WhoDat!656

After that game, Dick King and others pissed and moaned and wrung their hands like bleeding heart liberals that it was a shame that the Vikings didn't get a chance/turn with the ball in OT.

And of course, that game was the turning point in getting the OT rule changed.

I would be willing to bet any amount of money, that if the Vikings had won the coin toss and kicked the GW FG, that Dick King would never have said that the Saints deserved a chance with the ball in OT!! The Saints would have gotten the Cinderalla-the-slipper-doesn't-fit treatment!

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Longwell, 38, who hadn't kicked anywhere since the Vikings cut him in training camp, will be the Seahawks' kicker Sunday in Atlanta. Four years ago, he was a 12-men-in-the-huddle penalty from a field goal that would have put the Vikings, not the Saints, in the Super Bowl against Peyton Manning and the Colts. Imagine if he gets the chance to win a game this month ... and put the Seahawks in the Super Bowl against Peyton Manning and the Broncos

"Every year when the playoffs come around, I think about that day in New Orleans,'' Longwell said at the Seahawks complex. "One of my biggest regrets in football was not having the chance to make that kick.''

Recall the day, Jan. 24, 2010 ... the infamous Brett Favre Bounty Game (or not), the NFC Championship Game. Minnesota and New Orleans were tied at 28, and the Vikes had a third-and-10 at the Saints' 33 with 19 seconds to go. Longwell was on the sidelines, ready to go in to try a field goal of 50 or 51 yards, or maybe a couple of yards shorter, after one more rushing attempt.

Minnesota called a timeout to discuss strategy. In what will go down as an all-time gaffe in Vikings history, two personnel groups were sent back on the field, including one with a fullback. That week, the Vikings tinkered with a safe pass play, removing fullback Naufahu Tahi and inserting wide receiver Bernard Berrian to make it a three-wide "bunch'' formation on the right side. Only thing wrong was, Tahi -- either sent by a coach or mistakenly thinking he should be on the field instead of Berrian -- ran into the huddle. By the time the Vikings huddled for the play call, Tahi realized he shouldn't be in the game, but it was too late. Flag. Twelve men in the huddle. Five-yard penalty.

(The amazing part of the play call, in retrospect: The Vikings called the exact same pass play on third down both before the penalty and after. Though normal wisdom with a gun-slinging quarterback like Favre in the game would call for a safe run to try to get Longwell two yards or so closer, the coaches called for a pass.)

Third-and-15 from the 38 now. A 55-yard try, maybe 56, if the Vikings don't advance the ball on third down.

"I wanted a try,'' Longwell said, leaning up against a wall at the Seahawks' facility. "We gave them [the coaches] the green light. I could make it. I was ready. We were in a dome. No weather. The adrenaline was flowing. I was very confident. I hit the ball really well in pregame. They wanted to try to get closer.''

Then Favre made a play that made Vikings fans sick. He rolled out, and, seeing his safe receiver, Berrian, closely covered by a cornerback, eschewed a run that probably would have netted him six or eight yards. He threw across his body for Sidney Rice. He didn't have much juice on the ball. And Tracy Porter stepped in front of Rice and picked the ball off.

The Vikings never touched the ball again. New Orleans won on a 40-yard Garrett Hartley field goal in overtime.

"I still feel in my heart of hearts I could have made the kick,'' Longwell said.

He was sitting on his couch Sunday night when agent Frank Bauer called and told him Seattle kicker Steve Hauschka had gotten hurt that day in Washington. Would he like one more chance? Longwell won a kicking derby on Tuesday and was signed for that one more chance. That's what Longwell hopes for sometime in the next three weeks.


Read More: Ryan Longwell relishes unexpected chance to rewrite history - NFL - Peter King - SI.com

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

st thomas

U don.t think greg williams would like one more chance against san fran. That may have gave us a pretty solid chance of being in and winning that superbowl the giants backed into. Get on with ur life longwell.

Utah_Saint

Whatta story.

I hope he gets a chance to kick that game winning field goal in Atlanta, and I hope he makes it.

Crusader

I understand him. I lost medals in two international championships in football that basically came down to two plays. It sucks as hell and every now and then it pops up in my mind and it pisses me off to no end.

dizzle88

Vikings deserved to lose that game, they had 12 men in the huddle, AP fumbled like 6 times and favre threw a pick with 6 seconds to go when all he needed is like 3 yards

I love watching that game knowing it still messes with Vikings fans to this day