FanPost

If You Could Change One Play in NFL History...

I saw this question posed by SB Nation on Twitter:

Obviously, my mind jumps to every disappointing Jets moment I've experienced, but one really stands out among the rest- The nail-in-the-coffin Big Ben to Antonio Brown 3rd Down Conversion in the 2010-11 AFC Championship game.

This play sent my 10th-grade self into an emotional tailspin akin a first experience with death. I had no ability to process what had happened. I was so sure, so naive, believing it was undoubtedly the Jets year to bring home the Lombardi. I punched a tree, I knocked over backyard yard furniture, I sat alone outside in my freezing January backyard with a face of stoicism with tears rolling down my cheek for over an hour. To that point, it was the worst thing I'd experienced in what I now see was an otherwise exceptionally tragedy-devoid young life. Eventually, my father came outside and walked me back in as stared expressionless in front of me. In what normally would have become a "Hey kid, grow up, it's a game" type lecture, I was shocked to see him empathize with my pain, as he realized that this was probably one of the first times I truly cared about something and saw it destroyed in front of my eyes.

To this day, I have held a grudge against the Steelers because of that play, joining only the Raiders and Giants as non-Divisional rivals that I hate. What makes it worse is that it was the play that has ushered in what is now a nearly decade-long era of ineptitude for the franchise.

If I had the power, I would change this play into a turnover, or at the very least an in completion. I believe that the 2010 Jets were capable of beating any team in the NFL that year, including the eventual Champion Packers. I firmly believe that if the Jets win that game, they complete the story with a Superbowl victory.

Now, as a younger fan, I'm more blind to some other franchise altering plays that occurred before my time that I'd love to hear about. John B wrote the other day about Mike Nugent connecting on a Field Goal that likely cost the Jets a chance at drafting Matt Ryan, so maybe you're thinking more long term that way. Maybe you would change a play from a non-Jets game for one reason or another.

Either way, if you had the power to change the outcome of one play in NFL history, what would it be?

This is a FanPost written by a registered member of this site. The views expressed here are those of the author alone and not those of anybody affiliated with Gang Green Nation or SB Nation.