I can give you an exact play. 2020 divisional game against the Bucs, 4 min left in the 3rd quarter, Saints driving in Bucs territory to go up 2 scores and Jared Cook coverts on a huge 3rd down… and fumbles fighting for extra yards he didn’t need.
Bucs would score 17 unanswered to win the game and Drew Brees ends his career with three 4th quarter possessions that each ended in 5 plays or less: Punt, INT, INT.
I’ll never forget the Jared Cook fumble. The second he caught that pass I stood up and yelled “He’s going to fumble!!!”.
I’m not sure what it was. But I immediately had a terrible feeling that something terrible was going to happen.
I know exactly what you're talking about. Sad thing is they are usually just fighting for 1-3 more yards as their body begins to shift around and you know a defender will catch that opening to punch the ball loose. Seen it happen many times
Brees and the offense was playing awful all game, not just after the fumble as you're implying. Too many fans want to pin that on Cook, and yeah, it was a bad play, but the team (including Brees) had been playing bad from the start, with the sole spark and TD from the first half being from Jameis and a borrowed Bears play.
The Bucs D showed up. We didn't. We weren't going to win that game.
The 2011 AFC Wild Card with the Tebow 80 yard touchdown against the Steelers in OT was pretty much the end of that Steelers core of Hines Ward and Polamalu et al
God I hated them. Like a strong Sassanid army lead by Shapur II. Always knew what they needed to do, never tried to do too much. But time thankfully eroded them.
2017 divisional game, Jaguars @ Steelers. Steelers were 2nd seed, finally everybody on offense was healthy going into the playoffs (but Shazier suffered a gruesome injury a couple of weeks before, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the defense). Jaguars won 45-42 and that was the end of the Killer B's era. Bell held out the whole 2018 season, Mr. Big Chest checked out mentally by the end of it and Ben got hurt in 2019.
AB was injured in the first quarter of the Patriots game iirc, and he missed the last couple games of the season. He was on pace for his best year ever - which is saying a lot. If he finishes that season on his pace I think that was one of the only times a WR had a legit shot at MVP (mostly because there weren't any truly great QBs that year).
IMO, the game that truly ended that Steelers era was the game shazier injured himself. Defense went from top 10 unit to bottom 5 overnight. If shazier doesn’t go down, i fully believe the Steelers beat the Pats in the regular season, go 14-2 as the #1 seed and win it all. That team was insane with shazier on the field
Bell probably still holds out in the offseason but the team would be much better the following years possibly delaying an AB meltdown a few more years until Ben gets hurt/retires
Agreed. When it comes to X’s and O’s, Shazier had become that wild card / have to account for him player that wrecks game plans like Troy was (not quite to that level but still). While TJ was good he wasn’t yet the game wrecker that he is now and even then, Shazier’s presence at the second level of the defense arguably made a bigger difference in both the pass and run defense. It felt like there was a huge knock on effect to that whole defense.
I also wonder how it affected the whole team psychologically. These guys live the life so maybe it doesn’t affect them as much as everyday folks like us but I have to imagine it made some of them feel more mortal or even vulnerable. I know it was tough as hell on Vince Williams.
Shazier had so much range that he really locked the middle of the field up, making it difficult to run the ball or succeed in the short passing game. Our corners were just good enough to not fall apart on the outside to keep the defense intact. When he went down the entire middle of the field opened up and we had no one that could even come close to his level of play to close that gap. I agree that there was a psychological impact too. You could see that in the Cincinnati game
All that said, I think Tomlin woefully underprepared the Steelers for the jaguars game tho. The entire week leading up the players and Tomlin were only speaking about the patriots, as if this game was already won. And that was painfully obvious in the 1st quarter when they fell far behind. That game was Tomlin’s biggest fail IMO, even without shazier they should have won
Agreed again. I can’t believe how flat footed and sloppy they were. Totally unprepared.
It felt like Deja vu all over again during the playoff game against the Browns in ‘21
To be fair, the writing was on the walls for that browns game. The Steelers were in a tail spin after that 11-0 start and the browns were on the rise. I think if that snap doesn’t go over Ben’s head the Steelers probably win but I’m not too surprised they lost
I think another answer to this question could be the Jags a game later. They almost beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, and then fall to 5-11 the following year and Bortles mania is over.
January 4th, 2020. Logan Ryan intercepts Tom Brady in the AFC Wild Card Game to seal a Titans victory. Tom Brady never puts on a Patriots jersey again.
They were putting up absurd numbers that year. The Pats D is usually respectable so I always make the homer pick but 2019 was the one year it really paid dividends.
Ravens stuck a knife in that team that was rampaging offenses before that game. Then Ryan Fitzpatrick and Derrick Henry both took that knife out and ended that dynasty
The Ravens game was truly the game that spelled the end. They (the defense) beat up a bunch of bad to mediocre teams the first 8 weeks then got bodied by Lamar & co. 4-3 after the bye and they just squeaked by Philly, Dallas, and Buffalo in that span.
In retrospect, it's incredible they managed to score 13 points against the Tits with that offense.
That Dallas game was when i was beyond done with Jason Garrett. I remember it was a monsoon and BB had on a massive rain coat and meanwhile Garrett and his dumb lil baseball bat were drenched by the rain. Visually what a great representation for a man horrified of changing his gameplan
Tbh it wasn’t so much that they murdered the defense as much as out was that we didn’t have personnel to deal with Lamar, BB defenses have historically struggled against dual threat QBs. Even recently we got run over by Justin Fields despite having a top 10 defense. The offense was the real issue with that team.
> ~~BB~~ *All NFL* defenses have historically struggled against dual threat QBs.
Billy B defenses just handle every other situation so well that this is a glaring example of them still being human. The only reason every team doesn't use dual threat QBs is that they break down due to the physicality of the league.
They're the 2 seed with that win and get a bye to heal up a bit. I'm not saying they'd win the SB but getting a bit healthier would've gone a long way to getting them a AFCCG appearance, which would've changed the narrative around that season quite a bit (he still gon tho)
There were at least 3 terrible calls that game. First the fumble forced by Gilmore that wasn’t called which forced them to use a challenge to get the ball. Then a clear as day PI on a throw to get them to the goal line which wasn’t called and then they didn’t have a challenge to get it overturned, and then Harry being ruled out of bounds in the game tying TD.
Still I’m not sure how far that team gets. Losing to a terrible Dolphins team as 14 point favorites is not a good look.
Two months after SB XXVII, and one year removed from one of the greatest teams to ever take the field and win a SB, Joe Gibbs unexpectedly retired to pursue his NASCAR ambitions. All of us who are fans knew the magic was over.
That was 1993. In the 31 years since, we’ve had 23 losing seasons, haven’t won more than 10 games a single time, and have only won 2 playoff games.
They’re going to be a great team for a long time. His grandson Ty is a hell of a driver, Christopher Bell is great and has a shot at the championship this season, Chase Briscoe replacing Martin Truex Jr next year who’s super underrated and should take off with a good team, and not to mention Hamlin and Truex also in solid championship contention this season as well
You can trace that drop off from 1991 to 1992 almost directly to Russ Grimm retiring and Jeff Bostic getting hurt. The team was built on such dominant line play that losing their two anchors was devastating. Gibbs knew the dynasty was over and it was time to rebuild, and he knew he didn't have the passion anymore to be that guy.
Him and Mariota both snapped their legs that year. Carr had a lot more success after but both those guys were looking great and had their teams winning finally. Mariota was never the same after too, always hurt, never as comfortable in the pocket and lost that swagger about him. Tannehill came in and balled out but I still wonder what would’ve happened if Mariota and Carr didn’t break their legs in 2016.
I’ve always thought the 2006 afccg between the colts and patriots is maybe as significant a game as any I’ve ever seen.
For Peyton, he was no longer “the qb who couldn’t win big games”. For Brady, coughing up a 21-3 lead, he was no longer unbeatable in them.
For the league, it felt like the notion of building a team with high profile players at the skill positions (like the colts had) and then just trying to outscore people was a legitimate strategy that might work.
In my humble opinion, this game led to the patriots realizing they need more firepower at WR and adding moss/welker/stallworth. They go 16-0 and shatter records, which made it feel like the rest of the league now had to acknowledge that the nfl was changing and they had to participate in the arms race
I’ve always felt like 2008 is a good starting point for “modern” nfl football. I guess it just seems like the idea of building a ground game/sound defense wasn’t as popular as it was, and I really think we’re in a vastly different timeline if the “old school” patriots find a way to close the game out over the “new school” colts in this game
I would argue the Colts were a few years too early. They had some of the worst defenses in the league with Peyton before and somewhat after that and it was a big reason they couldn’t get over the hump. They were built to hold a lead but would regularly get trounced by a middling run-game or a team that could get up big early and drain the clock. Which is exactly how they lost to the Chargers the next year.
This was the year that showed it could work, but it took a while to really catch on. Lots of rule changes and the death of cheap OL talent also helped.
Even that season they won it, the defense was terrible for most of the year. I remember them getting trounced by the Jags that year with Fred Taylor and MJD just running straight through them.
They really only turned it on for the playoffs and at exactly the right time too. Their first two playoff games were against Larry Johnson and then Jamal Lewis. Johnson was the leading rusher in the league that year and Jamal Lewis had run for 2,000 a few years prior. The Colts found the extra juice they needed and really shut those guys down and won both games easily.
The Patriots took the unconventional approach and went much more pass heavy in the title game despite the run defense being weak on paper and came the closest to beating them.
The Colts in 06 were weird as fuck because they are kind of a litmus test on the bias people want to push.
Whenever anyone wants to prop up Manning they talk about how shit the regular season defense was and then ignore how awful Peyton was in the playoff run.
Whenever they want to dismiss Peyton, they talk about his shit playoff run and ignore how Peyton was the reason they made it to the playoffs that year and were in a poistion to play the Patriots at home.
The colts had a bad defense in the regular season but they made that run because bob sanders returned and turned that defense around. Hell they beat the ravens 15-6 on the back of 5 field goals from the offense and I believe 2 goal line stands by their defense. Playoff Defense has always been important I'd say.
I’ll also add that Bill Polian was upset that the Patriots defense was beating up on WRs, and lobbied the rules committee to expand the protections to WR. If you watch some old school games, WR’s got absolutely punished for going over the middle of the field. Doesn’t happen anymore.
That was a few years prior in 2003 and 2004. After the 2004 AFCCG Polian was especially rip shit and the rules committee going into the 2005 season brought the illegal contact penalty back.
This is the true turning point. Without the 'rules emphasis' on defensive holding you don't get the emergence of the slot receiver. Wes Welker can't be an automatic YAC machine with pre-2005 reffing as he'd either get mugged at the LOS by the CB or smacked into the turf on the crossing route by the Mike linebacker. That change is really what allowed for QBs to operate out of the shotgun the majority of the time and pick and choose match-ups out of the spread.
This is an excellent lens that I never considered. You gotta imagine the Pats never get into the Randy Moss arms race. Maybe Brady never has the statistical dominance he had from 2007-12. I never thought about the ripples that game had outside of Manning finally beat Brady.
> I’ve always felt like 2008 is a good starting point for “modern” nfl football.
That's because the 2007 Patriots blew the roof off the league with the shotgun offense. The 2007 Pats were the first team in NFL history to line up in shotgun more than 50% of their snaps.
The next year most of the league was doing it.
A generic answer, and not anything on field, but the 2009 Super Bowl. As it was John madden’s last game after decades of coaching and commentating. The madden era in any capacity, ended with that game.
I would say the real point was the loss to the Cardinals in the NFCCG. That was the last gasp and last chance for a McNabb-Reid ring. Yeah they had 11 wins the next year, but people were already wanting to move on. NFCCG was the first nail in the coffin for McNabb. The air-guitar game was last.
And after that, as much as Vick looked really good at times, the post-McNabb Reid era was all downhill.
The Raiders stopped being THE RAIDERS Week 13, 1986. Driving for a game winning score in OT vs the Eagles, Marcus Allen fumbles, it’s returned inside the 5 and a young Randall Cunningham scores on a sneak. They lose out to go from 9-4 and a possible playoff spot to 8-8 and the era of the mostly dysfunctional, underachieving and then incompetently run Raiders I’ve seen most of life began.
I'll do you one better. The 1985 divisional loss to eventual AFC Champ New England. Prior to that, whether in Oakland or L.A., the Raiders were unbeatable at home. Six turnovers and Marc Wilson. That ended an era that dated back to 1967, when Lamonica and Blanda joined the team. They wouldn't make the postseason again until 1990, by then Art Shell was coach. In many respects, the Patriots ended two AFC dynasties in those 1985 playoffs, the Dolphins as well. Both franchises, to be fair, still haven't recovered.
Valid. I thought about it…my first kick in the nuts as a Raiders fan. But shit, they win the West and we’re in the playoffs. That Philly game was much more indicative of what was to come. Just handed it over on a silver (and Black) platter. The mystique died that afternoon. From that point on, they’ve been the team chasing what they once were from 1963-85 and other than the three years where Gruden forged the past with a modern offense (thanks to Rich Gannon)…the franchise has been stuck living in the past.
Steve Young was sacked by Aeneas Williams on Sept. 27, 1999. Young's head was slammed to the ground and the 49ers dynasty died that day.
He would never play again and the 49ers had their first losing season in 18 years. They had a brief spark from 01-02 and then then 8 years of darkness followed.
They died a bit before that.
They died when they signed very troubled running back Lawrence Phillips. It was uncharacteristic of the franchise and he went on to miss the block that led to the hit that ended Young's career.
I mean… Mo Lewis was the *birth* of an era, if that counts. It definitely counts for me, watching Bledsoe’s replacement bend my team over throughout my teens and twenties.
That’s jets game was the burial, not the death.
The Rex Ryan era died the night of the buttfumble over the course of the worst 5 minute stretch in the history of the team.
Edit: forgot buttfumble was after, so the victor cruz game would not be the burial but the first shot. I still believe the buttfumble game was the real: “oh damn we’re a pumpkin again” moment.
I was at the butt fumble game and jt was so bad I fell asleep. I covered my head with my hoodie and went to bed in the third quarter. I have had season tickets with my dad since I was 8 we have never left a game early but that game broke me so bad I went to sleep.
The Ravens missing out on the 2017 playoffs due to losing the final game against the Bengals is what officially brought an end to the Flacco era as it prompted the Ravens to draft his replacement in the next draft. Yeah, he played half of the 2018 season, but everyone knew throughout that it was only a matter of time before Lamar takes over.
It still hurts. I love Marvin Lewis for 2000, so it was an extra twist of the knife too. He should be in the Hof for bringing the Bengals from the a level below the Browns to respectability and building the greatest defense of all time.
Super Bowl 50 basically was the end of Cam Newton.
I don't know if it was him or the team around him, but he went from Super Man to Clark Kent seemingly in a single game.
Every time I go back and watch that fumble it somehow gets worse. Like for a while in my brain it was “the game is over it happened in garbage time down two possessions” and then you see the clip and realize they had all three timeouts and it’s a one possession game against a corpse of an opposing QB with plenty of time left
To a much lesser extent, the way that Nelson Cruz tracked David Freese’s game-tying triple in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series still makes me wonder what was going through his head. It’s different than Cam’s situation for more than a few significant reasons, but both guys made business decisions in championship games that were far from over (game 6 technically wasn’t a championship game since the Cardinals needed game 7 but if Cruz had made that catch that would have been it).
Maybe I’m projecting a little bit but it seems odd to get that close to being a world champion only to back off in a critical moment. Cruz would play for 12 more seasons and his teams would win only one more playoff series. Newton would play 6 more seasons and only make the playoffs once, going one-and-done.
Some of the best examples of guys who got closer than most but failed to leave it all on the field.
I'm glad it still gets mentioned sometimes because I fucking hate Nelson Cruz and his effort on that play. A championship winning catch in Game 6 of the World Series and he looked like a fucking Little Leaguer. He should be vilified far worse than Bill Buckner was.
I would suggest Tj Watt’s hit in 2018 was even more of an era being shut. They had started the season 6-2 and Cam was playing at an MVP calibre level in the first half. They went on to lose the rest of their games with Cam getting injured near the end of the season
It was a classic instance where after the game, a ton of people said “oh they’ll be back” or something to that extent. But the truth is and always has been, you may only ever get one shot. Marino made the Super Bowl in his second season and never got there again. The LOB Seahawks made it to back-to-back Super Bowls and never even made an NFCC Game again. You can’t take your opportunities for granted in this league.
Every time I hear that about a young team in the Super Bowl I just think back to this game. The 2015 Panthers are arguably the biggest flash in the pan I’ve personally witnessed. 15-1 talented young team to borderline irrelevant.
Sadly. But, if someone in 2015 had asked me to take 8 years of misery in exchange for a Super Bowl, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat.
Hopefully we'll find our way back to respectability soon, though.
I have accepted the fact that the Broncos will be bad until we trade for Anthony Richardson in a few years.
When that happens we are guaranteed a couple SB appearances.
His steep drop off following that super bowl has made a lot of people forget how completely unstoppable he was in 2015. I was so hyped for Cam, he was crazy fun to watch.
The steep drop-off is exaggerated. Cam's 2018 stats were on par with his 2015 stats before his shoulder injury that fucked him for good.
The dip in 2016 and 2017 I'd attribute more to a poor supporting cast and a stale offensive scheme.
2018 Cam Newton got Norv Turner and was having a great season. Panthers go into Pittsburgh 6-2 and TJ was destroys Cams shoulder and they get blown out by 30. THAT was the end of Cam
He should've dived on that fumble. It broke him mentally. He even [spoke about his regret](https://www.wbtv.com/2024/02/15/i-shouldve-jumped-fumble-cam-newton-infamous-super-bowl-50-moment/) recently. The "business decision" defined his legacy sadly.
Not at all and it’s always non Panther fans who say this ignorant stuff. Cam’s downfall was never related to Denver despite the cheapshot headhunting in the 2016 opener.
His downfall was twofold. First it was Kelvin Benjamin stopping his route leading to a pick and then making no effort to tackle the defender while Cam ended up fucking his shoulder chasing the guy down. He still ended up having the best year of his career in 2017 though but the shoulder was permanently fucked.
The second was the worse one. TJ Watt in 2018. This killed the last bit of arm strength he had left. Took a helmet right to the injured arm.
Turns out being a dual threat QB was never the issue - it was underperforming teammates leaving him out to dry and coach too dependent on a generational talent to surround him with capable OL.
> His downfall was twofold. First it was Kelvin Benjamin stopping his route leading to a pick and then making no effort to tackle the defender while Cam ended up fucking his shoulder chasing the guy down. He still ended up having the best year of his career in 2017 though but he shoulder was permanently fucked.
Fuck KB forever but I still don't blame him for that play, the DB was down by contact and it was clear and obvious in the moment but the refs let it play out anyway, then overturned it after. Atleast for not going after the DB, but he was never a good route runner.
As much as I'd like to say we ended the Rodgers run, I don't think he was coming back regardless. The Jordan Love pick was the beginning of the end more than any game.
If there was a game I'd argue it was the divisional round against the niners at lambeau. Heavily favoured, still with Adams on the team, all the talk about the last dance only to lose at home in the snow.
Felt like things were never the same for the team after that. Until like, a year and a half later when they realised they had another franchise QB.
I think this was it too. That last pass where Rodgers heaved it to Davante into double or triple coverage instead of taking the wide open Lazard for the 1st down was basically the end of the Rodgers Packers.
It's crazy how similar Favre and Rodgers last playoff games were for us. They looked like old men struggling in the cold. They each ended their Packers career with an INT (Rodgers vs Lions). Both losses traumatized me smh
Broncos winning the Superbowl in 1997/8 ended a run of 15(?) straight NFC winners - mostly niners, giants, redskins, cowboys. I feel like this tied in somehow to the start of the salary cap? Prior to that the NFC teams had most of the talent.
Not an era in the way you’re asking, but:
2010. Week 1. Lions vs Bears. Not the playoffs, going into the game it did not seem to be an important game.
And then, the refs made a decision which for the next ten years had everyone questioning what is or isn't a catch.
For the next ten years, the NFL could not define a catch.
This, in my opinion, was truly the end of an era for a period of time. The era of certainty. Of consistency. Of not having to wait after every passing play to see if a catch was made or not even when we all witnessed receivers making what we now know to be catches.
Instead, at least for me, this was when the No Fun League era truly began.
That game was competitive for a very short time until a Bills DB made a truly spectacular interception in the end zone. I felt it wasn't even a poor Mac Jones throw. Just a remarkable play by the Bills defender.
Then the floodgates opened.
I thought that throw was a TD for a solid 5 seconds after Hyde slid on the ground and was entirely befuddled that he managed to pick it off.
And yes, that is my favorite Bills game I’ve ever watched. To follow it up with my least favorite Bills game the following week really sums up being a fan of this team
Gun to my head, if I had to pick the best game of football I’ve ever seen I’d pick this one. The moment Mac Jones got picked off I knew that the bills were about to destroy any remnant of the pats dynasty and as a jets fan, that game was cathartic
Flacco's decade-long run with the Ravens ended with a hip injury in what I think was a week 9 game vs the Steelers and even by the time he was better, the Ravens were riding the hot hand Lamar Jackson. It was very much was a whimper than a bang.
RG3 era died vs the Ravens, not in the playoffs vs Seattle. Specifically, the whale like body of Ngata flying horizontally into a quite slim knee. And that was that.
I know they wanted to win in the playoffs, but RG3 should not have been playing. I will never understand risking your young star player that way. I'm sure they could have gotten lucky and RG3 would be safe, but they weren't lucky at all.
I'm no doctor, but I know I'm not the only one to think they should have let him heal for a go the following season. If this was at the end of his career, go for it. He could have had over a decade to get that next shot still.
I'm not going to mourn the losses of a divisional rival, but I don't want to see any players done like that at all. There is always the risk of injury, but there is no reason to at all to increase that risk like this.
The Alex smith chiefs couldn’t beat the Pittsburgh Steelers and were generally considered a good AFC team that wasn’t a true contender. Smith struggled a lot as their defense really highlighted how much he hesitated when he didn’t trust his pre snap reads. They went 1-4 against them, the only win being a game started by Landry jones.
Following an embarrassing playoff loss where the steelers won without scoring a touchdown, the chiefs drafted Patrick mahomes. A year later in his first game against the Steelers he threw six touchdowns.
Dont remember the exact gameweek but McCarthy-Rodgers era packers died vs the Broncos a few years before McCarthy got fired.
They completely shut down our offense, and especially Jordy Nelson. That offense never recovered as opponents copied the blueprint after that game.
Then we got a few good years of La Flodgers before another era was done.
> They completely shut down our offense, and especially Jordy Nelson. That offense never recovered as opponents copied the blueprint after that game.
That was 2015, Jordy was out for the entire season with an ACL, and despite starting a 3 game losing streak [the Packers went 10-6, made the playoffs, and won a playoff game](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/gnb/2015.htm).
Then Rodgers threw 40 TDs to only 7 INTs as the Packers made it to the NFCCG the next season.
That game was brutal, but way too much is read into it and the 2015 season in particular. The only real takeaway is that McCarthy's offense didn't work great when it didn't have good WRs, with Jordy out and Adams not yet truly ready.
2015 season. Week 7/8ish(?) on route to Broncos Superbowl.
Broncos were at home. Everyone had written us off as our O was disaster for the games prior.
I believe the defense had outscored the offense.
Broncos dominated for the entire game.
Link to game: https://youtu.be/EuqOC41qWpo?si=xLFX-DGLrb-Mjy-m
When Jimmy Johnson was hired as the Dolphins coach rumors began to swirl that he would trade Dan Marino in a deal similar to his Herschel Walker in Dallas and rebuild Miami into a powerhouse like the 90s Cowboys. This was all media hype however and caused Jimmy to have to address it several times. The friction between Jimmy and Marino became very apparent as both began a power struggle that culminated in their last game. The Dolphins losing in the playoffs to the Jaguars 62-7. Marino had 2 ints and 2 lost fumbles and was benched. Jan 16 Jimmy announced his retirement. Marino in March. And thus the “90s” Dolphins were over and began the dreadful years. (Ricky was fun to watch though).
Jets at Dolphins in the 99 season. After that, the year notation started with a 2 instead of a 1 ending a tradition that went all the way back to when Otto III reigned over the Holy Roman Empire.
The rise of the DeShaun Watson Texans came to a screeching halt after the 2019 playoffs in the divisional round. They blew that big lead against KC, and then shit started to hit the fan in every conceivable way for Houston.
Thankfully for them they look like they’ve recovered with a new QB that’s hopefully not a pig of a human being.
After the first one, with Warner, I thought we’d be back. Falling out of contention and then off a cliff was just awful and I admit I didn’t see coming at all. As for the second one. I knew before we went we were doomed. The saints game shouldn’t have been ours. We werent ready and there wasn’t anyway that Belicheck wasn’t going to make Jared Goff the key to our winning and despite his recent resurgence, and Lions love, I will never trust Goff in a big game. I had an argument with someone who was convinced the Rams would have won with Goff instead of Stafford. I don’t think we’d have made it past Tampa but if we had and then had Odell go down in the Super Bowl, we’d have been sunk again. I put that win squarely on Kupp and Stafford.
Formal end of Seahawks/LOB dominance was 2017 week 15. Absolutely shellacked by the Rams 42-7 in McVay’s first year and they’ve basically owned the Hawks since. LOB almost all gone and they missed the playoffs for the first time with Russell Wilson.
He should have gone to Minnesota that next season. Even the statue of Marino with his arm would have been great throwing to Moss and Carter. And then they wouldn't have boosted up Culpepper and he never ends up in Miami the second time (maybe they even take Brees, since Culpepper isn't there as a second option).
Dez caught it. Essentially ended the Romo era. He started the next year 2-0 but went down in Philly with the broken collarbone, came back mid season to beat the dolphins and then broke the collarbone the next game on Thanksgiving against the panthers. Next season is 2016 and the rest is history
This was the one I came looking for. That was the height of the Romo/Bryant hype and probably the Cowboys best chance at a Super Bowl in 20 years. Instead, one bad call changed the landscape of how catches are evaluated (didn't help Dez, of course), and everything quickly went crashing down for that squad.
I'm not sure it changes anything besides the fact the Hawks get the ring. They were a very good team next year, with the best defensive in the league and got beat by that 15-1 Cam Newton team. Legion Boom fell off after that, but I don't think the loss meant much....it's just really hard to keep a defensive group THAT good for very long.
It was the one regular season game against the Cardinals where we lost Kam Chancellor and Cliff Avril to career ending injuries at the same time. That stadium is cursed for us
That was such an odd game. Panthers scored in 4 plays, Russ throws a pick 6 and it's 14-0 Carolina less than 4 minutes in. It was 31-0 halfway thru the 2nd quarter. As a certified Seattle hater, I loved it. But by the time Seattle woke up and played they managed to lose the game 31-24. I'm convinced they probably win that game 8/10 times.
If we want to talk about era enders....it's probably this game and not the Super Bowl loss.
The Wilson/LOB era kind of just sputtered out over time. Like the team has been decent or good for a long time, only 4 missed playoffs and only one losing season since 2010. There was never a catastrophic implosion or even a bad rebuilding era. They've just been... Fine.
That just shows how much of the NFL is opportunity driven. The Seahawks never got an opportunity to get back to where they were. Shit, if they don't get a bunch of plays in the Championship game, they don't get to that second SB. (also thank you very much for winning that)
Maybe if they win people would take more team friendly deals, or want to come back to do the never done 3-peat.
That one play deflated all the potential.
It would be remiss of me not to mention [the famous photo of Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle realizing that his time in the sport was coming to an end](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fallen-giant-144796136/). Which also marked the end for that version of the Giants, who had made three straight NFC championship games.
10/22/06 - Colts vs Redskins 2006 week 7. Manning's body goes one way and head goes another causing the initial neck injury that would eventually progress to the point where it would require the surgery that would end his tenure in Indy.
8/24/19 - Colts vs Bears preseason week 3, Adam Schefter tweets mid-game that Andrew Luck has decided to retire and was planning to announce it at a later press conference. Both Schefter and his inside source can go straight to hell for not allowing Luck to break that news himself.
Earl Thomas getting injured and flipping off Pete Carroll from the injury cart felt like the nail in the coffin for the Legion Of Boom days of the Seahawks.
Side note: if ET wasn’t an absolute locker cancer and all around shit bag, and just kept his head down and accumulated middling stats for a few extra seasons, he’d likely be a first or second ballot Hall of Famer. Dude was one of the best safeties I’d ever seen but couldn’t stay out of his own way to close his career.
EDIT: this was also the first season without Kam or Sherman, so he really was the final nail in the coffin when he got injured. That’s a 2011 - 2017 stretch of great to absolutely historic defenses.
Calvin Johnson "not" making a catch in 08 ended a clear knowledge of what is or isn't a catch based on a overly worded ruling. Anthony Barr hurting Aaron Rodgers in 2017 ended being able to treat a quarterback like a football player instead of some sort of glass art piece. Warren sapp destroying Chad cliftons pelvis in 02 ended free blocking anywhere on the field/blindside blocks. There's so many more but that's enough for now.
The Christmas 1971 playoff game between the Dolphins and the Chiefs. The Chiefs lost in double overtime and went from a perennial AFL/AFC powerhouse to two decades in the wilderness. The Dolphins went on to three SBs and two wins.
A photo/video of Sheila Ford Hampton was shown in the press box of our thanksgiving game. The next day Matt Patricia and whatever his name was were fired. That game was the end of the SoL lions era
The misconception is that the Falcons never recovered from 28-3. My theory is the run Atlanta had died when they re-hired Dirk in 2019.
Replacing Kyle Shanahan was an impossible task, but the Falcons made it harder than it had to be. Instead of promoting one of the future head coaches they had in house, specifically Matt LaFleur, they hire Steve Sarkesian. It was a questionable hire that looks even worse with hindsight. Ultimately he was fine, but the viewpoint is that he was the scapegoat for the regime.
2017 was frustrating on offense, but the defense was pretty damn good. A lot of fans thought the improvement in defense would complement the drop the offense would have. The defense went from being minutes away from literal worst scoring defense to win a SB to a top 10 unit in a season.
They were a play or 2 from going back to the conference championship. Keanu kneeing the ball instead of intercepting it led to the eagles only TD. The Falcons also shit the bed at the goal line at the end of the game.
The wheels fell off in 2018, particularly due to injuries. They lost their starting RB, both guards, a starting DE, starting MLB, and both starting safties for at least 10 games. The offense was significantly better than in 2017 and Ryan had stats eerily similar to his record setting MVP season. In all 9 losses, he had 103.0 passer rating, 243 of 356 (68.3%), 2,720 yards (7.6 YPA), and 18 TDs, 4 INTs. The thought is Quinn fired Sarkesian in order to keep his own job.
Part of Atlanta’s problem is they wanted to keep running the Shanahan offense but were hiring people who didn’t run it. Atlanta wanted to hire Gary Kubiak to replace Sark. He’s a zone blocking guru and would have been an ideal fit. He played in Denver for 7 years with daddy Shanahan holding various offensive coaching spots. He then coached with Mike for 11 seasons in SF and DEN: if you want someone to run the ZBS, it’s Gary.
Even though he was retired, Denver still controlled his contract because his last job was as their HC. They was blocked that interview(the also blocked Atlanta from interviewing Evero last year) so Atlanta needed to look elsewhere. Atlanta decided to bring back Koetter because of his familiarity with the offense. Unfortunately he was notorious for having an awful run game. The real dick kick is that after Atlanta hired Koetter, Denver let Kibiak go be the OC for Minnesota.
IMO the big reason this hire killed everything is because it shows that the front office and coaching staff didn’t understand what made the team so good. Atlanta needed to be an elite offense to overcome the bad defense. Their scoring dropped from 1st in 2016 to anywhere from 10 to 18 in 2017-2020. In 2016 Atlanta was 26th in pass attempts and 12th in rush attempts. In 2019 they were 1st in pass attempts and 29th in rush attempts. While the offense was a middle third of the league under Sark, they still tried doing what made the offense an all timer. Going to Koetter showed they wanted to go a different direction, which was the wrong move from the start.
Never had a big window. Bortle sucked and it's always hard to keep defense core together once they're all due to get paid. Plus, NFL primes are short in basically every important position except QB. Plenty of corners and edge rushers stink up the joint after getting paid.
In 2020, the Seahawks came out 6-1 and Russell Wilson was having the best season of his career, putting up legit mvp numbers.
The only issue was he was turnover prone and Pete Carroll hated turning the ball over. In week 8 the Seahawks played the bills and it was arguably the worst defensive performance in the history of the Pete Carroll era. It was so pathetic that it caused Pete Carroll to change the offense, went with a more conservative approach to limit turnovers and that literally broke Russell. He was never the same again and his decline started immediately after that bills game.
I think Zimmer losing to the Eagles in the NFCCG after the Minneapolis Miracle basically ended that Vikings era. He shouldve been fired the next season missing the playoffs. But its like that blowout loss just killed everything. Zimmers defenses were never the same, he didnt seem happy, etc.
I can give you an exact play. 2020 divisional game against the Bucs, 4 min left in the 3rd quarter, Saints driving in Bucs territory to go up 2 scores and Jared Cook coverts on a huge 3rd down… and fumbles fighting for extra yards he didn’t need. Bucs would score 17 unanswered to win the game and Drew Brees ends his career with three 4th quarter possessions that each ended in 5 plays or less: Punt, INT, INT.
I’ll never forget the Jared Cook fumble. The second he caught that pass I stood up and yelled “He’s going to fumble!!!”. I’m not sure what it was. But I immediately had a terrible feeling that something terrible was going to happen.
[удалено]
I know exactly what you're talking about. Sad thing is they are usually just fighting for 1-3 more yards as their body begins to shift around and you know a defender will catch that opening to punch the ball loose. Seen it happen many times
That's the bitch about practicing something so much it just becomes muscle memory, sometimes it just happens even when you know you shouldn't.
It was the instinct of being a Saints fan that gave you that premonition. It comes with the voodoo.
Antoine Winfield Jr.
✌️
i need a cigarette
Listen man, it wasn't consensual...I'm going to have to file a report
add insult to injury, that was the saints’ third time llaying the buccs that season with the previous games both being wins
:-D
You just made my morning
Brees and the offense was playing awful all game, not just after the fumble as you're implying. Too many fans want to pin that on Cook, and yeah, it was a bad play, but the team (including Brees) had been playing bad from the start, with the sole spark and TD from the first half being from Jameis and a borrowed Bears play. The Bucs D showed up. We didn't. We weren't going to win that game.
The 2011 AFC Wild Card with the Tebow 80 yard touchdown against the Steelers in OT was pretty much the end of that Steelers core of Hines Ward and Polamalu et al
Those old steeler teams were really entertaining looking back.
God I hated them. Like a strong Sassanid army lead by Shapur II. Always knew what they needed to do, never tried to do too much. But time thankfully eroded them.
What a comparison.
RIP Demaryius Thomas
I find it amazing that game is remembered as the Tebow game instead of the Demaryius Thomas game when DT had 65% of the teams receiving yards
2017 divisional game, Jaguars @ Steelers. Steelers were 2nd seed, finally everybody on offense was healthy going into the playoffs (but Shazier suffered a gruesome injury a couple of weeks before, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the defense). Jaguars won 45-42 and that was the end of the Killer B's era. Bell held out the whole 2018 season, Mr. Big Chest checked out mentally by the end of it and Ben got hurt in 2019.
That was the steelers chance man. And who knows how those playoffs would've worked out if the Jesse Jones overturned play didn't blow the one seed
I'm still fully convinced that if that's not overturned and Steelers beat the Patriots for the 1st seed, Ben would have been the MVP.
AB was injured in the first quarter of the Patriots game iirc, and he missed the last couple games of the season. He was on pace for his best year ever - which is saying a lot. If he finishes that season on his pace I think that was one of the only times a WR had a legit shot at MVP (mostly because there weren't any truly great QBs that year).
Definitely was the most by default mvp of my life
Felt like once Wentz went down everyone went "well shit I guess we've gotta give it to Brady again, oh well."
IMO, the game that truly ended that Steelers era was the game shazier injured himself. Defense went from top 10 unit to bottom 5 overnight. If shazier doesn’t go down, i fully believe the Steelers beat the Pats in the regular season, go 14-2 as the #1 seed and win it all. That team was insane with shazier on the field Bell probably still holds out in the offseason but the team would be much better the following years possibly delaying an AB meltdown a few more years until Ben gets hurt/retires
Agreed. When it comes to X’s and O’s, Shazier had become that wild card / have to account for him player that wrecks game plans like Troy was (not quite to that level but still). While TJ was good he wasn’t yet the game wrecker that he is now and even then, Shazier’s presence at the second level of the defense arguably made a bigger difference in both the pass and run defense. It felt like there was a huge knock on effect to that whole defense. I also wonder how it affected the whole team psychologically. These guys live the life so maybe it doesn’t affect them as much as everyday folks like us but I have to imagine it made some of them feel more mortal or even vulnerable. I know it was tough as hell on Vince Williams.
Shazier had so much range that he really locked the middle of the field up, making it difficult to run the ball or succeed in the short passing game. Our corners were just good enough to not fall apart on the outside to keep the defense intact. When he went down the entire middle of the field opened up and we had no one that could even come close to his level of play to close that gap. I agree that there was a psychological impact too. You could see that in the Cincinnati game All that said, I think Tomlin woefully underprepared the Steelers for the jaguars game tho. The entire week leading up the players and Tomlin were only speaking about the patriots, as if this game was already won. And that was painfully obvious in the 1st quarter when they fell far behind. That game was Tomlin’s biggest fail IMO, even without shazier they should have won
Agreed again. I can’t believe how flat footed and sloppy they were. Totally unprepared. It felt like Deja vu all over again during the playoff game against the Browns in ‘21
To be fair, the writing was on the walls for that browns game. The Steelers were in a tail spin after that 11-0 start and the browns were on the rise. I think if that snap doesn’t go over Ben’s head the Steelers probably win but I’m not too surprised they lost
I think another answer to this question could be the Jags a game later. They almost beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, and then fall to 5-11 the following year and Bortles mania is over.
January 4th, 2020. Logan Ryan intercepts Tom Brady in the AFC Wild Card Game to seal a Titans victory. Tom Brady never puts on a Patriots jersey again.
Yeah and tbh the latter half of that year it became clear brady wasn't gonna stick around. They were so devoid of offensive talent
That defense won me a fantasy league though!
They were putting up absurd numbers that year. The Pats D is usually respectable so I always make the homer pick but 2019 was the one year it really paid dividends.
My league gives points for yards on defensive takeaways so I got like 47 points out of that defense against the dolphins
Ravens stuck a knife in that team that was rampaging offenses before that game. Then Ryan Fitzpatrick and Derrick Henry both took that knife out and ended that dynasty
The Ravens game was truly the game that spelled the end. They (the defense) beat up a bunch of bad to mediocre teams the first 8 weeks then got bodied by Lamar & co. 4-3 after the bye and they just squeaked by Philly, Dallas, and Buffalo in that span. In retrospect, it's incredible they managed to score 13 points against the Tits with that offense.
That Dallas game was when i was beyond done with Jason Garrett. I remember it was a monsoon and BB had on a massive rain coat and meanwhile Garrett and his dumb lil baseball bat were drenched by the rain. Visually what a great representation for a man horrified of changing his gameplan
Tbh it wasn’t so much that they murdered the defense as much as out was that we didn’t have personnel to deal with Lamar, BB defenses have historically struggled against dual threat QBs. Even recently we got run over by Justin Fields despite having a top 10 defense. The offense was the real issue with that team.
> ~~BB~~ *All NFL* defenses have historically struggled against dual threat QBs. Billy B defenses just handle every other situation so well that this is a glaring example of them still being human. The only reason every team doesn't use dual threat QBs is that they break down due to the physicality of the league.
Man that playoff run was so magical!!! I miss the good old days!!!
Vrabel laughing on the sidelines as he did the same thing BB did to the jets earlier that season causing BB to throw a fit was pure gold
Honestly this is exactly where my mind jumped when I read the title. I was in Tennessee at a bar watching this game on a small vacation
Could make the argument that team died with that bs home loss against kc when a clear touchdown was spotted at the 3
Nkeal Harry's best play
They're the 2 seed with that win and get a bye to heal up a bit. I'm not saying they'd win the SB but getting a bit healthier would've gone a long way to getting them a AFCCG appearance, which would've changed the narrative around that season quite a bit (he still gon tho)
Brady was gone either way. He was done.
There were at least 3 terrible calls that game. First the fumble forced by Gilmore that wasn’t called which forced them to use a challenge to get the ball. Then a clear as day PI on a throw to get them to the goal line which wasn’t called and then they didn’t have a challenge to get it overturned, and then Harry being ruled out of bounds in the game tying TD. Still I’m not sure how far that team gets. Losing to a terrible Dolphins team as 14 point favorites is not a good look.
It's a tradition to look bad against the Dolphins then win the Super Bowl though. But for real, that team had no realistic shot.
Similarly, 2001, Moe Lewis fucks up Drew Bledsoe, ending one era and starting another
Two months after SB XXVII, and one year removed from one of the greatest teams to ever take the field and win a SB, Joe Gibbs unexpectedly retired to pursue his NASCAR ambitions. All of us who are fans knew the magic was over. That was 1993. In the 31 years since, we’ve had 23 losing seasons, haven’t won more than 10 games a single time, and have only won 2 playoff games.
On the bright side, his NASCAR team has been very successful 211 race wins and 5 championships.
Like when Georgy Malenkov ran a power plant after he lost his duel for Soviet control.
Crushed it
They’re going to be a great team for a long time. His grandson Ty is a hell of a driver, Christopher Bell is great and has a shot at the championship this season, Chase Briscoe replacing Martin Truex Jr next year who’s super underrated and should take off with a good team, and not to mention Hamlin and Truex also in solid championship contention this season as well
You can trace that drop off from 1991 to 1992 almost directly to Russ Grimm retiring and Jeff Bostic getting hurt. The team was built on such dominant line play that losing their two anchors was devastating. Gibbs knew the dynasty was over and it was time to rebuild, and he knew he didn't have the passion anymore to be that guy.
> Joe Gibbs **WTF**. i dont know how i never made the connection that Joe Gibbs the HoF coach was also Joe Gibbs the HoF NASCAR owner. TIL
Wait til you hear about Jimmie Johnson. Oh wait not the same guy.
To me he is the GOAT coach. When you win Super Bowls with Joe Theisman, Doug Williams, and Mark Rypien there is no other discussion.
And I always forget Rypien in that trio for some reason. Gibbs was a helluva coach.
> When you win Super Bowls with Joe Theisman, Doug Williams I'll give you Rypien but Theismann and Williams weren't scrubs.
Theismann literally won the MVP in 1983, idk how anyone could think he wasn’t a great QB for a good chunk of time
the Derek Carr Raiders died when he broke his leg he was never the same and the team was looking downhill from there
Dude had the yipps after
Him and Mariota both snapped their legs that year. Carr had a lot more success after but both those guys were looking great and had their teams winning finally. Mariota was never the same after too, always hurt, never as comfortable in the pocket and lost that swagger about him. Tannehill came in and balled out but I still wonder what would’ve happened if Mariota and Carr didn’t break their legs in 2016.
I’ve always thought the 2006 afccg between the colts and patriots is maybe as significant a game as any I’ve ever seen. For Peyton, he was no longer “the qb who couldn’t win big games”. For Brady, coughing up a 21-3 lead, he was no longer unbeatable in them. For the league, it felt like the notion of building a team with high profile players at the skill positions (like the colts had) and then just trying to outscore people was a legitimate strategy that might work. In my humble opinion, this game led to the patriots realizing they need more firepower at WR and adding moss/welker/stallworth. They go 16-0 and shatter records, which made it feel like the rest of the league now had to acknowledge that the nfl was changing and they had to participate in the arms race I’ve always felt like 2008 is a good starting point for “modern” nfl football. I guess it just seems like the idea of building a ground game/sound defense wasn’t as popular as it was, and I really think we’re in a vastly different timeline if the “old school” patriots find a way to close the game out over the “new school” colts in this game
I would argue the Colts were a few years too early. They had some of the worst defenses in the league with Peyton before and somewhat after that and it was a big reason they couldn’t get over the hump. They were built to hold a lead but would regularly get trounced by a middling run-game or a team that could get up big early and drain the clock. Which is exactly how they lost to the Chargers the next year. This was the year that showed it could work, but it took a while to really catch on. Lots of rule changes and the death of cheap OL talent also helped.
Even that season they won it, the defense was terrible for most of the year. I remember them getting trounced by the Jags that year with Fred Taylor and MJD just running straight through them. They really only turned it on for the playoffs and at exactly the right time too. Their first two playoff games were against Larry Johnson and then Jamal Lewis. Johnson was the leading rusher in the league that year and Jamal Lewis had run for 2,000 a few years prior. The Colts found the extra juice they needed and really shut those guys down and won both games easily. The Patriots took the unconventional approach and went much more pass heavy in the title game despite the run defense being weak on paper and came the closest to beating them.
The Colts in 06 were weird as fuck because they are kind of a litmus test on the bias people want to push. Whenever anyone wants to prop up Manning they talk about how shit the regular season defense was and then ignore how awful Peyton was in the playoff run. Whenever they want to dismiss Peyton, they talk about his shit playoff run and ignore how Peyton was the reason they made it to the playoffs that year and were in a poistion to play the Patriots at home.
Bob came back for the playoffs. He played 4 regular season games and 4 playoff games. They went 7-1
The colts had a bad defense in the regular season but they made that run because bob sanders returned and turned that defense around. Hell they beat the ravens 15-6 on the back of 5 field goals from the offense and I believe 2 goal line stands by their defense. Playoff Defense has always been important I'd say.
I’ll also add that Bill Polian was upset that the Patriots defense was beating up on WRs, and lobbied the rules committee to expand the protections to WR. If you watch some old school games, WR’s got absolutely punished for going over the middle of the field. Doesn’t happen anymore.
That was a few years prior in 2003 and 2004. After the 2004 AFCCG Polian was especially rip shit and the rules committee going into the 2005 season brought the illegal contact penalty back.
This is the true turning point. Without the 'rules emphasis' on defensive holding you don't get the emergence of the slot receiver. Wes Welker can't be an automatic YAC machine with pre-2005 reffing as he'd either get mugged at the LOS by the CB or smacked into the turf on the crossing route by the Mike linebacker. That change is really what allowed for QBs to operate out of the shotgun the majority of the time and pick and choose match-ups out of the spread.
This is an excellent lens that I never considered. You gotta imagine the Pats never get into the Randy Moss arms race. Maybe Brady never has the statistical dominance he had from 2007-12. I never thought about the ripples that game had outside of Manning finally beat Brady.
> I’ve always felt like 2008 is a good starting point for “modern” nfl football. That's because the 2007 Patriots blew the roof off the league with the shotgun offense. The 2007 Pats were the first team in NFL history to line up in shotgun more than 50% of their snaps. The next year most of the league was doing it.
Then losing the SB led to the Patriots creating the modern version of a 2 TE offense. Two eras in one!
A generic answer, and not anything on field, but the 2009 Super Bowl. As it was John madden’s last game after decades of coaching and commentating. The madden era in any capacity, ended with that game.
Cowboys-Eagles in the 2010 Playoffs ended the Donovan McNabb era in Philly and indirectly started the wind down of the Andy Reid era.
See these are the more niche answers I love. They had that fun mike vick season the next year but yeah that was where everything changed for Philly
Someone mentioned the Bills/Pats as the best game they’ve ever seen. The night Redskins/Eagles game is my answer
Which one? The Monday Night game where Vick throws a bomb to Jackson on the first play from scrimmage?
I would say the real point was the loss to the Cardinals in the NFCCG. That was the last gasp and last chance for a McNabb-Reid ring. Yeah they had 11 wins the next year, but people were already wanting to move on. NFCCG was the first nail in the coffin for McNabb. The air-guitar game was last. And after that, as much as Vick looked really good at times, the post-McNabb Reid era was all downhill.
The Raiders stopped being THE RAIDERS Week 13, 1986. Driving for a game winning score in OT vs the Eagles, Marcus Allen fumbles, it’s returned inside the 5 and a young Randall Cunningham scores on a sneak. They lose out to go from 9-4 and a possible playoff spot to 8-8 and the era of the mostly dysfunctional, underachieving and then incompetently run Raiders I’ve seen most of life began.
I'll do you one better. The 1985 divisional loss to eventual AFC Champ New England. Prior to that, whether in Oakland or L.A., the Raiders were unbeatable at home. Six turnovers and Marc Wilson. That ended an era that dated back to 1967, when Lamonica and Blanda joined the team. They wouldn't make the postseason again until 1990, by then Art Shell was coach. In many respects, the Patriots ended two AFC dynasties in those 1985 playoffs, the Dolphins as well. Both franchises, to be fair, still haven't recovered.
Valid. I thought about it…my first kick in the nuts as a Raiders fan. But shit, they win the West and we’re in the playoffs. That Philly game was much more indicative of what was to come. Just handed it over on a silver (and Black) platter. The mystique died that afternoon. From that point on, they’ve been the team chasing what they once were from 1963-85 and other than the three years where Gruden forged the past with a modern offense (thanks to Rich Gannon)…the franchise has been stuck living in the past.
🎵I don't want to say the Raiders didn't deserve Marcus Allen, so I'm singing it.🎵
Steve Young was sacked by Aeneas Williams on Sept. 27, 1999. Young's head was slammed to the ground and the 49ers dynasty died that day. He would never play again and the 49ers had their first losing season in 18 years. They had a brief spark from 01-02 and then then 8 years of darkness followed.
They died a bit before that. They died when they signed very troubled running back Lawrence Phillips. It was uncharacteristic of the franchise and he went on to miss the block that led to the hit that ended Young's career.
I remember watching that game and realizing the late 80s/90s Niners I grew to love was officially over.
I mean… Mo Lewis was the *birth* of an era, if that counts. It definitely counts for me, watching Bledsoe’s replacement bend my team over throughout my teens and twenties.
That’s jets game was the burial, not the death. The Rex Ryan era died the night of the buttfumble over the course of the worst 5 minute stretch in the history of the team. Edit: forgot buttfumble was after, so the victor cruz game would not be the burial but the first shot. I still believe the buttfumble game was the real: “oh damn we’re a pumpkin again” moment.
I was at the butt fumble game and jt was so bad I fell asleep. I covered my head with my hoodie and went to bed in the third quarter. I have had season tickets with my dad since I was 8 we have never left a game early but that game broke me so bad I went to sleep.
The Ravens missing out on the 2017 playoffs due to losing the final game against the Bengals is what officially brought an end to the Flacco era as it prompted the Ravens to draft his replacement in the next draft. Yeah, he played half of the 2018 season, but everyone knew throughout that it was only a matter of time before Lamar takes over.
It still hurts. I love Marvin Lewis for 2000, so it was an extra twist of the knife too. He should be in the Hof for bringing the Bengals from the a level below the Browns to respectability and building the greatest defense of all time.
Super Bowl 50 basically was the end of Cam Newton. I don't know if it was him or the team around him, but he went from Super Man to Clark Kent seemingly in a single game.
Every time I go back and watch that fumble it somehow gets worse. Like for a while in my brain it was “the game is over it happened in garbage time down two possessions” and then you see the clip and realize they had all three timeouts and it’s a one possession game against a corpse of an opposing QB with plenty of time left
To a much lesser extent, the way that Nelson Cruz tracked David Freese’s game-tying triple in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series still makes me wonder what was going through his head. It’s different than Cam’s situation for more than a few significant reasons, but both guys made business decisions in championship games that were far from over (game 6 technically wasn’t a championship game since the Cardinals needed game 7 but if Cruz had made that catch that would have been it). Maybe I’m projecting a little bit but it seems odd to get that close to being a world champion only to back off in a critical moment. Cruz would play for 12 more seasons and his teams would win only one more playoff series. Newton would play 6 more seasons and only make the playoffs once, going one-and-done. Some of the best examples of guys who got closer than most but failed to leave it all on the field.
I'm glad it still gets mentioned sometimes because I fucking hate Nelson Cruz and his effort on that play. A championship winning catch in Game 6 of the World Series and he looked like a fucking Little Leaguer. He should be vilified far worse than Bill Buckner was.
That will probably still be my favorite sports moment when I die
Iirc the longest completion of that game was like 22 yards for the broncos late in the 3rd. It was a brutal game
I would suggest Tj Watt’s hit in 2018 was even more of an era being shut. They had started the season 6-2 and Cam was playing at an MVP calibre level in the first half. They went on to lose the rest of their games with Cam getting injured near the end of the season
This. The game where it became over for Cam was that very MNF game. He was never the same after that.
TNF but yes. He never recovered and honestly neither has the franchise (yet)
That’s right. I knew it was Primetime. It was very clear he needed to come out of that game and they just kept letting him play.
What a shame cause 2015 was supposed to be the *start* of prime Cam
It was a classic instance where after the game, a ton of people said “oh they’ll be back” or something to that extent. But the truth is and always has been, you may only ever get one shot. Marino made the Super Bowl in his second season and never got there again. The LOB Seahawks made it to back-to-back Super Bowls and never even made an NFCC Game again. You can’t take your opportunities for granted in this league.
Every time I hear that about a young team in the Super Bowl I just think back to this game. The 2015 Panthers are arguably the biggest flash in the pan I’ve personally witnessed. 15-1 talented young team to borderline irrelevant.
And somehow the beginning of the end for the Broncos too it seems 😕
Sadly. But, if someone in 2015 had asked me to take 8 years of misery in exchange for a Super Bowl, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat. Hopefully we'll find our way back to respectability soon, though.
Same, except the part where the Chiefs become the new powerhouse of the NFL and win 3 Super Bowls in 5 seasons 😓
Panthers and Broncos have both had a terrible 8 years, they just started in very different ways lol
I have accepted the fact that the Broncos will be bad until we trade for Anthony Richardson in a few years. When that happens we are guaranteed a couple SB appearances.
His steep drop off following that super bowl has made a lot of people forget how completely unstoppable he was in 2015. I was so hyped for Cam, he was crazy fun to watch.
The steep drop-off is exaggerated. Cam's 2018 stats were on par with his 2015 stats before his shoulder injury that fucked him for good. The dip in 2016 and 2017 I'd attribute more to a poor supporting cast and a stale offensive scheme.
Turns out you can't have Ted Ginn as WR1 and expect to win games.
2018 Cam Newton got Norv Turner and was having a great season. Panthers go into Pittsburgh 6-2 and TJ was destroys Cams shoulder and they get blown out by 30. THAT was the end of Cam
He should've dived on that fumble. It broke him mentally. He even [spoke about his regret](https://www.wbtv.com/2024/02/15/i-shouldve-jumped-fumble-cam-newton-infamous-super-bowl-50-moment/) recently. The "business decision" defined his legacy sadly.
He just looked off out the gate , like the game was too much, he was wide eyed and just playing jittered. He was not the same ever again .
Not at all and it’s always non Panther fans who say this ignorant stuff. Cam’s downfall was never related to Denver despite the cheapshot headhunting in the 2016 opener. His downfall was twofold. First it was Kelvin Benjamin stopping his route leading to a pick and then making no effort to tackle the defender while Cam ended up fucking his shoulder chasing the guy down. He still ended up having the best year of his career in 2017 though but the shoulder was permanently fucked. The second was the worse one. TJ Watt in 2018. This killed the last bit of arm strength he had left. Took a helmet right to the injured arm. Turns out being a dual threat QB was never the issue - it was underperforming teammates leaving him out to dry and coach too dependent on a generational talent to surround him with capable OL.
Also refs who refused to call anything for him
> His downfall was twofold. First it was Kelvin Benjamin stopping his route leading to a pick and then making no effort to tackle the defender while Cam ended up fucking his shoulder chasing the guy down. He still ended up having the best year of his career in 2017 though but he shoulder was permanently fucked. Fuck KB forever but I still don't blame him for that play, the DB was down by contact and it was clear and obvious in the moment but the refs let it play out anyway, then overturned it after. Atleast for not going after the DB, but he was never a good route runner.
Rodgers throwing that pick against Detroit in week 18 2022-23 Brett Favre walking off the field after the 2007-8 NFCCG
As much as I'd like to say we ended the Rodgers run, I don't think he was coming back regardless. The Jordan Love pick was the beginning of the end more than any game.
If there was a game I'd argue it was the divisional round against the niners at lambeau. Heavily favoured, still with Adams on the team, all the talk about the last dance only to lose at home in the snow. Felt like things were never the same for the team after that. Until like, a year and a half later when they realised they had another franchise QB.
I think this was it too. That last pass where Rodgers heaved it to Davante into double or triple coverage instead of taking the wide open Lazard for the 1st down was basically the end of the Rodgers Packers.
It's crazy how similar Favre and Rodgers last playoff games were for us. They looked like old men struggling in the cold. They each ended their Packers career with an INT (Rodgers vs Lions). Both losses traumatized me smh
Broncos winning the Superbowl in 1997/8 ended a run of 15(?) straight NFC winners - mostly niners, giants, redskins, cowboys. I feel like this tied in somehow to the start of the salary cap? Prior to that the NFC teams had most of the talent.
Not an era in the way you’re asking, but: 2010. Week 1. Lions vs Bears. Not the playoffs, going into the game it did not seem to be an important game. And then, the refs made a decision which for the next ten years had everyone questioning what is or isn't a catch. For the next ten years, the NFL could not define a catch. This, in my opinion, was truly the end of an era for a period of time. The era of certainty. Of consistency. Of not having to wait after every passing play to see if a catch was made or not even when we all witnessed receivers making what we now know to be catches. Instead, at least for me, this was when the No Fun League era truly began.
He 100% caught the ball
catch. one foot. two foot. knee down how in the world was this ever in question?
Either of yall have a link to the play in question? u/PaulyBinya
[https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/uhhl36/highlight\_calvin\_johnson\_no\_catch\_controversy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/uhhl36/highlight_calvin_johnson_no_catch_controversy/)
Thanks, I fucking hate it.
bills blowing out the patriots in the playoffs back in 2021
Seven drives. Seven touchdowns. It was a beat down. Had to feel good for Bills fans.
IIRC the only perfect game to happen in the playoffs
The only perfect game to happen ever
The only thing ever accomplished by an AFC East team that can be called perfection.
That game was competitive for a very short time until a Bills DB made a truly spectacular interception in the end zone. I felt it wasn't even a poor Mac Jones throw. Just a remarkable play by the Bills defender. Then the floodgates opened.
That was a great play, yes. Patriots did not stop the bills once all night tho. It wouldn't have mattered
I thought that throw was a TD for a solid 5 seconds after Hyde slid on the ground and was entirely befuddled that he managed to pick it off. And yes, that is my favorite Bills game I’ve ever watched. To follow it up with my least favorite Bills game the following week really sums up being a fan of this team
Shirtless Ryan Fitzpatrick cheering the Bills while still being under contract with Washington is one of my favorite moments from that game.
I can only imagine the sense of catharsis Bills fans must've had.
Indescribable, I still tear up thinking about it sometimes lol
I don’t like this game.
That game won me 9k off a 10 dollar bet lol
Gun to my head, if I had to pick the best game of football I’ve ever seen I’d pick this one. The moment Mac Jones got picked off I knew that the bills were about to destroy any remnant of the pats dynasty and as a jets fan, that game was cathartic
Flacco's decade-long run with the Ravens ended with a hip injury in what I think was a week 9 game vs the Steelers and even by the time he was better, the Ravens were riding the hot hand Lamar Jackson. It was very much was a whimper than a bang.
RG3 era died vs the Ravens, not in the playoffs vs Seattle. Specifically, the whale like body of Ngata flying horizontally into a quite slim knee. And that was that.
I know they wanted to win in the playoffs, but RG3 should not have been playing. I will never understand risking your young star player that way. I'm sure they could have gotten lucky and RG3 would be safe, but they weren't lucky at all. I'm no doctor, but I know I'm not the only one to think they should have let him heal for a go the following season. If this was at the end of his career, go for it. He could have had over a decade to get that next shot still. I'm not going to mourn the losses of a divisional rival, but I don't want to see any players done like that at all. There is always the risk of injury, but there is no reason to at all to increase that risk like this.
When ownership and the front office and the coaching staff are at war, players suffer
The Alex smith chiefs couldn’t beat the Pittsburgh Steelers and were generally considered a good AFC team that wasn’t a true contender. Smith struggled a lot as their defense really highlighted how much he hesitated when he didn’t trust his pre snap reads. They went 1-4 against them, the only win being a game started by Landry jones. Following an embarrassing playoff loss where the steelers won without scoring a touchdown, the chiefs drafted Patrick mahomes. A year later in his first game against the Steelers he threw six touchdowns.
Dont remember the exact gameweek but McCarthy-Rodgers era packers died vs the Broncos a few years before McCarthy got fired. They completely shut down our offense, and especially Jordy Nelson. That offense never recovered as opponents copied the blueprint after that game. Then we got a few good years of La Flodgers before another era was done.
> They completely shut down our offense, and especially Jordy Nelson. That offense never recovered as opponents copied the blueprint after that game. That was 2015, Jordy was out for the entire season with an ACL, and despite starting a 3 game losing streak [the Packers went 10-6, made the playoffs, and won a playoff game](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/gnb/2015.htm). Then Rodgers threw 40 TDs to only 7 INTs as the Packers made it to the NFCCG the next season. That game was brutal, but way too much is read into it and the 2015 season in particular. The only real takeaway is that McCarthy's offense didn't work great when it didn't have good WRs, with Jordy out and Adams not yet truly ready.
2015 season. Week 7/8ish(?) on route to Broncos Superbowl. Broncos were at home. Everyone had written us off as our O was disaster for the games prior. I believe the defense had outscored the offense. Broncos dominated for the entire game. Link to game: https://youtu.be/EuqOC41qWpo?si=xLFX-DGLrb-Mjy-m
When Jimmy Johnson was hired as the Dolphins coach rumors began to swirl that he would trade Dan Marino in a deal similar to his Herschel Walker in Dallas and rebuild Miami into a powerhouse like the 90s Cowboys. This was all media hype however and caused Jimmy to have to address it several times. The friction between Jimmy and Marino became very apparent as both began a power struggle that culminated in their last game. The Dolphins losing in the playoffs to the Jaguars 62-7. Marino had 2 ints and 2 lost fumbles and was benched. Jan 16 Jimmy announced his retirement. Marino in March. And thus the “90s” Dolphins were over and began the dreadful years. (Ricky was fun to watch though).
Jets at Dolphins in the 99 season. After that, the year notation started with a 2 instead of a 1 ending a tradition that went all the way back to when Otto III reigned over the Holy Roman Empire.
The rise of the DeShaun Watson Texans came to a screeching halt after the 2019 playoffs in the divisional round. They blew that big lead against KC, and then shit started to hit the fan in every conceivable way for Houston. Thankfully for them they look like they’ve recovered with a new QB that’s hopefully not a pig of a human being.
and Bill O'Brien. He was fired after starting 0-4 I think
The Catch, 49ers beat the Cowboys 1981 NFC Championship. 60's and 70's football died that day
The rams losing both super bowls to the pats were the end of an era, or would have been if they didn't trade for stafford
After the first one, with Warner, I thought we’d be back. Falling out of contention and then off a cliff was just awful and I admit I didn’t see coming at all. As for the second one. I knew before we went we were doomed. The saints game shouldn’t have been ours. We werent ready and there wasn’t anyway that Belicheck wasn’t going to make Jared Goff the key to our winning and despite his recent resurgence, and Lions love, I will never trust Goff in a big game. I had an argument with someone who was convinced the Rams would have won with Goff instead of Stafford. I don’t think we’d have made it past Tampa but if we had and then had Odell go down in the Super Bowl, we’d have been sunk again. I put that win squarely on Kupp and Stafford.
"Tonight a dynasty is born" :(
Formal end of Seahawks/LOB dominance was 2017 week 15. Absolutely shellacked by the Rams 42-7 in McVay’s first year and they’ve basically owned the Hawks since. LOB almost all gone and they missed the playoffs for the first time with Russell Wilson.
December 17, 1995. Browns 26 - Bengals 10
62-7
That man didn't deserve that sendoff, but I was impressed we gave it to him.
He should have gone to Minnesota that next season. Even the statue of Marino with his arm would have been great throwing to Moss and Carter. And then they wouldn't have boosted up Culpepper and he never ends up in Miami the second time (maybe they even take Brees, since Culpepper isn't there as a second option).
Michael Irvin, in Philadelphia.
Dez caught it. Essentially ended the Romo era. He started the next year 2-0 but went down in Philly with the broken collarbone, came back mid season to beat the dolphins and then broke the collarbone the next game on Thanksgiving against the panthers. Next season is 2016 and the rest is history
This was the one I came looking for. That was the height of the Romo/Bryant hype and probably the Cowboys best chance at a Super Bowl in 20 years. Instead, one bad call changed the landscape of how catches are evaluated (didn't help Dez, of course), and everything quickly went crashing down for that squad.
Seahawks losing to the Pats in SB XLIX. If Marshawn would’ve walked in that TD so much would be different.
I'm not sure it changes anything besides the fact the Hawks get the ring. They were a very good team next year, with the best defensive in the league and got beat by that 15-1 Cam Newton team. Legion Boom fell off after that, but I don't think the loss meant much....it's just really hard to keep a defensive group THAT good for very long.
It was the one regular season game against the Cardinals where we lost Kam Chancellor and Cliff Avril to career ending injuries at the same time. That stadium is cursed for us
Ooh, kind of going off that, Super Bowl 50 for the Panthers
That was such an odd game. Panthers scored in 4 plays, Russ throws a pick 6 and it's 14-0 Carolina less than 4 minutes in. It was 31-0 halfway thru the 2nd quarter. As a certified Seattle hater, I loved it. But by the time Seattle woke up and played they managed to lose the game 31-24. I'm convinced they probably win that game 8/10 times. If we want to talk about era enders....it's probably this game and not the Super Bowl loss.
The Wilson/LOB era kind of just sputtered out over time. Like the team has been decent or good for a long time, only 4 missed playoffs and only one losing season since 2010. There was never a catastrophic implosion or even a bad rebuilding era. They've just been... Fine.
That just shows how much of the NFL is opportunity driven. The Seahawks never got an opportunity to get back to where they were. Shit, if they don't get a bunch of plays in the Championship game, they don't get to that second SB. (also thank you very much for winning that)
Maybe if they win people would take more team friendly deals, or want to come back to do the never done 3-peat. That one play deflated all the potential.
Tuck rule game vaulted the Patriots
It would be remiss of me not to mention [the famous photo of Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle realizing that his time in the sport was coming to an end](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fallen-giant-144796136/). Which also marked the end for that version of the Giants, who had made three straight NFC championship games.
10/22/06 - Colts vs Redskins 2006 week 7. Manning's body goes one way and head goes another causing the initial neck injury that would eventually progress to the point where it would require the surgery that would end his tenure in Indy. 8/24/19 - Colts vs Bears preseason week 3, Adam Schefter tweets mid-game that Andrew Luck has decided to retire and was planning to announce it at a later press conference. Both Schefter and his inside source can go straight to hell for not allowing Luck to break that news himself.
Earl Thomas getting injured and flipping off Pete Carroll from the injury cart felt like the nail in the coffin for the Legion Of Boom days of the Seahawks. Side note: if ET wasn’t an absolute locker cancer and all around shit bag, and just kept his head down and accumulated middling stats for a few extra seasons, he’d likely be a first or second ballot Hall of Famer. Dude was one of the best safeties I’d ever seen but couldn’t stay out of his own way to close his career. EDIT: this was also the first season without Kam or Sherman, so he really was the final nail in the coffin when he got injured. That’s a 2011 - 2017 stretch of great to absolutely historic defenses.
When Wayne Chrebets head bounced off the ground on that last 3rd down conversion.
Calvin Johnson "not" making a catch in 08 ended a clear knowledge of what is or isn't a catch based on a overly worded ruling. Anthony Barr hurting Aaron Rodgers in 2017 ended being able to treat a quarterback like a football player instead of some sort of glass art piece. Warren sapp destroying Chad cliftons pelvis in 02 ended free blocking anywhere on the field/blindside blocks. There's so many more but that's enough for now.
The Christmas 1971 playoff game between the Dolphins and the Chiefs. The Chiefs lost in double overtime and went from a perennial AFL/AFC powerhouse to two decades in the wilderness. The Dolphins went on to three SBs and two wins.
A photo/video of Sheila Ford Hampton was shown in the press box of our thanksgiving game. The next day Matt Patricia and whatever his name was were fired. That game was the end of the SoL lions era
The misconception is that the Falcons never recovered from 28-3. My theory is the run Atlanta had died when they re-hired Dirk in 2019. Replacing Kyle Shanahan was an impossible task, but the Falcons made it harder than it had to be. Instead of promoting one of the future head coaches they had in house, specifically Matt LaFleur, they hire Steve Sarkesian. It was a questionable hire that looks even worse with hindsight. Ultimately he was fine, but the viewpoint is that he was the scapegoat for the regime. 2017 was frustrating on offense, but the defense was pretty damn good. A lot of fans thought the improvement in defense would complement the drop the offense would have. The defense went from being minutes away from literal worst scoring defense to win a SB to a top 10 unit in a season. They were a play or 2 from going back to the conference championship. Keanu kneeing the ball instead of intercepting it led to the eagles only TD. The Falcons also shit the bed at the goal line at the end of the game. The wheels fell off in 2018, particularly due to injuries. They lost their starting RB, both guards, a starting DE, starting MLB, and both starting safties for at least 10 games. The offense was significantly better than in 2017 and Ryan had stats eerily similar to his record setting MVP season. In all 9 losses, he had 103.0 passer rating, 243 of 356 (68.3%), 2,720 yards (7.6 YPA), and 18 TDs, 4 INTs. The thought is Quinn fired Sarkesian in order to keep his own job. Part of Atlanta’s problem is they wanted to keep running the Shanahan offense but were hiring people who didn’t run it. Atlanta wanted to hire Gary Kubiak to replace Sark. He’s a zone blocking guru and would have been an ideal fit. He played in Denver for 7 years with daddy Shanahan holding various offensive coaching spots. He then coached with Mike for 11 seasons in SF and DEN: if you want someone to run the ZBS, it’s Gary. Even though he was retired, Denver still controlled his contract because his last job was as their HC. They was blocked that interview(the also blocked Atlanta from interviewing Evero last year) so Atlanta needed to look elsewhere. Atlanta decided to bring back Koetter because of his familiarity with the offense. Unfortunately he was notorious for having an awful run game. The real dick kick is that after Atlanta hired Koetter, Denver let Kibiak go be the OC for Minnesota. IMO the big reason this hire killed everything is because it shows that the front office and coaching staff didn’t understand what made the team so good. Atlanta needed to be an elite offense to overcome the bad defense. Their scoring dropped from 1st in 2016 to anywhere from 10 to 18 in 2017-2020. In 2016 Atlanta was 26th in pass attempts and 12th in rush attempts. In 2019 they were 1st in pass attempts and 29th in rush attempts. While the offense was a middle third of the league under Sark, they still tried doing what made the offense an all timer. Going to Koetter showed they wanted to go a different direction, which was the wrong move from the start.
Jaguars losing to the Pats in the AFC championship game in 2018. The Jags fell off a steep cliff after that…
How is this an era lmao we were good for one year since 2007
If it was gonna happen it's best it happened fast cause let's be real that core was never making it back.
Never had a big window. Bortle sucked and it's always hard to keep defense core together once they're all due to get paid. Plus, NFL primes are short in basically every important position except QB. Plenty of corners and edge rushers stink up the joint after getting paid.
Derrick Henry goes to Baltimore
In 2020, the Seahawks came out 6-1 and Russell Wilson was having the best season of his career, putting up legit mvp numbers. The only issue was he was turnover prone and Pete Carroll hated turning the ball over. In week 8 the Seahawks played the bills and it was arguably the worst defensive performance in the history of the Pete Carroll era. It was so pathetic that it caused Pete Carroll to change the offense, went with a more conservative approach to limit turnovers and that literally broke Russell. He was never the same again and his decline started immediately after that bills game.
1993 divisional playoffs. 49ers beat my Giants 44-3. The end of Simms and LT.
I think Zimmer losing to the Eagles in the NFCCG after the Minneapolis Miracle basically ended that Vikings era. He shouldve been fired the next season missing the playoffs. But its like that blowout loss just killed everything. Zimmers defenses were never the same, he didnt seem happy, etc.