Four Memorable Field Goal Botches in NFL Playoff History

Lawrence Tynes, the Giants' kicker, narrowly avoided becoming one of many playoff goats in recent memory. His end of regulation kick sailed wide after a high snap from rookie Jay Alford (though nicely recovered by holder/punter Jeff Feagles), but he redeemed himself for that kick and an earlier miss in overtime. Here are four other memorable kicker/snap/holder botches in the NFL playoffs.

To be clear, we're not talking about missed or blocked kicks. We're talking about something going horribly wrong.

1) 2003 Wild Card Round - Giants at Niners

The Giants led by 24 with 4:39 left in the third quarter, but Jeff Garcia and his best friend Terrell Owens rallied the Niners back to take a 39-38 lead. Still, Giants kicker Matt Bryant had a chance at a 41-yard attempt to win the game. The snap from Trey Junkin bounced, and holder Matt Allen could not get the snap down. He tried a desperation pass to Rich Seubert, who is unfortunately an offensive lineman and thus not an eligible receiver.

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(5:17 mark below)



2) 2007 Wild Card Round - Cowboys at Seahawks

This one is pretty fresh in our memories from last postseason. The snap was good, and Romo caught it cleanly, but he lost the ball putting it down. Romo recovered and tried to run it in for a touchdown, but was tripped up at the two. The most impressive aspect of the botch is that Romo did not try to excuse the play (though others did) after the game. He bounced back well this season, going 13-3 before being upset by the eventual NFC Champion New York Giants in their third meeting of the season.



3) 2000 Divisional Round - Redskins at Buccaneers

Part of my inspiration in writing this post is reminding Redskins fans of this painful moment from Daniel Snyder's first "Greatest Team on Paper". The Redskins had blown a 13-point lead, with the touchdown coming on a Brian Mitchell then-record 100-yard kick return on Martin Gramatica's kickoff to open the second half. Down 14-13, the Redskins lined up for a 52-yard Brett Conway field goal attempt with 1:17 to play. Dan Turk's snap was low, causing holder Brad Johnson to abort the attempt. His desperation pass fell incomplete, and the Bucs killed the clock for the win. Many believed Brad Johnson could have run for the first down, preserving another attempt. This was the end of the Turk brothers' run in Washington, as punter Matt Turk had also badly injured his finger in a pickup basketball game.

4) Super Bowl VII (1973) - Redskins v. Dolphins

Two words: Garo Yepremian. While this isn't a snapper/holder botch, it has to count because of the disastrous result. The Dolphins 17-0 perfect season would have been capped off by a 17-0 Super Bowl win over the Redskins, but the Dolphins field goal was blocked by Redskin Bill Brundige. Rather than fall on the ball, Yepremian attempted to throw for a first down. The ball slipped out of Garo's hand, and went straight up in the air. Yepremian then attempted to tip the ball...right into the hands of Redskin CB Mike Bass, who easily scored.

For the first time since his catchphrase became popular on Johnny Carson, Garo truly did "keek a touchdown."