Dumb Decisions: The STUPIDEST Kickoff in NFL THANKSGIVING HISTORY | Patriots @ Cowboys (1984)

In a 1984 NFL Thanksgiving game between the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys, Patriots head coach Raymond Berry, with the score tied at 17-17, decided to call a squib kick for seemingly no reason. The end result was a disaster that not only cost the Patriots the game, but cost them their entire season, ending their chances at making a playoff run. This is a breakdown of that awful call, which might be one of the worst coaching decisions in the history of the NFL on Thanksgiving
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#nfl #patriots #cowboys #nflthrowback #thanksgiving #nflthanksgiving #nflonthanksgiving #football #sports #highlights
Members of the 1984 Cowboys:
Rafael Septien
Jim Miller
John Warren
Danny White
Gary Hogeboom
Steve Pelluer
Harold Carmichael
Ron Springs
Carl Howard
Victor Scott
James Jones
Everson Walls
Michael Downs
Ron Fellows
Norm Granger
Timmy Newsome
Gary Allen
Dennis Thurman
Tony Dorsett
Chuck McSwain
Vince Albritton
Bill Bates
Dextor Clinkscale
Jeff Rohrer
Anthony Dickerson
Billy Cannon
Bob Bruenig
Randy White
Steve DeOssie
Eugene Lockhart
Jimmie Turner
Mike Hegman
Don Smerek
Jim Cooper
Brian Baldinger
Glen Titensor
Tom Rafferty
Kurt Petersen
Herbert Scott
Howard Richards
Mark Tuinei
Ed Too Tall Jones
Syd Kitson
Phil Pozderac
Dowe Aughtman
Jim Jeffcoat
John Dutton
John Hunt
Tony Hill
Kirk Phillips
Mike Renfro
Doug Donley
Doug Cosbie
Fred Cornwell
Waddell Smith
Duriel Harris
Brian Salonen
Tom Landry (head coach)
Tex Schramm (owner)
Members of the 1984 Patriots:
Tony Franklin
Rich Camarillo
Tony Eason
Steve Grogan
Luke Prestridge
Mike Kerrigan
Keith Lee
Rod McSwain
Robert Weathers
Rick Sanford
Raymond Clayborn
Ricky Smith
Mosi Tatupu
Fred Marion
Craig James
Tony Collins
Roland James
Greg Hawthorne
Bo Robinson
Ronnie Lippett
Ernest Gibson
Jon Williams
Paul Dombroski
Larry McGrew
Brian Ingram
Johnny Rembert
Clayton Weishuhn
Ed Williams
Don Blackmon
Andre Tippett
Steve Nelson
Pete Brock
Tim Golden
Luther Henson
Ron Wooten
Doug Rogers
Paul Fairchild
Steve Moore
Darryl Haley
Scott Virkus
Lester Williams
John Hannah
Guy Morriss
Brian Holloway
Kenneth Sims
Irving Fryar
Stephen Starring
Clarence Weathers
Cedric Jones
Julius Adams
Stanley Morgan
Lin Dawson
Derrick Ramsey
Toby Williams
Ed Reynolds
Dennis Owens
Raymond Berry (head coach)
Ron Meyer (head coach)
Billy Sullivan (owner)

[@davidcobb2693]

The Vegas betting line for this game was Dallas -3 so maybe it wasn't the stupidest kickoff in NFL Thanksgiving Day history after all and if the fix was in this kickoff makes perfect sense.

[@pullt]

Cowboys advanced it 55 yards after the kickoff, so even if they had a normal kickoff returned to the 25, that's a short field goal....

[@KevinT7274]

The Dolphins did that in the 41-38 playoff loss to the Chargers back in 1982. After coming back from a 24-0 hole in the 2nd quarter they took a 38-31 lead with under 2 minutes to go. They elected to squib kick, giving the Chargers good field position, Fouts hit James Brooks with the game tying TD, and the Chargers went on to win in OT.

[@Rockhound6165]

Not for nothing but that was one of the greatest games I ever saw. That was the famous Hook & Lateral game.

[@KevinT7274]

Shula said they tried that play many times in practice and it never worked.😂 From the Chargers standpoint how do you fall for that?

[@robertlevine2827]

Most of the world remembers it as simply "The Kellen Winslow Game." 13 receptions for a hundred and something yards and a touchdown, and he blocked the field goal that would have given the Dolphins the game in regulation. Due to the heat & humidity, he would just collapse on the bench when the Chargers' offense came off the field; then there's the famous film clip of him w/a teammate on either side walking him off the field because he was too exhausted to even move on his own. The only instance I can think of of a player giving literally everything he had.

[@KevinT7274]

Shula said he was yelling at his defensive players to stop helping Winslow get up after plays. The Chargers went from the heat and humidity of Miami to Ice Bowl II at Cincinnati the following week and had nothing left in the tank.

[@tommyl.dayandtherunaways820]

The biggest winner of that game was Cincinnati, that was pretty much a perfect outcome for them. Lots of mistakes by both teams, goes deep into overtime, everyone’s exhausted and battling injury. Though maybe had the AFC championship game not been played in Cincinnati (or had it not been that cold), the result might have been different.

[@joeylawn36111]

2:54 Stadium Trends: 1984 - The Wave 2021 - "LET'S GO BRANDON" 🤣

[@nasetvideos]

I was a sophomore in college in the Boston area and wow, did those fans love their Patriots. I remember being home for Thanksgiving break when this game happened and thinking, oh, it's definitely not going to be good when I go back to school with the level of upset/anger for the Pats....and I was right. Great job telling this story. You captured it perfectly.

[@chrisuncleahmad]

Welcome to Dumb (Turkey Day) Decisions

[@luisreyes1963]

Pass the antacid. 🤢

[@jewsco]

I might agree with this if say Devin Hester was back there returning kicks

[@tygrkhat4087]

I might agree with this if say Roscoe Parrish was back returning kicks. Roscoe was good, no Devin Hester - but who is?, but he was much better than whoever the 'Boys had back there.

[@newtheis]

It so easy to 2nd guess. If he kicked deep and it was returned to the house, JG9 would be saying how stupid was NE for kicking deep, that NE had given up 2 KO return TD earlier in the decade, yada yada, yada yada?

[@hazi5961]

Pat Shurmur calling a handoff to 3rd string TE Alex Smith, who was lined up as a fullback, and subsequently fumbled the ball has to be included. The Browns lost to the Rams 13-12 in that game in November of 2011.

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Sometimes coaches crawl into a wet paper bag and try to coach themselves out of the confines. This is one of those times that it was Bag:1 Coach:0.

[@Bruce12867]

8:33: The famous Joe Washington game on Monday Night Football.

[@SixFoChris]

Not to mention if the Cowboys DID manage to return the kick for a TD it would have been the best way for them to score: quickly, so you have maximum time to answer. And you want them to return it because you get a chance to stop them inside the 25 and potentially win field position. So even if the Cowboys had a good returner or the Patriots' kickoff coverage wasn't statistically above average, kicking deep would have still been the right play.

[@marcus813]

I don't know what the hell Berry and Dante Scarnecchia were thinking there. The Pats' KO coverage unit was elite and the Cowboys' KO return team was, how we say, less so. No wonder the Pats missed the '84-85 playoffs. Conversely, this game did nothing for the Cowboys in the long run because they lost their last 2 games and also missed the playoffs (they were in a 3-way tie at 9-7 with the Giants and the Cardinals, division mates in the "old" NFC East at the time; the Giants had the best head-to-head record vs. the 3-team group and the then-St. Louis Cardinals had a better division record than the Cowboys had).

[@CTubeMan]

The Patriots clearly didn’t learn from the 1971 Cardinals, who did something similar against the Chargers, and it ended with the same result, down to the final score. This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made a video about that decision.

[@derekjtaylor]

If I were Raymond Berry, I would make sure Allen arrived in the stadium in a stretch limo because I’d kick to someone that mediocre all day every day!

[@Rockhound6165]

If you're going to talk about dumb plays on Thanksgiving, well, Leon Lett. Debate over. At least there was SOME logic to this kickoff but Leon Lett going after the ball on a partially blocked FG was just plain dumb.

[@Davepool-hs7vr]

There should be video on that. Or maybe his fumble in the Super Bowl 10 months earlier.

[@Rockhound6165]

@@Davepool-hs7vr eh, the fumble didn't matter as the game was out of hand by then. That just cost him a bit of glory.

[@Davepool-hs7vr]

@@Rockhound6165 true, but just a blunder on Lett’s part nevertheless

[@mdf3530]

Super Bowl XLI. The Chicago Bears OC Ron Turner felt the need to prove that he was the smartest guy in the building by abandoning Cedric Benson, who was gashing the Colts’ defense, in favor of Thomas Jones who had a propensity to prance right into a tackle, and QB Rex Grossman who tended to throw it into triple coverage.

[@SleepyBaguette]

Great video! I think it would be cool to learn about some of the greatest plays in nfl history that could have easily been the stupidest plays.

[@stevenbauer4799]

not as dumb as morningwig and lions refusing to take the ball to start ot. vs. bears in '03 because of 'wind conditions' at soldier field. then bears kick fg (pre-each team gets ball rule) and game over.

[@control_the_pet_population]

I suppose it was a dumb decision... but if 15 yards of opponent field position after a kickoff with two minutes left in a tie game was the difference between the '84 Pats making or missing the playoffs... then the '84 Pats weren't all that good to begin with. It wasn't like the squib returner marched it into FG range all by himself. We're talking about starting somewhere around the 25 yard line vs starting at the 38 yard line. I realize JG9 has to dig deep to find a lot of these stories... and they can't all be mindblowing... but this one is a bit of a stretch.

[@Fencellisk]

PJ Walker's QB rating is...

[@russellseilhamer4552]

Only 5 teams per conference made the playoffs in 1984. The two WC teams were the 11-5 Raiders and 11-5 Seahawks. Back then, every game was meaningful and there were at least 2 teams every season with winning records to actually miss the playoffs every year. The 11-5 Broncos missed in 1985. In 1976, the 10 win Cardinals and Bengals, the 9 win Broncos, Browns and the 8 win 49ers all missed the playoffs. I think the current 7 teams per conference format is stupid. I can see how this one dumb decision would end a teams playoff hopes. The AFC was impossibly competitive in 1984

[@82dorrin]

1:51 My Broncos were 11-1 at that point. They lost to the Seahawks 27-24 that Sunday, dropping to 11-2. They finished the 1984 season with a 13-3 record, and lost to Pittsburgh in the Divisional round.

[@Rockhound6165]

Then to add insult to injury the Broncos go 11-5 the next season and miss the playoffs while the Browns go 8-8 and go.

[@tommyl.dayandtherunaways820]

@@Rockhound6165 Though I don’t think the Broncos really have any right to be upset with the Browns considering what they did to them later in the 1980s

[@boiledcabbageurinefarts7417]

13-3 with two losses coming off last second field goals hitting the post.

[@Rockhound6165]

@@tommyl.dayandtherunaways820the Broncos did nothing to the Browns that the Browns did not do to themselves.

[@NillyNilly546]

That truly is a dumb decision. It is true that miracles can happen but when less expected.

[@GraniteCityHooligans]

If it weren't for Doug Flutie and his hail mary against the Hurricanes the next day this game would never have been forgotten.

[@ScallopHolden]

Guy sounds like the Wolfe pit

[@mihirpanchal5754]

you should do the colts fake punt back from 2014 against the Patriots..it was baffling to say the least.

[@bubbafug00gle51]

LMAO, even on the handoff (at 3:16 or so) Eason gets slaughtered

[@Scrapmanluke1]

IDK-the squib/return got the Cowboys roughly 15 extra yards let say, the ball was then driven deep into Patriot territory. 15 yards further up the field would have still been in field goal range.

[@dangeiger9796]

The pre-Brady/Belichick Patriots were a mess

[@mikepastor.k6233]

I only got one thing to say. Mosi Tatupu'. Mosi Tatupu'.

[@warlaker]

It all came back around on the Cowboys on Thanksgiving though. (see Leon Lett)

[@michaelsmith5769]

Back in the days when multiple kickers kicked barefoot (Rich Karlis too).

[@nickkaning7616]

You're gonna get Urban Meyer for at least another year!!! #Jagoffs

[@scottconner7930]

37 Years Ago

[@dentonyoung4314]

Handing the ball to Craig James -- a member of the Pony Express -- is never a bad idea. (Yes, I *did* just watch Pony Exce$$ a couple of days ago, why do you ask?)

[@chadwickwhite6107]

Leave it to the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, and the New England Patriots to make BONEHEADED PLAYS during Thanksgiving. ALL 3 of these teams ALWAYS HAVE BEEN and ALWAYS WILL BE WORSE than a 39.6. They should just SPIKE the football into the ground on EVERY single OFFENSIVE play!!!!!

[@denisceballos9745]

You’re right, that was a dumb special teams call - but the defense folded like a cheap suit after that. The Cowboys marched down to close-range FG in a few plays. Danny White made it look easy.

[@andrewsteele6287]

You ought to do the game in Dallas where the Eagles in 2002. They onside kicked Dallas on the opening kickoff!!!@@ Dallas returned it for a TD and routed the Eagles that day.

[@tommyl.dayandtherunaways820]

That’s really impressive because (aside from 2003) the Cowboys were terrible in the early 2000s. And also the Eagles were dominant in those days. Would be nice to see one of Dallas’s rare triumphs in the post-Aikman / pre-Romo days.

[@mgb4692]

In fairness, they did it successfully two years earlier in week 1 and won in a rout as well

[@robertkeefer1552]

My first thought was about the Lions losing on Gobbler Day to the Bears on an overtime kickoff return for TD.

[@poletooke4691]

Eason is a bum. - A Pats fan

[@kaleb62patriot]

Still not as bad as the Falcons forgetting about or how to field an onside kick

[@shackdaddy7106]

I will have to say that the Buffalo Bills decision to kick the ball in the Endzone with 13 seconds left in the game versus the Kansas City Chiefs on January 23, 2022 was even stupider than the kick off you describe on this video. No time ran off the clock. And then Patrick Mahomes worked his magic.

[@kevinfavron]

It’s ok it all leads to tb12

[@jewsco]

@Jim Pats Lose 1 every way as everything leads to him he is inevitable

[@jamesage24]

Damn right! The Butterfly Effect. If the Pats do a regular kickoff, win the game, and make the playoffs, Brady definitely goes to the 49ers or Cowboys.

[@notoriouseagle1074]

@@jamesage24 Maybe this is the equivalent to what Stewie says on Family Guy about how stepping on a bug could alter everything.

[@jewsco]

@Jim Pats Lose 1 just as I said inevitable

[@DolFan316]

@Jim Pats Lose 1 Also, the Browns could've take him in the 6th round of the '00 draft but chose Spergon Wynn instead. Brady wasn't even the Pats' first pick of the 6th round.

[@carlsmith3214]

What's more amazing is...We have perfectly clear video from the early 1900s and 80 years later we have what can barely be described as video!!!

[@mrmoose6619]

This video should be in the dictionary next to "brain fart" or "brain cramp" or whatever phrase you use for that scenario.

[@kaydenlog55836]

Even though he did this he's still my favorite coach ever

[@chrislouden7329]

This did fall under player error, later there were a few missed tackles from what I remember

[@F40PH-2CAT]

I was 12 watching this with my dad and we were angry. Not the best turkey day in our house. We were Giants fans.

[@lolol180]

never figured out why the patriots changed their uniforms, that wasnt broke either

[@JayMillz517]

lol, good one troll.

[@grinningchicken]

They had a good defense and should have been able to get a stop even with the extra 10 yards on the return