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Explain to me the Butt Fumble


Westbrook36

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I make this thread with sincere intentions as I really do not understand the totality of the hysteria regarding Sanchez' butt fumble.  I am not attempting to minimize whatever it is because Sanchez is an Eagle.  I just want to understand.  Truly.

 

My take:  Sanchez takes a snap, runs forward, one of his lineman gets pushed into a spot that Sanchez didn't expect, he runs into the guy's ass, and the ball is fumbled and returned for a TD.  Bad play?  Yes.  Enough to be shown that night on the highlight shows?  Certainly.

 

What I don't understand is why it is this guy's Scarlett Letter, to this day.  You mention Sanchez and the first 50 comments on PFT or whatever source is about the play.  This guys isn't great, but he has a winning lifetime record and took his team to two straight AFCCG's, albeit, with a dominating defense.

 

I know Sportcenter hyped it along by making it the worst play of all time for about 100 straight days so that might be it.

 

What am I missing?

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He runs, unforced, face-first into his lineman's ass causing himself to fumble the ball which is returned for a touchdown.  By itself this would've been bad enough, but it was part of one of the most disastrous nights in Jets history.  Patriots had just scored, scored again off of this play, and then on the ensuing kick-off the Jets return guy fumbles and THAT gets returned for a TD.  The Pats scored 21 points in 52 seconds! It was 35-3 by half-time and the game was so absurd that the Jets' super-fan, Fireman Ed, walked out and quit.  Maybe by itself the Butt Fumble wouldn't have been so bad or followed the player for so long, but it was the stupid crown jewel in one of the most embarrassing displays a fan-base has ever been forced to endure on game day.

 

SanchezButtFumble.jpg

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My take:  Sanchez takes a snap, runs forward, one of his lineman gets pushed into a spot that Sanchez didn't expect, 

 

 

thats one way to say it.

 

another way would be 'sanchez ran, inconceivably, straight at and into a guys ass'

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Part of the reason is that "Butt Fumble" is just fun to say.  Come on Westbrook, say it with me... "Butt fumble. Butt fumble. Butt fumble."

 

Rumble in the Jungle? No, a Butt Fumble.  

 

Did Mark Sanchez stumble?

Ya, right into a butt fumble.

 

 

Plus, look at that clip again.  It's good for a laugh every time.  The only way it could have been funnier is if he had run into the butt of D'Brickashaw Ferguson instead of #65.  That would have been a comedy trifecta.

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It was also an issue of timing.  That game was the night game on Thanksgiving that year, which means a good portion of America actually watched it happen live.  Part of the reason it had such a prominent placement was because some people thought it might be the changing of the guard in the AFC East-- the Jets had been to the AFCCG two straight years (and knocked out the Pats the previous year).

 

Any one of a few things that happened is embarrassing by itself, but it was a perfect chorus of FAIL, and it summed up that game pretty succinctly:

 

- Large national TV audience

- QB runs into his own lineman's butt

- The butt impact is strong enough to cause the QB to fumble

- The ball rolls right to a defensive player who recovers

- D scores so quickly that most of us are still processing the fumble itself

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All valid points.  I guess I saw it, laughed my ass off, then forgot about it.  I really try to avoid ESPN so I wasn't aware that Sportscenter was playing it daily for a few months until several weeks later when I happened upon it.  It does look terrible on that GIF.

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Every time I've watched it it's never appeared to me that the lineman moved much. It was like Sanchez was aiming for his ass with his face.

 

It has to be the most athletically inept play by one person in NFL history. And trust me, I felt this way from the moment I saw it and has nothing to do with the team he plays for. If he were a Skin I'd still think of him as pathetic.

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It was also an issue of timing.  That game was the night game on Thanksgiving that year, which means a good portion of America actually watched it happen live.  Part of the reason it had such a prominent placement was because some people thought it might be the changing of the guard in the AFC East-- the Jets had been to the AFCCG two straight years (and knocked out the Pats the previous year).

 

Any one of a few things that happened is embarrassing by itself, but it was a perfect chorus of FAIL, and it summed up that game pretty succinctly:

 

- Large national TV audience

- QB runs into his own lineman's butt

- The butt impact is strong enough to cause the QB to fumble

- The ball rolls right to a defensive player who recovers

- D scores so quickly that most of us are still processing the fumble itself

Not only that, but it was the whole situation going on around it. Some more reminders about the time:

 

-Thanksgiving night, primetime

-Sanchez was already considered a turnover machine. Around this time, people were betting the number of his plays before he turned it over.

 

And the kicker: Three touchdowns - 53 seconds.

-2nd quarter, handoff to Shonne Greene. He pounds it into the center, runs into a pile of players, and somewhere in there, the ball inexplicably rockets forward 20 yards. Pats recover, score a 83 yard TD.

-Next possession, the Butt Fumble. It doesn't speak for itself, it yells for itself.

-Kickoff from the Patriots TD, JETS FUMBLE THE KICKOFF INTO EDELMAN'S HANDS, TD PATS

 

I mean, seriously. How. Can. Anyone. Do. That.

 

Even the Redskins haven't found as spectacular a way to throw everything away in so short a time.

 

Memory lane: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap2000000099428/Patriots-vs-Jets-highlights

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I make this thread with sincere intentions as I really do not understand the totality of the hysteria regarding Sanchez' butt fumble.  I am not attempting to minimize whatever it is because Sanchez is an Eagle.  I just want to understand.  Truly.

 

My take:  Sanchez takes a snap, runs forward, one of his lineman gets pushed into a spot that Sanchez didn't expect, he runs into the guy's ass, and the ball is fumbled and returned for a TD.  Bad play?  Yes.  Enough to be shown that night on the highlight shows?  Certainly.

 

What I don't understand is why it is this guy's Scarlett Letter, to this day.  You mention Sanchez and the first 50 comments on PFT or whatever source is about the play.  This guys isn't great, but he has a winning lifetime record and took his team to two straight AFCCG's, albeit, with a dominating defense.

 

I know Sportcenter hyped it along by making it the worst play of all time for about 100 straight days so that might be it.

 

What am I missing?

 

Running into your own teammate's butt and being tackled is enough for relentless mean comedy.  Fumbling on top of it is hysterical.

 

You are looking at this through eagles glasses right now if you do not see the humor and embarassment in that play.  I'm sure when it happened, you laughed your ass off and said "what an idiot."

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its easily explained here in ny. every single jet fan loathes mark schanez. his communication, his lack of conncetration, his inability and utter disregard for competition was very noticeable. from eating a hot dog during a game. to yes the what the heck is going on b fumble.. and oh ya his lack of arm strength aka just like chad pennington.

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Some more interesting facts about the Butt Fumble game:  

 

- Up until that point, the newly created Thanksgiving night game had always been on NFL Network.  That was the first year that NBC had the rights to it, so there really was an extra-large audience (although the ratings were trounced by the earlier games, one featuring the Redskins and Cowboys)

- Also, apparently Fireman Ed (the famous Jets fan) retired his monicker after that game.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butt_fumble

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Sanchez butt fumble = Romo botched FG snap that lost playoff game = Haynesworth "fallen and I can't get up" vs. Eagles = Aaron Brooks backwards pass to his own lineman  :)

 

Honoroable mention to Schaub's 4th pick 6 in 4 games against SF last year on his first pass of the game, right after announcers mentioned it

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Not only that, but it was the whole situation going on around it. Some more reminders about the time:

 

-Thanksgiving night, primetime

-Sanchez was already considered a turnover machine. Around this time, people were betting the number of his plays before he turned it over.

 

And the kicker: Three touchdowns - 53 seconds.

-2nd quarter, handoff to Shonne Greene. He pounds it into the center, runs into a pile of players, and somewhere in there, the ball inexplicably rockets forward 20 yards. Pats recover, score a 83 yard TD.

-Next possession, the Butt Fumble. It doesn't speak for itself, it yells for itself.

-Kickoff from the Patriots TD, JETS FUMBLE THE KICKOFF INTO EDELMAN'S HANDS, TD PATS

 

I mean, seriously. How. Can. Anyone. Do. That.

 

Even the Redskins haven't found as spectacular a way to throw everything away in so short a time.

 

Memory lane: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap2000000099428/Patriots-vs-Jets-highlights

I almost regret watching that game. We'd just finished Thanksgiving dinner and I stuffed myself. I nearly puked with laughter throughout that game.

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