(gentle music)
- [Jon] Do you remember that time Alex and I talked about
that Steve Bono 76-yard run?
That time Buddy Ryan ran the 46 defense,
which essentially reduced
the entire Arizona Cardinals defense
to a casserole of bodies
and allowed the slowest man on earth
to go on a leisurely nature hike
all the way across the field with nobody to keep him company
but his right tackle and a referee?
Well, there was a side story that we cut out of the script
of that episode. We had to,
because otherwise, we would've gotten totally lost in it.
but we also knew it had to be its own episode one day.
It happened 16 years later, and coincidentally,
it also involved a member of the Ryan family
squaring off against the Chiefs.
What we're about to see is two things at the same time.
It's one of the stupidest drives you'll ever see in the NFL.
It happened in the middle of a blowout.
It had absolutely no effect on the game's outcome.
And yet, in its own accidental way, it sent seismic waves
throughout the league that we still feel today.
This five-minute, three-second drive had a significant hand
in changing the entire course of NFL history.
Yeah, the colors are green this time.
You're about to enter New York Jets territory.
This is your final warning.
(gentle music)
- [Alex] The New York Jets had been aimlessly pursuing glory
for decades as the 2008 NFL season wound down.
After a promising 8-3 start,
they were doomed by a 39-year-old quarterback
rocking a torn biceps
and totally fell apart down the stretch.
It was time for the organization to hit the reset button
going into the 2009 offseason
and go on the prowl for a new coach and quarterback.
To serve as coach they hired Buddy Ryan's baby boy Rex,
a man who'd just coordinated the Ravens defens,
to the AFC Championship Game,
where his unit held up its end of the bargain,
allowing just one touchdown in Pittsburgh.
A few months later New York traded up
into the top five of the NFL draft,
determined to land USC's Mark Sanchez as Ryan's quarterback
for this new era of Jets football.
Powered by their ground and pound offense
that led the league in rushing,
and one of the greatest pass defenses in the 21st century,
the Jets instantly became a smashing hit.
After reaching just one AFC Championship Game
in the preceding 26 years,
they cruised all the way to the conference title game
in Ryan's very first season... then did it again the next.
The Jets were now in a Renaissance,
experiencing something long foreign to them:
consistent winning. Expectations soared
heading into year three,
then Sanchez's play provided even more reason for optimism;
see, the Jets had just made
back-to-back AFC Championship Games
despite the play of Sanchez,
who was one of the NFL's worst quarterbacks
his first couple of years.
But a few months into the 2011 season,
he was just starting to show signs of being able to pass
for an actual NFL starting quarterback.
Built for January football,
the Jets just needed to sneak into the tournament
for a chance to make some serious noise.
And after winning seven of their first 12 games,
they were right in the thick of the playoff picture
for a shot to build upon their percolating mini-dynasty
when they welcomed the Chiefs to town.
- [Jon] Kansas city featured a third-year coach of their own.
Todd Haley had taken over a Chiefs franchise
that had been buried in the NFL's basement.
For three consecutive seasons,
including the first of Haley's tenure,
the Chiefs had failed to break the four-win barrier.
To this day, it's one of just eight times
a team in the 16-game era
has experienced a three-year run this bad.
These other seven teams took years to recover.
None of them immediately righted the ship
and cruised into the playoffs in year four...
except for Todd Haley's Chiefs.
He's the only one to ever orchestrate a turnaround like this
with a team like that. It was a miracle,
not only because they jumped straight from four wins to ten,
but because they'd leapt over the San Diego Chargers,
who boasted not only the NFL's No. 1 offense,
but the No. 1 defense.
Unfortunately for them, they were abandoned by God,
suffered a series of catastrophes on special teams,
screeched to a halt at 9-7,
and opened the door for KC.
Now, year three of the Todd Haley Era
wasn't going quite as well.
They'd stumbled to 5-7
entering Week 14's contest in the Meadowlands,
but part of that was owed to the fact
that the Chiefs had lost starting quarterback
Matt Cassel to injury.
We find ourselves in the third quarter of this game.
The Chiefs are getting stomped, 28-3.
But again, Haley's having to make do with backup quarterback
Tyler Palko on the road.
And this Jets team is an AFC powerhouse.
And Haley is less than a year removed
from bringing the mess of a team he inherited
all the way to the playoffs. One loss,
however lopsided, shouldn't put him on the hot seat. Right?
- [Alex] The Jets take over at their own 10-yard line
after a Chiefs punt.
It's 1st and 10 as they start their drive,
and all appears to be more or less normal
in the football universe. Sanchez drops back
and checks the ball down to tailback Shonn Greene
for a short gain. But the officials flag fullback John Conner
for a chop block. Not a good call,
as Conner's low block comes when the defender's not engaged
with another blocker, which is legal.
Nevertheless, that pushes the Jets back five yards
and forces them to replay first down.
Greene then takes a handoff
and bounces it outside for a nice pickup.
But extra lineman Vladimir Ducasse
gets flagged for holding on the play,
backing the Jets up another 72 inches
and compelling a third crack at first down
from the 3-yard line.
Greene then plows his way forward for a five-yard gain,
and this time it's not for naught.
On 2nd down, Sanchez misses wide on a comeback route,
to Plaxico Burress, but gets bailed out
when a blow to the head results in a 15-yard penalty
against KC. With a fresh set of downs at their own 23,
Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer
dials up a screen for Greene. Realizing they're ill-prepared
and a big play would be looming, Chiefs D-end Tyson Jackson
just sort of bear hugs Greene
to prevent him from getting loose for the pass.
Savvy move to prevent an even bigger play,
but that draws a flag for holding.
Oh and so does linebacker Demorrio Williams' attempt
at downfield coverage.
Only one of those two is allowed to be enforced,
advancing New York to the 28
but Haley ensures the enforcement of another penalty
with some magic words to the officials
to earn the rarest of rare flags:
an unsportsmanlike conduct called against a coach,
which moved the Jets all the way to the 43.
For those scoring at home,
this drive has now seen a football get snapped five times
and a yellow hanky hit the ground six times.
A couple of Shonn Greene carries,
set up a 3rd down at midfield.
Sanchez looks toward Burress to make a play
and move the chains ... and he does,
by drawing PI on corner Brandon Flowers,
bumping the Chiefs penalty yardage total on the drive to 51.
The very next snap the Jets take a shot for six
but safety Kendrick Lewis loses track of the ball
and impedes tight end Dustin Keller,
a back-breaking 30-yard spot foul
that moves the Jets inside the five.
A fade to Burress is *legally* broken up by Brandon Carr,
before an inside handoff to Greene picks up a yard.
On 3rd down, the red sea parts for Sanchez,
who punctuates this bizarre drive
by scurrying in for the score.
A few minutes ago the Jets had the ball at their own three,
97 yards from paydirt.
Their offense gained a grand total of just nine net yards.
They still made it here.
- [Jon] This sucks so bad it's a masterpiece.
The New York Jets had somehow cobbled together
a 97-yard touchdown drive
out of a five-yard penalty against them,
a two-yard penalty against them, a five-yard gain,
a four-yard gain, a three-yard gain,
a one-yard gain and a three-yard gain.
They did it with nine net yards.
That's not even enough for a single first down!
Technically it's only a 90-yard drive,
since they started from the ten
before penalties put them back at three,
but since it's functionally 97, let's just call it 97.
The Sports-Reference tool Stathead
allows us to search drive data back to 2001.
These are the penalty yardages of every touchdown drive
in the last 20 years in which the offense
started on its own three. Over here, you see some teams
that actually had to gain more than 100 yards
because penalties bumped 'em back.
Most of these drives involved no penalties at all.
A few received substantial help.
But no other 97-yard drive in this era, or probably any other,
has come anywhere close
to the 81 penalty yards picked up by the Jets
at around 3:00 PM on December 11th, 2011.
- [Alex] Committing 81 yards worth of penalties
on a single drive is a remarkable feat in and of itself.
In over a quarter of the NFL's 256 games that season,
65 to be exact, both teams combined
for fewer than the 81 penalty yards
the Chiefs got nailed for just on that one drive.
A drive that started with penalties called
on back-to-back plays against the Jets
that pushed them back to the three in the first place.
New York then ultimately engineered a touchdown drive
on a possession that started 90 yards from the end zone,
despite their offense producing just 16 yards from scrimmage.
In the more-than-1,000 touchdown drives in the NFL since 2001
that featured no more than 16 yards from scrimmage,
only three others started from even 70 yards away.
Yeah, that was a really weird drive.
It's one of the weirdest drives we've ever seen.
It's about to get a lot more weird.
See, this drive was the turning point for both teams involved.
For both the Chiefs and the Jets,
nothing would ever be the same.
First Kansas City. How did the years that followed
turn out the way they did?
I'm gonna lay out a case that I think is a convincing one,
but of course, you can be the judge of that.
The day after this game, the Chiefs fired Todd Haley.
Strictly on paper, this is kind of shocking.
Canning a coach midseason is certainly nothing new.
It's happened 35 times in the 21st century alone.
But here's how the last three seasons went for Haley
and, on average, the 34 others.
Typically, these coaches deliver pretty mediocre results
in the third-to-last and the second-to-last seasons
before completely cratering in the season they get fired,
averaging around four projected wins.
Meanwhile, Haley orchestrated
a complete franchise turnaround in year two.
And even in year three, he was still performing
significantly better than your average coach
who gets fired midseason.
He was on track for about six wins, which isn't good,
but is still way better than the vast majority of coaches
who get shown the door before the season's over.
His neighbors on this chart are mostly either guys
who had been around a long time
and weren't meeting expectations anymore,
or guys who had never delivered at all. Haley was neither.
He was only in year three,
and he was navigating the wilderness
with a backup quarterback,
which you think would earn him some slack.
Oh hey, look who it is. Anyway, on top of all this,
the Chiefs were still mathematically alive
in the playoff after that loss.
We can probably agree that Haley's firing
was extremely unusual
but certain coaches have that "it" factor
that makes them eminently fireable. And I think
we can find Haley's in the words of Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt.
Those penalties against the Jets,
specifically the call against Haley, got a lot of attention.
Hunt nodded specifically to quote unquote,
"inconsistent play" in that particular game.
And I think we all know what "inconsistent play"
is code for. Penalties,
the primary symptom of a lack of discipline,
the thing a coach is expected to maintain above all else.
Penalties. 81 yards of 'em in a single drive.
it wasn't the 5-8 record.
Those happen all the time.
I think this drive is what did him in.
Now, if we can agree on that, we can appreciate
how these few minutes change the NFL forever.
Here's where we really get wild.
To finish out the season,
the Chiefs promoted defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel
to interim head coach.
Having previously served as Cleveland's head coach
and finished with an unimpressive 24-40 record,
Crennel immediately pounced on the opportunity.
In his very first game, the Chiefs shocked the NFL
by upsetting an undefeated Packers team
that looked well on their way to 16-0.
It won him the full-time job the next season,
the Chiefs went 2-14, and Crennel himself was fired
as season's end. Now, if it weren't for that penalty fest,
it's reasonable to believe that the Chiefs,
would have let Haley finish out the season,
before firing him, Crennel never would have had the chance
to pull off that stunning upset,
and the team would have started looking for a new head coach
in earnest entering 2012.
If they actually hit the open market
to get their coach of the future
instead of just retaining their interim coach,
whoever they hire is almost certain to keep the job
for multiple seasons.
Which means that in 2013 the chair would now be open...
for this man.
The big fella changed everything.
Andy Reid's Chiefs immediately reversed course,
winning their first nine games in 2013,
and never looked back. Under the Reid administration,
the Chiefs have won more games
than any team in the NFL but the Patriots.
He was there to help pull all the strings
to land Patrick Mahomes,
already one of the most transformative
football players of all time.
He's led Kansas City to back-to-back Super Bowls,
and more seem likely.
Fortunes can change very quickly in this league,
but it's possible that at the end of it,
we'll know these Chiefs
as one of the all-time great NFL dynasties.
Largely because of Andy Reid,
who surely would have been snatched up by another team,
had the chiefs not had a head coach vacancy in 2013,
which they only had after firing Romeo Crennel,
who was only there because of a signature win
as an interim coach,
which he only was because Todd Haley was fired days prior,
which he only was at that particular time in large part
because the day before, his team made
what might be the most undisciplined defensive stand
in NFL history. Thank you, Todd.
- [Alex] Meanwhile, Sanchez and the Jets
emerged from this game appearing in pretty good shape.
Their young QB was dangerously close
to finally playing at a league-average level,
and they were sporting the league's,
ninth-best point differential with an 8-5 record
that had 'em in pole position
to snag the AFC's second Wild Card spot.
Everything was going swimmingly.
Until they had to go play more football.
Or whatever it is they played thereafter.
It's as though the Jets thought that moving forward,
they could simply keep riding
that conveyor belt o' penalty to scores.
But the belt stopped. And New York had no Plan B
to effectively traverse the field,
such as by passing the football
or perhaps by running with the football.
Unable to move the ball via more traditional means
immediately following that Chiefs game,
down the stretch of the season's final weeks,
Sanchez took a complete nosedive,
sinking down to sub-Seneca Wallace and John Skelton levels.
Levels no one ever wants to be.
And he dragged his team down with him.
The Jets lost all three of their remaining games
with a point differential in that time,
that was third-worst in the league,
in the process tumbling out of the playoff picture.
By the next season,
dysfunction had fully enveloped the organization:
they traded for Tim Tebow, Sanchez started fumbling
after running into his right guard's ass before getting benched
and flaming out, and following a torn ACL
suffered by star corner Darrelle Revis,
they traded their best player away. And that was it for them.
After squandering that golden opportunity
to make the playoffs in 2011,
the Jets have been waiting around for a decade-plus
for another chance.
- [Jon] The Chiefs can argue that this one cartoonish drive
at the butt end of yet another lost season
was the catalyst for their eventual dynasty in the making.
And while this drive didn't actually pull any switches
that landed the Jets where they are today,
they can look back and know that this was the summit.
This drive, this moment. It was their final touchdown
of their final victory as a team on the way up.
Nearly everything since has gone wrong for them.
It's as though these teams found a way to play football
on such a chaotic frequency that it sent blast waves
throughout the annals of history,
wrecking one would-be dynasty and launching another.
So the next time you see something like this,
something this hauntingly stupid,
something that seems like it belongs
to another even dumber sport,
watch out. The plates might be shifting.