun the NFL began in 2004 when it became a 15-yard penalty for excessive group celebrations. In an effort to expand the reach of the NFL, regular season NFL games were played outside the U.S. in 2005. The San Francisco 49ers lost to the Arizona Cardinals, 31-14, in Mexico City in front of over 103,000 fans. Major Accomplishment: Expansion of television viewership and revenue generation through network competition. The 1994 season was the first season where fans who wanted to watch every game every Sunday could purchase the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV.  Roger Goodell (2006-Present) While league revenue has skyrocketed under Goodell’s tenure several scandals have plagued this embattled commissioner, not the least of which were the league’s handling of player concussions and domestic violence, which is likely why owners approached Adam Silver in the first place. The NFL began its official International series in 2007 when the New York Giants defeated the Miami Dolphins, 13-10, at Wembley Stadium in London. This series has now expanded to include multiple games across the Pond each season. In 2009 Commissioner Goodell instituted procedures related to concussion protocol stemming from Congressional hearings. Prior to this new protocol, as long as a player did not lose consciousness he could return to a game. Goodell changed the overtime rules for the post season in 2010 when each team would get a possession if the first team to possess the ball scored a field goal. This rule was expanded to the regular season for 2012 and will forever be called by me the, “Let’s See How Else We Can Piss Off the Vikings Fans Rule.” The 2013 season saw the “Tuck Rule” repealed (but probably not without the blessing of a certain Patriots’ quarterback). It was 2014 that put domestic violence into the spotlight for the league, with Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, and Adrian Peterson all being involved in separate incidents. This prompted a domestic violence policy instituted by the league involving suspensions and a lifetime ban for any player committing a second offense. The further reduction of fun continued as ‘dunking’ the football over the cross bar was outlawed, forcing Jimmy Graham to work on his outside jumper. There was also a little matter regarding some underinflated footballs and lost cell phones but we’re all over that now, right? The NFL had breakthroughs in 2015 with Jen Welter earning a coaching job with the Cardinals and Sarah Thomas becoming the league’s first female official. The rule on what is or is not a catch was tweaked again (and still made no sense). We also got a change in extra points with the ball being moved from the two-yard line back to the 15. While this shouldn’t really have mattered because a kicker has one job and a 33-yard kick should be makeable even after a night of tequila shooters, this rule got into kickers’ heads and changed the game. Additionally, defenses would be allowed to return blocked extra points and turnovers on two-point conversions worth two points to their own teams. Touchbacks were brought out to the 25-yard line instead of the 20 beginning in 2016. The rule was an attempt to deter kickoff returns because hey, who wants to see one of the most potentially exciting plays of a football game actually take place? The 2016 season was also known for player protests against police brutality and what looks like the end of Colin Kaepernick’s NFL career. We got more overtime changes in 2017 with extra periods during regular season games shortened from 15 minutes to 10, further confusing Donovan McNabb. We also got one of the best rule repeals ever when ‘Rog’ (possibly after a night of margaritas with Jimmy Buffett) allowed boys to be boys as celebrations would no longer be penalized. I now expect to see ‘team choreographer’ become a thing in the NFL. Finally in 2018 we got a Catch Rule that appears to make sense, meaning that it most likely won’t last. Of course with every clarification of a rule in the NFL must come a rule to confuse the hell out of us all. Defensive players would be charged with unnecessary roughness for landing with full body weight on a QB after a sack. Leave it to the NFL to challenge gravity. Oh, and if you’re a fan of the onside kick, consider 2018 its death because new kickoff rules make recovery a near impossibility (down from 21% to 8%). Major Accomplishment: Expansion of league revenue from $6.5 Billion to roughly $14 Billion. So there you go. Some of the things that have happened in the NFL under each of its commissioners. To be honest, the only commissioner worth talking about for me is Commissioner Gordon. Can you imagine the Bat Phone today? It could never work. The cell signal in the Bat Cave would probably suck, big time. Until next time, true believers, don’t drink bad beer, keep your personal catch rules simple, and remember that Tom Brady probably can’t play forever. Yours in football, MZE AuthorMike Zimmers Ears is a Minnesota Vikings fan and regular contributor on Blitzed. He also hosts his own Vikings podcast Sound the Gjallahorn.  Hello, Blitzers, and welcome to a very special edition of, “Shots with MZE.” We saw two great NFL conference championship games fuelled in large part by atrocious officiating. The AFC tilt saw a roughing the passer penalty called on the Chiefs for, horror of horrors, touching Tom Brady on the shoulder! (I know Gisele is a jealous wife but this is a bit extreme). That penalty was nothing compared to what went down in the Big Easy. By now you've probably all seen the replay of Rams CB Nickell Robey-Coleman running through Saints WR TommyLee Lewis the way bad Thai food runs through your colon. The pass interference penalty should have set the Saints up to put the game away with a field goal, sending them to the Super Bowl. Thing is, no call was made. The Rams got the ball back, tied the game in regulation, and after Drew Brees threw an overtime interception, Greg Zuerlein finished off the comeback with a 57-yard field goal. “Who Dat” nation began screaming, “What the Hell was Dat?”  An uproar for NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, to invoke Rule 17, Section 2, Article 3, to have the game resumed from the point of the missed penalty. Saints faithful can file lawsuits and erect as many billboards as they want, but know that even though the rule exists - it has never been used before - in the history of the NFL. Still it got me to thinking about another sport where protesting has actually worked a few times in the past. I present to you three examples in Major League Baseball where a protest was made and upheld.  St. Louis Cardinals v Philadelphia Phillies August 1, 1971 The Cardinals entered this day eight games out of first place in the N.L. East with the Phillies being all but done at 21.0 games out (ah the simple days of baseball divisions when each league had just two). The game was played at the Veterans Stadium, the Phillies brand new home at the time. Through nine innings the score was tied at three. In the top half of the 12th the Cardinals had runners on the corners with none out when the rains led to a one hour, 49 minute delay. Conditions were a mess but play continued. The Cardinals pushed three runs across before play was stopped again. They were 31 minutes into the delay when the rain removal machine broke down and the field could not be made playable. Under the rules the entire top half of the inning should have been wiped out and replayed. The Cardinals would have none of it and protested. The protest was upheld and the game resumed on September 7th. The last-place Phillies mustered up some pride and in the bottom of the 12th scored three runs of their own to keep the game going. Why? You’re in last place. Just take your three outs and go drink some beers. Thankfully the game would last just one more inning as the Cardinals scored three more times in the 13th to finally outlast the Phillies, 9-6.  Houston Astros v New York Mets August 21, 1979 Talk about insanity for no apparent reason. The Mets were cruising 5-0 in their home game against the Astros. Houston was clinging to a 2 ½ game lead in the N.L. West while the Mets were holding up the N.L. East from the bottom, 20 games out of first place. On this night, the two teams looked like they’d switched places. The Mets pushed across a single run in the second inning with a pair in each of the 4th and 5th innings. Meanwhile starting pitcher, Pete Falcone, was cruising. He’d allowed four hits in 8 2/3 innings. He induced Jeffrey Leonard to pop out to center field. Game over, right? Wrong. Mets shortstop, Frank Taveras, had called for a time out prior to the pitch. Now for some reason it took a while to determine this so the Mets had already left the field and had to be called back. This time Leonard singled to center field…with only eight Mets on defense. Ed Kranepool, Mets first baseman, hadn’t made it to the field on time. Mets manager, Joe Torre, argued that the game couldn’t resume with eight men on the field. The umpires agreed with Torre and Leonard was brought back to the plate for a third time. Now it was Astros manager, Bill Virdon’s, chance to talk. He wanted all pitches thrown to Leonard while Kranepool was off the field wiped out with the count going back to 0-0. The umpires would have none of it. Virdon protested and after, Leonard flied out to left field ending the game…not! Virdon’s protest was upheld by National League President, Chubb Feeney, and Leonard was given back his single. The game would resume the following night with two outs and Leonard on first. Jose Cruz was the first batter after the protest and would ground out to second base finally ending the game. Poor Pete Falcone. His own two teammates cost him a complete game shutout in an otherwise miserable year.  Kansas City Royals v New York Yankees July 24, 1983 The Royals/Yankees rivalry in the 70s and 80s was a big deal. The two teams were regular combatants in the playoffs. On this July day the Yankees found themselves only two games out of first place in the American League East while the Royals were two out in the American League West. The Yankees carried a 4-3 lead into the top half of the 9th inning. Billy Martin elected to let Dale Murray try finishing off the win. He recorded the first two outs before allowing a single to shortstop, U.L. Washington. With future Hall of Famer, George Brett, due up next, Martin went to his own future Hall of Famer, Rich “Goose” Gossage, to close out the win. Gossage delivered a fastball that Brett hammered over the right field wall at Yankee Stadium and the Royals had a 5-4 lead…temporarily. Yankees third baseman held an ace up his sleeve. He had noticed that the pine tar on Brett’s bat had crept a little too far up the barrel of his bat. The umpires gathered with home plate umpire, Tim McClelland, placing the bat against home plate to measure the pine tar. There was no question that it was well above league rules. McClelland pointed to the Royals bench and signaled out. Yankees Third Baseman, Greg Nettles, proud of himself, pounded a fist into his glove as the Yankees had seemingly stole a 4-3 win. In one of the most memorable scenes in my lifetime, Brett went bat shit crazy and came flying off the Royals bench, spewing tobacco spit like venom (see: low resolution pic above). The Royals immediately protested the result and the league relented. The game would resume on August 18th with the Royals back ahead, 5-4. Billy Martin held his own private protest. He played the left-handed Don Mattingly at second base (for those who don’t follow baseball this isn’t just highly unusual, it’s unheard of), and pitcher, Ron Guidry, in center field. Martin then had George Frazier, who in the resumed game had replaced Gossage on the mound, appeal that Brett missed first and second base. Someone in the league offices must have gotten wind of this plan as a notarized letter was handed to Martin stating that Brett and U.L. Washington had touched all bases back on July 24th. The Yankees would go down without a threat in the bottom of the 9th and the Royals would finally get their pine-tar aided win. So, even though the prospect of a reversal in New Orleans looks bleak, there is precedent of protests working in other pro sports leagues. So don't lose faith, Who Dat Nation. You never know. There you have our first ever “Shots with MZE” crossover post. What do you think? Should we see more protests in the NFL? I’m sure Roger Goodell would just love that. Until next time, put your name on your red Solo cup so nobody takes it, don’t let anyone interfere with your ability to grab a cold one, and if you must protest do it to make Tom Brady’s retirement after this season mandatory. Please read the blogs of my colleagues while you’re here. They do amazing work. Yours in football, MZE AuthorMike Zimmers Ears is a Minnesota Vikings fan and regular contributor on Blitzed. He also hosts his own Vikings podcast Sound the Gjallahorn.  Hello Blitzers and welcome to another edition of, “Shots with MZE.” In some of my earlier blog posts (What do you mean you didn’t read them? Alright get caught up. Go ahead. I’ll wait.) I talked about quarterbacks who stepped off of the sidelines and into the limelight - and played spectacularly, just like Nick Foles is doing. It got me thinking that there must be more of them. So your old pal, MikeZimmersEars decided to do some digging to find other backups that answered the call when needed and exceeded expectations. Without further ado, here we go.  Earl Morrall (1972 Miami Dolphins) The perfect season. No one before or since has done it and if not for Earl Morrall’s efforts off of the bench, we still may not have it. This Dolphins team was led by its “No-Name Defense” that ranked first in yards and points allowed. The offense had two 1,000 yard rushers in Larry Csonka (1,117 yards) and Mercury Morris (1,000 yards). In the team’s week five game against the San Diego Chargers, starting QB, Bob Griese, broke his leg and dislocated an ankle. It was time for the 38-year old Morrall to lead the team. Morrall was not new to stepping in for a star. In 1969 he took over as the Colts signal caller when Johnny Unitas went down in the final exhibition game of the season. He led that team to a 13-1 record and the Super Bowl, where they’d lose to the Jets and their brash, young quarterback, Joe Namath. Under Morrall, the 1972 Dolphins didn’t skip a beat. He’d start the final nine regular season games, winning them all. The Dolphins averaged just under 30 points per game in his starts and his QBR of 91.0 was actually far superior to the 71.6 of Griese. While Griese would return for the playoffs and would cap off the perfect season with a Super Bowl win, it might not have been possible without the man many have called the best backup QB the game ever had.  Jeff Hostetler (1990 New York Giants) This Giants squad was built on defense, in particular its linebackers, Harry Carson, Carl Banks, and Lawrence Taylor. They led the NFL in points allowed and were second in yards given up. The offense didn’t have to be great, just good enough. Their starting quarterback was Phil Simms, serviceable if never really spectacular. Simms was having a solid season with a TD/INT ratio of 15/4 and QBR of 92.7 and the Giants carried an 11-2 record into its Week 15 game against the Buffalo Bills. The Giants dropped the contest, 17-13 but more importantly Simms broke his foot, ending his season. In stepped Jeff Hostetler. “Hoss” had been with the Giants since he was drafted in 1985. He carried a total of two starts into the season and at one point was the 3rd string QB behind Jeff Rutledge. Let that sink in for a minute. Hostetler led the Giants to a 24-21 win over a bad Cardinals team followed by a 13-10 win over a Patriots team that went 1-15 on the season. If “Hoss” was looking to build a resume, he was going to be lucky to get hired as a fry cook. The G-Men carried a 13-3 record into their first playoff game against the Bears. Hostetler was steady, throwing two TD passes and running for another, although it was 194 yards from the Giants ground game and the stifling defense that led them to a 31-3 win. The conference title game pitted the Giants against the 49ers at Candlestick Park. Hostetler threw for just 176 yards in the conference championship but didn’t turn the ball over. The two teams combined for 28 points, 22 of them coming from kickers. After falling behind 13-6 on a Joe Montana to John Taylor 61-yard strike, the Giants would score the final nine points of the game and advanced to the Super Bowl and a rematch against the Week 15 foe, the Buffalo Bills. Hostetler would have his best game of the playoffs in terms of yardage, throwing for 222 yards. The game went down to the wire and will always be remembered with two words: wide right (sorry Bills fans). The Giants won 20-19, took home the Lombardi, and the steady and unspectacular Jeff Simms…uh Phil Hostetler…whatever his name was, had a 5-0 record and a Super Bowl ring.  Tim Tebow (2011 Denver Broncos) The 2011 Denver Broncos season was off to a difficult start. They were 1-4 under Kyle Orton as they headed into their bye week. Maybe it happened by divine intervention but when the team hit the field for Week 7, Tim Tebow was their starting QB. Tebow was a Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Florida and was the 25th player taken in the 2010 NFL Draft. His first start would end in an overtime win over the Miami Dolphins. The Broncos would lose his next start against the Detroit Lions but they’d rally to win their next six games with Tebow at the helm, two more of which came in overtime. Denver would lose its final three regular season games, finishing at 8-8 but qualifying for the playoffs by winning a mediocre AFC West. That gave them a home game against a Steelers team that went 12-4 (because that makes logical sense). On paper this was a mismatch but that paper may have been made from the same materials the Shroud of Turin was. After falling behind 6-0, the Broncos would score 20 unanswered points in the second quarter and led 20-6 at the half. After falling behind 23-13, the Steelers would score the final 10 points of regulation and the game headed into overtime. The Broncos got the ball first in overtime. Tebow was not known for his throwing accuracy but on the first snap of the overtime he let it rip and hit Demaryius Thomas in stride for an 80-yard touchdown and a shocking playoff win, Tebow’s fourth OT victory in 12 starts. The Tebow magic ended the following week in the Divisional round when the Broncos lost 45-10 to the Patriots. Sadly not the first time a saint lost to a sinner.  Case Keenum (2017 Minnesota Vikings) The Vikings were coming off of a disappointing 2016 season. Sam Bradford, who was brought in when Teddy Bridgewater had a horrific preseason injury, would be the starter heading into 2017. Sam had the reputation of being injury prone. I actually believe he could pull a hamstring dreaming about scrambling out of the pocket. He managed to make it through two games in 2017 before suffering a non-contact knee injury that would sideline him for the season. The Vikings turned to journeyman QB, Case Keenum. The Vikings were Keenum’s third team in four NFL seasons and his overall record as a starter was 11-15. He’d make his first Vikings start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, throwing for 369 yards and three TDs. He’d lose his next start against the Lions in a game that saw Vikings hot rookie RB, Dalvin Cook, lost for the season to injury. Keenum would not lose again until Week 14 on the road against the Carolina Panthers. It would be the team’s last regular season loss of 2017. The pinnacle of the season would unfortunately happen in the Divisional Round of the NFC playoffs on a play forever to be remembered in Vikings lore as, “The Minneapolis Miracle” (although I prefer calling it the Heist at U.S. Bank), when Keenum hit Stefon Diggs for a 61-yard walk off touchdown that knocked the New Orleans Saints from the playoffs and put the Vikings in position to be the first NFL team to ever play in its home stadium for the Super Bowl. But then…  Nick Foles (2017 Philadelphia Eagles) Philly fans had a lot to cheer about during the 2017 season. Their young quarterback, Carson Wentz, was making plays with his arm and legs and the Eagles were 11-2 through 13 games. Wentz, however, would tear his ACL against the Rams in Week 14 thus ending his season. Many Eagles fans led a preemptive strike, conceding the season to bad luck as Nick Foles would be behind center for the rest of the way. The tales of the Eagles demise were greatly exaggerated. Foles won the two starts that mattered, losing only to the Cowboys in the final week after home field had been wrapped up. In the Divisional round Foles threw for 246 yards in the Eagles 15-10 win over the Falcons, including a miracle bounce completion near the end of the half that led to a key Eagles field goal (maybe he really IS Saint Nick). Foles would be brilliant against the Vikings in the NFC title game as he threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-7 win. He would cap off the amazing run by throwing for 374 yards and four touchdowns and catching a TD pass in a 41-33 Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots. Foles was named Super Bowl MVP and it has been rumored that should he leave Philadelphia, his replacement will be named only after a puff of green smoke is emitted from a chimney perched atop Lincoln Financial Field. Those are just a few quarterbacks who got their chance and made good like when Dick Sargent replaced Dick York on Bewitched and killed it, right? Just watch the reruns. You’ll agree. Until next time Blitzers, dress in layers if you’re outdoors for playoff games in the north, make sure you wipe down that bowling ball before you do a shot from it, and always swipe left when you see a picture of Tom Brady. Please read the blogs of my colleagues, Blitzed Barkeep and Blitzed Fantasy who do outstanding work. Peace. MZE AuthorMike Zimmers Ears is a Minnesota Vikings fan and regular contributor on Blitzed. He also hosts his own Vikings podcast Sound the Gjallahorn.  It seems to happen almost every NFL season. Teams come off a promising year building the hopes of a fan base only to crush those hopes like Cousin Eddie crushes beer cans against the plate in his head (pre Christmas Vacation when it was replaced with a plastic one because of Catherine’s damn microwave). I did some digging over the past 20 years and found some of the most epic season to season collapses.  Houston Texans 2012 -2013 The 2012 Houston Texans had quite a season. In their 11th season of existence head coach, Gary Kubiak, led them to a 12-4 record and an AFC South title. After knocking off the Cincinnati Bengals in their first playoff game they were overwhelmed by the New England Patriots, 41-28, but there was hope for the 2013 season. Hopes stayed high as the team jumped out to a 2-0 record with close wins over the San Diego Chargers and Tennessee Titans. Playoff ticket operators were already standing by. It wouldn’t take long before playoff ticket operators were standing on the unemployment line. In an epic collapse, the Texans would lose their next 14 games in a row. It was so bad that fans probably held victory parties during the team’s bye week. Nothing went right. Star running back, Arian Foster, would go on the IR with a lumbar injury in November. Matt Schaub would be benched halfway through the season for Case Keenum, who would lead the team to a 0-8 record. Gary Kubiak was fired with three games left and Wade Phillips finished the season. A team that finished in the top ten for points for and against in 2012 was bottom five in both categories for 2013. Everything truly is bigger in Texas and this collapse proved it.  Atlanta Falcons 2012 - 2013 According to the movie, 2012 was supposed to be the end of days for Earth. For Falcons fans, they may have wished it was true. Mike Smith led the 2012 Falcons to a 13-3 regular season record with a top seven scoring offense and a top five scoring defense. After a 30-28 win in the divisional round, they lost to the 49ers in the NFC title game, blowing a 10-point halftime lead, but it’s not like blowing a 25-point lead in the Super Bowl, right? The team lost four of its first six games. They’d drop 12 games total, eight by a touchdown or less. The offense ranked 20th in points scored and never quite got its ground game going with Steven Jackson being banged up. The defense was even worse allowing almost 28 points per game. In short, pro football in Atlanta for 2013 was Falcon awful.  Carolina Panthers 2015 - 2016 The 2015 Carolina Panthers were a juggernaut. Led by head coach, “Riverboat” Ron Rivera, and fifth-year quarterback, Cam Newton, they blew through their schedule with a 15-1 record and the highest-scoring offense in the NFL. They knocked off the Seahawks then the Arizona Cardinals on the way to the Super Bowl. It was there where a brutal Broncos defense shut down the Panthers offense, taking a 24-10 win and leading to a Cam Newton post-game pout more memorable than his effort to recover a fumble. The 2016 season began the way the 2015 one ended, with a Panthers loss to the Broncos. A bounce back the following week against the 49ers gave them hope but losses in the next four games prior to the bye had Panthers faithful watching more for what Cam would be wearing in the postgame pressers than the actual games. In the end the team would finish 6-10, Cam would have a season more lackluster than some of the awful getups he’d wear, and Riverboat Ron’s season would come up snake eyes.  Denver Broncos & Atlanta Falcons 1998 - 1999 This double shot of penthouse to outhouse brought to you by the Super Bowl XXXIII participants. The 1998 Atlanta Falcons had a great 1998 season. Dan Reeves coached his team to a 14-2 record, including wins in the team’s final nine games, including one started by the ever forgettable, Tony Graziani (in actuality Steve DeBerg relieved him and led the team to victory but the NFL is weird about who gets credited for wins). The Falcons would take the 49ers down in the divisional round setting up an NFC title game tilt with the Minnesota Vikings who went 15-1 on the season. The Falcons had the NFC title game gift-wrapped for them by Dennis Green (God rest his soul), coming back from 13 points down near the end of the first half as well as benefitting from the only missed kick Gary Anderson would have on the entire season to win 30-27 in overtime, advancing to the Super Bowl. Over in the AFC the Denver Broncos were bucking awesome. They had the number two scoring offense in football thanks to the arm of John Elway and a 2,000 yard, 21 rushing TD season from Terrell Davis. They won their first 13 games of the season before a two-game losing streak near the end. The team would finish the regular season at 14-2 and then knocked off AFC East teams, the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets punching their ticket to Pro Player Stadium and the Super Bowl, where they would take home the Lombardi Trophy, 34-19. Surely these two teams would be back in 1999 battling for a return trip to the Super Bowl, right? Guess again, my friends. The Falcons, who incidentally are on this list twice for epic collapses, wouldn’t win their first game until October 10th. In all they’d win just five games, including their final two after their season’s fate had been long decided. Chris Chandler, who had been solid a season earlier, had a very pedestrian season with a 56.7% completion percentage and only 16 TD passes against 11 interceptions. Star running back, Jamal Anderson, would tear his ACL in a week two loss to the Cowboys and the running game would never be the same (when Ken Oxendine is your top running back, you know it’s bad). The Broncos didn’t fare much better. Much like with the Falcons, the Broncos were dealt a crushing blow when Terrell Davis went down with a season-ending knee injury in their fourth game. With John Elway now retired and preparing for an office job, Brian Griese was handed the reins at quarterback. His father, Bob, may have been a better choice. The team would go 6-10 on the season with seven being by a touchdown or less. Don’t tell me Elway couldn’t have won a few of those. There you have it. Five teams that went from eating prime rib to convenient store roller hot dogs…not that there’s anything wrong with that (if it’s 3 AM and you’re a 12-pack of Busch beer in). Until next time, friends, don’t cut your lip on the edge of your beer can, wash that color rush jersey separate from your whites, and don’t let Bill Reid help you pick your fantasy team. Please give my friends, Blitzed Barkeep and Blitzed Fantasy a read while you’re here. They do amazing work. Yours in beer and football. MZE AuthorMike Zimmer's Ears is a Minnesota Vikings fan from Pennsylvania and is a #TeamBlitzed All Pro. You can follow him on Twitter.  This past week our host Stats Guy, was ripped a new one by the guys on the show for his inability to predict anything. I mean he couldn’t predict a December cold snap in Alaska. This inspired me. Over the last 30 NFL seasons what teams performed above and beyond what the oddsmakers thought they’d do? I give you the six longest shots to win a Super Bowl since 1977.  1980 Oakland Raiders Preseason Super Bowl odds 35:1 This squad entered the season without anyone giving them much thought as a Super Bowl contender. The Raiders brought in Dan Pastorini from the Houston Oilers (I miss that helmet) to quarterback. Pastorini may have had trouble with the time change as the Raiders went 2-2 in their first four games and were trailing the Chiefs in game five when Pastorini suffered a season-ending leg injury. The Raiders turned to journeyman quarterback, Jim Plunkett. Plunkett’s season debut was inauspicious as he put up a Nathan Peterman-worthy five INTs after replacing Pastorini and the 31-17 loss dropped the Raiders to 2-3. Raider Nation was preparing to store those spiked shoulder pads until next season. A funny thing happened while they were figuring out how you bubble wrap spikes. Plunkett found a groove. The Raiders won their next six games and seven of eight. Two road wins to close out the regular season put them at 11-5 and into the wild card. They’d beat the Oilers at home in the wild card round and then upset the original Cleveland Browns on the road, 14-12 , to advance to the conference final in San Diego. Plunkett led a 21-point first quarter outburst with TD passes to Raymond Chester and Kenny King sandwiched around a rare five yard TD run of his own. A second quarter Mark van Eeghen run pushed the lead to 28-7. The Raiders staved off 17 unanswered points by the Chargers and won 34-27 putting them into the Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles. With a 7-0 lead, Plunkett under duress found Kenny King out of the backfield on a short pass. King made the grab and scampered the rest of the way for an 80-yard touchdown. The Eagles never recovered and the Raiders took home the Lombardi, 27-10.  1982 Washington Redskins Preseason Super Bowl odds 35:1 This wasn’t a stellar time for the NFL. Thanks to a 57-day midseason players’ strike the season was reduced from 16 games to nine. The Redskins had gotten off to a good start as Joe Theismann led them to a 2-0 start before the strike. They didn’t seem to lose a beat as they came back and won their first two after the strike before taking a loss to the Cowboys. After scraping out wins at St. Louis against the Cardinals and at home against the Giants, things really took off for the ‘Skins as they cruised to victory in their final two regular season games, carrying an 8-1 record into the playoffs. Thanks to the strike, a special playoff format was instituted. The best eight records from each conference were chosen to participate in a “Super Bowl Tournament.” The Redskins would crush the Lions in the round of 16 and then took care of the Vikings in the second round. The NFC title game would be played against the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas would keep it close and trailed 24-17 in the fourth quarter when Darryl Grant intercepted a tipped Gary Hogeboom (yes THE Gary Hogeboom) screen pass and taking it 10 yards for a TD that put the ‘Skins up 31-17 with 6:55 left in the game. It would be the final score and the Redskins were headed to Pasadena to play the Miami Dolphins. A 76-yard TD pass from David Woodley to Jimmy Cefalo put the ‘Skins in an early hole. After tying the game at 10 in the second quarter, Fulton Walker returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards and the Fish (Fish. Dolphins are mammals. Come on, people!) carried a 17-10 lead to the locker room. A short Mark Moseley FG, one of the last of the straight on, built like a fire hydrant kickers, cut the Miami lead to four. In the 4th quarter, John Riggins, on his way to 166 yards and a Super Bowl MVP award, took a handoff and went 43 yards on 4th and 1 to put the ‘Skins ahead for good with ten minutes to play. A Joe Theismann pass to Charlie Brown, who obviously is better at catching footballs than kicking them, ended the scoring and the ‘Skins had a 27-17 win and a Super Bowl ring. You know I like this Super Bowl tournament thing. Maybe we can have this back. They could have a committee decide who belongs….um forget I even mentioned this.  2017 Philadelphia Eagles Preseason Super Bowl odds 40:1) The Eagles were coming off of back-to-back losing seasons. With Doug Pederson in his second season as head coach, 2017 saw a quarterback from North Dakota State named Carson Wentz take the helm. The Prince Harry lookalike was a major find for the Eagles in the 2016 draft after they dumped Sam Bradford on the Vikings (Seriously, the dude is more fragile than a leg lamp. Why, Vikings? Why?). Once things got going, they couldn’t be slowed down even with a thick layer of Cheese Wiz. Wentz commanded the Eagles to wins in 11 of their first 13 games. However during win number 11 against the Rams, Wentz tore his ACL and his season was done. Enter Nick Foles. Foles had been with the Eagles from 2012 through 2014 winning 15 of his 24 starts. The fans were skeptical like someone had offered them actual cheese for their Pat’s or Geno’s (personally I like Tony Luke’s but that’s for another time). They needed not worry as Foles finished out the regular season winning his first two starts, the only loss coming in a meaningless season finale against the Cowboys. But surely Foles would crumble in the playoffs like a Philly pretzel left out in the sun for three days. Thanks to a crazy deflected pass at the end of the first half of the Eagles playoff game against the Falcons that led to a Jake Elliott 53-yard field goal (didn’t think I’d remember that, did you), the Eagles were up five instead of two late in the 4th quarter. The Falcons had a 4th and goal on the two when Matt Ryan scrambled and threw a very catchable pass towards Julio Jones that went through his fingers for an incompletion. Had the deflection not taken place that’s a field goal attempt and since Blair Walsh wasn’t kicking for the Falcons, history probably doesn’t get made three weeks later when the Eagles, after trouncing the Vikings in the NFC title game, pulled off a Philly Special and finally won a Super Bowl with a 41-33 win over the Patriots. This would mark the one and only time MZE has ever rooted for the Eagles to win anything.  1981 San Francisco 49ers Preseason Super Bowl odds 50:1 The 49ers had never really been thought of much in the team’s history. In 1979 they drafted a quarterback out of Notre Dame named Joe Montana. His first two seasons were spent getting assimilated to the league. He made just eight starts with the Niners winning just two of them. He finally got his chance to take over in 1981 and take over he did. He started off slow as the team was just 1-2 through three games. Before you could say, “San Francisco treat,” he would turn things around and the Niners took 12 of their next 13 games heading into the playoffs. They’d take the Giants down 38-24 in the divisional round. The NFC Championship would be the game that launched the legend that is Joe Montana (unlike a more recent QB who needed an obscure rule that may be part of a conspiracy theory to launch his but more on that later). With 58 seconds left in the game on 3rd and three from the six, Montana rolled right under pressure from the Cowboys defense. He threw to the back corner of the end zone. At first glance it looked like a throw away to get one last shot. However from out of nowhere came Dwight Clark, reaching up as high as he could, to make the grab that tied the game. This was before the extra point became interesting so the Ray Wersching kick was a foregone conclusion and the Niners headed to the Super Bowl to face the Bengals with a 28-27 win. While the final score was 26-21 the outcome was never truly in doubt. To date, no former Notre Dame QB has done anything near what Joe Montana did in the NFL. Just sayin’.  2001 New England Patriots Preseason Super Bowl odds 60:1 The New England Patriots were not always the juggernaut you see today. They actually began the 21st century with a 5-11 season. Things didn’t start off well for 2001 either as they suffered losses to the Bengals and Jets to begin 0-2. In that Jets game starter, Drew Bledsoe, suffered a sheared blood vessel, which nearly killed him. Drew would survive but his job was gone as Lord Volde...I mean Tom Brady stepped in and took over. The Patriots went 11-3 behind Brady, including two wins in overtime, earning them a playoff berth. The divisional round saw them facing the Raiders on a snowy night in Foxborough. Trailing by three with 2:05 left, Brady and the Pats took over. They were driving when Charles Woodson came off the corner. He hit Brady dislodging the ball from his grasp. Raiders linebacker, Greg Biekert, fell on it and the Raiders looked like they’d hang on to win. However after review, it was determined that Brady’s arm was going forward when the ball came out, although it sure looked like he was pulling the ball into his chest. The fumble was overturned and the Patriots kept the ball. Adam Vinatieiri would hit a game-tying field goal and the game headed to overtime. This was before the current overtime rules went into effect. The Pats took the ball down the field and Vinatieri hit the game-winning field goal putting the Patriots into the AFC title game. A close win over the Steelers, who just can’t seem to beat New England, set up a matchup with the Rams. Despite blowing a 17-3 lead in the 4th quarter, The Patriots would win their first ring under Brady on a 48-yard Adam Vinatieri field goal. For Pats fans the dynasty began with a tuck rule. For the rest of us, it’s known as the Motherfu…never mind.  1999 St. Louis Rams Preseason Super Bowl odds 150:1 The nine seasons prior to 1999 were awful for the Rams franchise. They had a combined record of 45-99 and had four different head coaches in that span. Dick Vermeil was in his third season. Vermeil went out and signed Trent Green to a four-year, $17.5 million contract based on his 1998 season with the Washington Redskins. Vermeil also plucked Marshall Faulk away from the Colts and drafted Torry Holt with the sixth pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. Things were looking up until the team’s third preseason game. Chargers’ safety, Rodney Harrison, came on a safety blitz and blew up the ligaments in Green’s knee, ending his season and probably causing Vermeil to shed a few tears. Rams’ fans began contemplating swan dives from the St. Louis arch. Enter, “The Stockboy.” Kurt Warner had spent time in NFL Europe and the Arena League and worked stocking shelves at an Iowa grocery store for extra cash. Now he was the Rams’ starting quarterback. The Rams won their first six games, averaging over 36 points per game and, “The Greatest Show on Turf,” was born. They’d lose two in a row before rattling off seven straight wins. A loss on the final day of the regular season left them with a 13-3 record and a divisional round date with the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota led 17-14 at the half before the Rams ran off 28 straight points. The Vikings, led by Jeff George (yep, he actually suited up for the Vikings), scored 20 points in the final five minutes to make it look close but the Rams advanced to the NFC title game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It would be an unusual game for these Rams as they trailed 6-5 after a Martin Gramatica field goal early in the fourth quarter. It took a pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl with just under five minutes left to put the Rams ahead to stay. They’d meet the Tennessee Titans in Atlanta for the Super Bowl. The Rams would score the first 16 points of the game while the Titans would score the next 16. With just under two minutes to play, Warner found Isaac Bruce streaking down the right sidelines. A great adjustment by Bruce and 73 yards later the Rams had a 23-16 lead. The Titans would drive down to the Rams 10-yard line. On the final play, Steve McNair found Kevin Dyson on a slant route. Mike Jones would make a game-saving tackle one-yard shy of the goal line (although looking at replays it looked more like three yards) and the Rams had their ring. If you’d bet $1,000 on the Rams that August, you’d have taken home a cool $150Gs. Think of the beer you could buy! Those are the six biggest preseason underdogs to win the Super Bowl so Stats Guy, don’t feel too bad. At least you have your health, right? Please check out the blogs of my colleagues, Blitzed Barkeep and Blitzed Scout. They do great work. Until next time, separate your beer cans from your beer bottles, go ahead and wear those jerseys, and feel free to hate on the tuck rule. AuthorMike Zimmer's Ears is a Minnesota Vikings fan from Pennsylvania and is a #TeamBlitzed All Pro. You can follow him on Twitter. 
This week the Blitzed Crew took some time to give us some of the best moments from the show. You can listen to that right here:
While listening, it inspired me to come up with some of my best moments from the NFL over the years. Here they are:
Best Screw Up on Thanksgiving Ever
No, it wasn't your Uncle Earl sharing his political views, it was the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. The Cowboys were hosting the Miami Dolphins in “God’s Spittoon.” There was a rare wintery mix of weather that day making for sloppy playing conditions. With time running out, the Dolphins trailed 14-13 but had a chance as Pete Stoyanovich set up for a 40-yard field goal attempt. Stoyanovich’s kick never stood a chance as it was blocked. Jerry Jones raised his hands in victory as the clock wound down. Oh, if only Leon Lett had done the same thing. For some inexplicable reason Lett decided to chase the bouncing ball. His large hands and a slick football paired about as well as a Kardashian girl and, well, anyone. The ball squirted free and into the end zone. After some discussion (there was no replay) the ball was given to the Dolphins on the Cowboys’ one yard line with three seconds to play. This time Stoyanovich nailed the short field goal and the Dolphins left Dallas with a 16-14 win. 
Best Turnaround to a Season
The 1992 San Diego Chargers were glad to put September behind them. They went winless for the month, being outscored by a combined 95-29. Fans were already making plans to spend more time at the beach or the zoo on Sundays. On October 4th they finally broke into the win column with a 17-6 victory over Seattle. After their bye week, three more wins and a .500 record. All of a sudden the beach could wait and the monkeys could make faces at each other. In all, the Chargers would win 11 of their final 12 games win the AFC West and qualify for the playoffs. They’d knock off the Chiefs in the wild card round, 17-0, but the magic ended a week later when the Miami Dolphins trounced them, 31-0. No other team in NFL history has ever lost its first four games and won more than nine games. 
Best Punt by a Quarterback
Randall Cunningham was an incredible athlete. He had a cannon for an arm and he could take off and pick up big chunks of yardage with his legs. What many don’t know is that Cunningham was also a pretty good punter. For his career Cunningham had 20 punts with a 44.7 yard average. On December 3, 1989, the Eagles were playing the New York Giants at the old Meadowlands. Early in the fourth quarter and backed up on their own two after a sack, the Eagles would punt. Cunningham asked Buddy Ryan to let him handle the punting in favor of Max Runager. Ryan made the bold decision to listen to his quarterback. With a 25-mile an hour wind at his back, Cunningham drilled the punt over Giants’ return man, Dave Meggett’s, head. The ball hit at the Giants 39-yard line and was finally picked up at the seven by Meggett who returned it to the 16. It was the turning point of the game as a few plays later, Mike Golic, known more for his radio career than his NFL career, recorded a strip sack of Phil Simms with the Eagles recovering on the seven. It took just three plays for Keith Byars to score what would be the game-winning touchdown. For the record, Cunningham also had an 80-yard punt in 1994 and a 65-yarder with the Vikings in 1997. Not too shabby for a measly quarterback. 
Best Embattled Playoff Performance
On January 2, 1982, the San Diego Chargers were in Miami for a playoff game against the Dolphins that would send one of the teams into the AFC Championship game. The Chargers jumped out to a 24-0 first quarter lead and those New Year’s Day hangovers for Dolphins’ fans just got worse. Don Strock and his teammates took a shot of B-12 and fought on. Trailing 24-10 late in the first half, the Dolphins ran a ‘hook & lateral’ play that resulted in a Tony Nathan TD and a 24-17 halftime deficit. The teams would fight to a 38-38 tie after regulation. The star of this game was Kellen Winslow, Sr. He’d have 13 catches in the game for 166 yards and a touchdown. He would also block a Uwe Von Schamann (a truly great kicker’s name) field goal to preserve the tie long enough for Rolf Benirschke (another truly great kicker’s name) to hit a 35-yard field goal that sent the Chargers to the title game. Winslow’s performance would be considered great by any standard but there’s more to the story. Winslow suffered all of the following in this game: shoulder injury, swollen eye, pinched nerve, busted lip, cramps, and, due to the extreme humidity, dehydration. His teammates literally carried him back to the locker room after the game. The following week saw a drastic change in temperature as the Chargers headed to Cincinnati to play the Bengals. The air temperature was -9 degrees with a -37 degrees Fahrenheit wind chill. There would be no magic for the Chargers this time as they lost 27-7. 
Greatest End to a Playoff Game Ever in the History of the NFL and this Is Not up for Debate
Minnesota Vikings fans have endured some of the most excruciating playoff losses in the history of the game. I won’t go into them here as my doctor will not prescribe any more nitro pills for me. On January 14, 2018, we experienced a joy never before experienced but with 25 seconds to play against the New Orleans Saints it looked like another crushing defeat. The Vikings jumped out to a 17-0 lead on the strength of TD runs from Jerick McKinnon and Latavius Murray sandwiched around a Kai Forbath field goal. Vikings fans knew enough not to get excited for much like a Nightmare on Elm Street movie, just when you thought it was safe you get slashed by razors. Michael Thomas would catch two TD passes to cut the lead to 17-14. Then with just over three minutes to play, Alvin Kamara caught Drew Brees’ third TD pass of the game and the Saints went ahead 21-20. Vikings fans quickly grabbed the cyanide tablets that were always on hand. Case Keenum and company kept us from swallowing the pills as he led the Vikings to the Saints’ 35-yard line for a Kai Forbath 53-yard field goal attempt. Vikings kickers and the playoffs were usually a recipe for disaster but Forbath coolly drilled the kick putting the Vikings up 23-21. We held on to those pills because Drew Brees had the ball and time on the clock plus a field goal would be enough to win. Sure as you need long johns for a Minnesota winter, Brees took the Saints 50 yards in 64 seconds and Wil Lutz hit a 43-yard field goal with 25 seconds left. A nice Blitzed Barkeep cocktail would wash down those tablets perfectly. But there were still 25 seconds left. Channeling our inner Lloyd Christmas, we all felt there was still a chance. After a touchback and a Mike Remmers false start, the Vikings realistically needed to move 45 yards to get into field goal range. Case Keenum hit Stefon Diggs for 19 yards. Two incompletions later it was third and 10 with 14 seconds to play. Still time to get those 26 yards. Keenum dropped back and calmly fired to the right sideline where Diggs was waiting. It was a beautiful toss and easily long enough to set up Forbath if Diggs could get out of bounds. Saints cornerback, Marcus Williams, whiffed on the tackle the way Blair Walsh whiffed on a chip shot field goal against the Seattle Seahawks. How the hell could he miss that kick?! How?! Breathe, MZE. Breathe. Anyway, Diggs found nothing between him and the goal line as he turned and scampered the final 34 yards for a 29-24 walk-off Vikings playoff win. Vikings fans flushed the cyanide down the commode. The tears streaming down our faces were finally not ones of sorrow but joy. We all booked rooms in Minneapolis where we would revel and frolic for surely we would be the first host team to play in the Super Bowl. God has a sense of humor. The following week the Philadelphia Eagles would score the final 38 points of the NFC title game, drubbing the Vikings 38-7 and putting us out of our misery. Those are five of my favorite ‘Best Of’ moments. What are yours? Post below in the comments and check out the work of the Blitzed Barkeep and the Blitzed Scout. Until next time, Blitzers, tap a keg, tip your bartenders, and trip Tom Brady if he crosses your path. MZE AuthorMike Zimmer's Ears is a Minnesota Vikings fan from Pennsylvania and is a #TeamBlitzed All Pro. You can follow him on Twitter. |
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