Being A Goat

Baltimore Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Kyle Williams

Scott Norwood can relate to this as much as Billy Cundiff of the Baltimore Ravens and Kyle Williams of the San Francisco 49ers can. Norwood was the Buffalo Bills kicker in Super Bowl XXV who missed a 46-yard field goal wide right to give the New York Giants the championship. Being the reason your team does not win the championship has to be the worst feeling in the world. Norwood's career ended after that kick, when the Bills signed Steve Christie and cut Norwood. Norwood was not picked up by another team, thus ending his NFL career.

Only time will tell what happens to Cundiff and Williams, but they picked the wrong time to have a bad game. In Cundiff's case, there's probably more blame to go around. Moments earlier, Joe Flacco threw an excellent back-shoulder throw to Lee Evans and Evans had it momentarily. That was until rookie defensive back Sterling Moore slapped the ball out of his hands, preventing a heart-breaking moment for the Patriots' defense. 

On the offensive possession before, the Ravens had a chance to kick a field goal to tie the game then. Instead, they decided to go for it on 4th and 6, and failed. The Ravens also played the New England Patriots very well, holding Tom Brady without a touchdown pass. But it was the "law firm" BenJarvus Green-Ellis with a rushing touchdown and providing quality yards to help them get back to the Super Bowl.

In Williams' case, his two fumbles gave the New York Giants excellent field position, at the worst times possible. The first fumble never reached his hands. It grazed his knee and Devin Thomas did a great job of simply being alert and realizing the ball touching his knee. The Giants struggled in the second half moving the ball, and a short field helped them out as they got another touchdown, taking the lead back.

The second fumble was more conventional, with Williams trying to make a move and having the ball stripped by rookie Jacquian Williams. Once again, Thomas reacted quickly and jumped on the football, putting the Giants in scoring position to lock their berth to the Super Bowl. Again, there are many other factors to blame as well. 

The 49ers offense did absolutely nothing outside of the two big touchdown plays to Vernon Davis. Alex Smith simply couldn't find any of his receivers open, and the pass rush of the Giants did not allow him much time either. Their running game didn't control the clock the way they wanted it to as well. The 49ers only had one third down conversion, which happened to be the last play in regulation with the game sure to be headed into overtime.

The 49ers defense were pretty stingy themselves, but Manning had several clutch throws on third down. Also, Manning never lost his cool or composure after being sacked six times and hit 20 times. The 49ers held the Giants' running game in check as well, so the Giants benefited from those costly turnovers. The 49ers only had 10 turnovers in 16 regular season games.

Although Cundiff and Williams are not responsible for the other 59+ minutes of the game, they indeed cost their team an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl. It does not matter what happened before. If Cundiff makes that kick, it's overtime, and who knows what happens at that point. If Evans makes that catch, the Ravens are in the Super Bowl. If Williams did not fumble those two occurrences, the Giants don't score those 10 points easily. They'll have to deal with this until they get back to training camp, so it'll be a long and lonely one.