10 Most Undeserving NFL Scapegoats of All Time

Every week in the NFL there are heroes and goats. You needn't look any further than Sunday's most recent batch of games.

Tim Tebow is on top of the world right now, having led the Broncos to another comeback in the final minutes that has Denver in the playoff hunt.

On the other side of the coin, the Bills' Stevie Johnson was crushed by the pundits on national television for his post-touchdown celebration/mockery of Plaxico Burress that cost Buffalo 15 yards and set up a Jets touchdown. Or was it because he dropped a potentially huge gainer when the Bills were attempting to reclaim the lead in the final minutes?

Either way, Johnson has been labeled a goat/clown/bonehead/etc. for what took place. Is that label justified? Oh my yes. But other cases in NFL history are far less cut and dried.

Some players and coaches have been unfairly dubbed chokers or goats. Here's why forgiveness is long overdue.

No. 10: Barry Switzer, Dallas Cowboys

Transgression: Replacing Jimmy Johnson

In some ways, I'll never understand why Barry Switzer agreed to take the Dallas Cowboys job in early 1994. Taking over for Jimmy Johnson—who seemingly overnight had just won back-to-back Super Bowls—was never going to work out.

If he won, he was doing it with Johnson's players. If he lost, he was a buffoon who ruined a great thing.

Both turned out to be true. The Super Bowl triumph over Pittsburgh in 1995 is never considered "his." He allegedly botched the call to go for it twice against the Eagles on 4th-and-short, but with that offensive line and a Hall of Fame running back, it was the right call. He also lost the 1994 NFC championship game against San Francisco, a game Johnson won each of the previous two seasons.

Anyone who thinks he "let the Cowboys players run the show" clearly didn't pay attention when Johnson was at the helm...or any of the years that followed.

At best Switzer kept the Dallas dynasty alive for another two years, but at the very worst he kept the Dallas dynasty alive for another two years; he didn't ruin it like many people seem to remember.

No. 9: Trey Junkin, New York Giants

Transgression: Two botched long snaps, 2002 NFC Wild Card Game vs. San Francisco 49ers

Many of the so-called "gaffes" in NFL history deserve such a label. Jackie Smith should have caught that touchdown in Super Bowl XIII. Garo Yepremian totally flubbed that attempt at a pass in Super Bowl VII and made it worse when he bounced the ball up in the air. Both of Leon Lett's disasters (Super Bowl XXVII, 1993 Thanksgiving against Miami) were feats of stupidity.

But I can't help but look at what happened to Trey Junkin and give the guy a pass. Why? He had no business being out there: He was retired five days before that playoff game against San Francisco!

All of those other goofs were at least in the middle of the season or their careers when they occurred. It's hard to bash Junkin too hard for that second short long snap on the game-winning field-goal attempt...especially since the referees really blew the call.

No. 8: Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles

Transgression: Basically everything that took place from 1999-2009

Did Donovan McNabb deliver the Philadelphia Eagles a Super Bowl title? No. Was he a very good, borderline great player for the first decade of the 21st century? Yes.

Without a superstar on defense, without a superstar running back and (aside from the 2004 season) without a superstar wide receiver, he repeatedly put the Eagles in position to win championships.

Yet he's largely considered a failure for what took place in the NFC title game losses to Tampa Bay and Carolina, the Super Bowl loss to New England and just about everything else that went wrong in the City of Brotherly Love. I think Philly fans blamed him for the 76ers losing the 2001 NBA Finals and the Phillies being swept by the Rockies in the 2007 NL Divisional Series.

When the Eagles shipped him (in the division, no less) to the Redskins in 2010, it seemed as if his failure was complete. Maybe it is; he did nothing there and has done even less in Minnesota. But isn't it just as likely that Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterbacks are just cursed? His replacements have fared little better: Kevin Kolb has been a bust so far in Arizona, and Michael Vick can't stay healthy. 

The post-McNabb Eagles are currently 14-14 if you count the postseason. McNabb won 101 of his 158 starts. That should say enough.

No. 7: Marty Schottenheimer, Cleveland/Kansas City/Washington/San Diego

Transgression: Playoff chokes

Everyone knows that Marty Schottenheimer "failed to win the big one." He has more wins than Bill Parcells, Chuck Noll, Mike Holmgren, Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Bill Belichick and Joe Gibbs, yet he never even appeared in a Super Bowl, let alone won one.

Three times he had the No. 1 seed in the AFC (1995, 1997, 2006) and failed to even win one playoff game.

So he's deserving of some level of choke. 

But he certainly had some bad breaks along the way. John Elway's epic drive in 1986 was one. Don't say it was his fault because Schottenheimer implemented a prevent defense....EVERYONE uses the prevent defense. Then there was Earnest Byner's fumble the next year—hardly his fault. And I'm pretty sure, but he's not the one who fumbled that pick of Tom Brady in 2006 or missed those critical field-goal tries in 2004 and 2006.

More importantly, how many Super Bowls berths did the men who replaced him in each of those "failed" stops (Bud Carson, Gunther Cunningham, Steve Spurrier, Norv Turner) gain? The answer: zero.

No. 6: Everson Walls, Dallas Cowboys

Transgression: Allowing "The Catch"

With a play as memorable and history-altering as "The Catch," there's bound to be a flip side to the legend: a goat who let the play take place. For years, that was Dallas Cowboys cornerback Everson Walls, who was posterized by Dwight Clark near the end of the 1981 NFC championship game in Candlestick.

As the years passed, Walls repeatedly talked about being dubbed the scapegoat for that play, but that's a pretty unfair burden.

For one, Walls had an incredible game that day: In addition to eight tackles and a fumble recovery, he intercepted the game's hero, Joe Montana, twice. Without his contributions, the 49ers might have locked up that game long before "The Catch."

More importantly, the Catch is such an iconic moment in NFL history because of where Montana placed the football—in textbook perfect position—and how Clark leapt in the air to pull it in. Walls literally had no chance to stop it from happening unless he was as tall as Manute Bol or had a broom in his hand.

It's pretty hard to fault a guy for that.

No. 5: Barrett Robbins, Oakland Raiders

Transgression: AWOL prior to Super Bowl XXXVII

There have been three unforgettable and infamous night-before incidents in Super Bowl history...well, four if you count Max McGee, but that did nothing to slow him down or cost his team victory.

Stanley Wilson's cocaine binge prior to Super Bowl XXIII was the first. Eugene Robinson's prostitution arrest prior to Super Bowl XXXIII was the second. And Barrett Robbins was the third.

But Robbins seems to be a special case: He was unstable, suffering from bipolar disorder and off his medication. Now, of course, that is no comfort to Raiders fans or his teammates, but it's a different set of circumstances than Wilson's or Robinson's.

Besides, the Raiders were already way behind the eight ball for that Super Bowl, considering Jon Gruden was their opposing head coach. Blame Al Davis for that one.

No. 4: Brian Sipe and Sam Rutigliano, Cleveland Browns

Transgression: Interception to Mike Davis, 1980 AFC Divisional Playoff

This one is a bit tricky.

I suppose you could heap all the blame for the infamous Red Right 88 interception on Sipe, who threw the pass, or Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano, who called the play when all they needed was a field goal to win.

But neither one is that deserving of such limitless blame. For one, Browns kicker Don Cockroft had already had an extra point blocked, saw one botched by a bad snap and missed two short field goals that day in the cold and wind by Lake Erie. So in some ways a touchdown was even safer than trying a 30-yard field goal. That lets Rutigliano off the hook.

As for Sipe, the Browns would never have been in that position without their league MVP. Besides, what else was he supposed to do? Sipe targeted a future Hall of Fame tight end in Ozzie Newsome. The wind just totally held up the ball.

No. 3: Joe Pisarcik, New York Giants

Transgression: Miracle at the Meadowlands, 1978

Although Herm Edwards is the hero of this famous NFL moment, Pisarcik is arguably the more well-known participant. Just last Sunday, during Fox's broadcast of the Falcons-Vikings game, the announcers said that Atlanta would hang on to defeat Minnesota barring a "Joe Pisarcik moment."

He is as tied to NFL follies and disasters as Bill Buckner is to Major League Baseball or Chris Webber to NCAA basketball.

But how much is it really his fault?

The coaching staff refused to simply take a knee (which they had on the previous snap), his running back, Larry Csonka refused to take the handoff, saying, "Don't give me the ball," and Pisarcik was warned earlier in the season by offensive coordinator Bob Gibson that if he changed the play he'd be cut.

It was just a perfect storm of disaster.

No. 2: Neil O'Donnell, Pittsburgh Steelers

Transgression: Larry Brown's second interception, Super Bowl XXX

After looking at O'Donnell's stat line in Super Bowl XXX, it's little wonder why people absurdly suggested that he was paid to give the game away to Dallas. Entering that game, no NFL quarterback in history had a better résumé in terms of protecting the football and not throwing interceptions. Nevertheless, he tossed three in the narrow loss to the Cowboys.

Now one of those interceptions seems to be completely his fault, the first one that took place midway through the third quarter. But the last two weren't.

The third one came at the end of the game, basically in a Hail Mary effort. The second one, the most infamous interception—Pittsburgh behind by three points with less than four minutes remaining—may have been the result of an inexperienced rookie not knowing his assignment.

Clutch wide receiver Ernie Mills had torn his ACL earlier in the game, and he was replaced by rookie Corey Holliday. According to "legend" there may have been miscommunication between O'Donnell and Holliday on the play that resulted in Brown's game-sealing interception; that's why O'Donnell threw the ball "to no one," as Steelers announcer Bill Hillgrove explained.

To his credit, O'Donnell refused to throw Holliday under the bus in a postgame interview with NBC's Jim Gray, who asked him whether Holliday was to blame, so we'll never know the truth.

Still, even if it wasn't Holliday's fault and O'Donnell totally flubbed the throw, to even suggest that a guy would tank a Super Bowl on purpose is a ridiculous accusation.

No. 1: Scott Norwood, Buffalo Bills

Transgression: Wide right, Super Bowl XXV

There are plenty of ways to try to explain away what happened at the end of the Giants-Bills Super Bowl in Tampa in January 1991.

People can talk about the kick being outdoors, people can talk about it being on grass, people can talk about the kick being out of his range. All of those are true and valid reasons why Norwood's kick was far from a gimme.

But the Giants radio announcer that evening, Jim Gordon, said it best as Norwood lined up for the 47-yard try: "That is a long way to kick a football."

There's another issue that few people talk about and why it's unfair to hold Norwood up as the quintessential Super Bowl goat. No player in NFL history has ever felt that type of pressure before or since. The difference between a Super Bowl win and a Super Bowl loss literally hung on his right foot.

As pressure-packed and memorable as Jim O'Brien's field goal in Super Bowl V was or Adam Vinatieri's in Super Bowls XXXVI and XXXVIII, had they missed those kicks the games simply would have gone to overtime. At that precise moment, neither O'Brien nor Vinatieri would have LOST the game for their teams. That is not the albatross which would (and ultimately did) hang around Norwood's neck.

Since Norwood wasn't even around for the last two Super Bowl losses in 1993 and 1994, he doesn't deserve the stigma or burden that he carries.