Where were you when the Butt Fumble shook the NFL world to its core?
There are many moments in sports history that seem to stop time in its tracks, but most of the time, it’s because of something good that happens. Perhaps a dramatic game winning drive in football, or a last second shot to win the game in basketball, you know, stuff like that.
But on this date all the way back in 2012 (which honestly doesn’t feel like it’s that long ago), the New York Jets and the New England Patriots came together to create one of the most infamous plays in all of sports. A tragic football play that went so wrong, it was given the eternal name of “The Butt Fumble.”
As far as we know, it is both the first and last time a play like this happened in the National Football League. And it does seem fitting that the horrible play was run by the cursed franchise of the New York Jets.
Mark Sanchez was the quarterback for Gang Green at the time, and he was doing his best to save a broken play when it somehow became even more broken. Sanchez took off with the ball trying to scramble for a first down and inexplicably ran right into the ass of one of his offensive linemen.
I’m not sure how it is possible, but the offensive lineman’s butt somehow managed to clothesline Mark Sanchez, causing him to fumble the ball, and allowing for the New England Patriots defense to pick up the football and return it for a touchdown.
Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels were calling the game for NBC at the time, and they couldn’t help but laugh (no butt pun intended) when they watched the chaotic mess play out right in front of them. They tried to explain that one of the Patriots players pushed the big man for the Jets backwards and into Mark Sanchez, but that simply wasn’t the case.
The only way to explain it is that Sanchez ran right into his offensive lineman’s butt and fumbled it, thus the historically terrible “Butt Fumble” was born. We can only hope to witness something so horribly special in tomorrow’s Thanksgiving slate of NFL games.
You can relive the infamous butt fumble play below:
