WINNING MOMENT: While every NFL player dreams of being the Super Bowl hero, like Adam Vinatieri in the final seconds of Super Bowl XXXVI (above) and XXXVIII, there are just as many goals, like Buffalo’s Scott Norwood (inset) who famously kicked one “wide right” to give the Giants the win in Super Bowl XXV. (
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INDIANAPOLIS — When they sign up for this they all do so with the glory in mind. No one considers the alternative.
They dream of being Adam Vinatieri watching the game-winning field goal float through the uprights as time runs out and bathing in the confetti being released from the sky as they’re crowned world champions.
They dream of being David Tyree pinning the ball against his helmet and coming down with the ball to change the fortune of the game.
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They dream of being the player who makes the play that makes the difference in a Super Bowl victory, a play that changes their lives and the way they’re remembered forever.
They don’t dream about the alternative.
They don’t think about being 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams or Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff, of sitting at home watching the Super Bowl and wondering what might have been if not for their horrific goat moment.
It’s unfair and short-sighted to say the Giants and Patriots are playing in Super Bowl XLVI tomorrow at Lucas Oil Stadium because of Williams’ fumbled punt return in overtime of the NFC Championship Game and Cundiff’s missed game-tying field goal at the end of the AFC Championship Game.
But let’s be honest: Until further notice, what else will Williams and Cundiff be best known for?
What is Scott Norwood known best for? The consistent and clutch kicker he was for most of his career or for the 47-yarder that he pushed wide right in the final seconds of the Bills’ Super Bowl loss to the Giants in 1991?
The players who play in this ultimate game — the most-watched sporting event in America — never think about becoming the dubious lead to the story, starring as the game’s goat.
Yet, because of the magnitude of the Super Bowl, the specter of being the goat or hero will hover over every player who plays tomorrow night.
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“It’s the yin and yang of the game,’’ Giants defensive end Dave Tollefson said. “You don’t ever think about the bad. At the end of the day there’s a winner and there’s a loser — and I’m not talking about what the scoreboard says. Sometimes there’s the guy that caused the fumble and there’s the guy that fumbled. There’s the guy that got the interception and the guy that threw the interception.
“That’s a part of what we signed up for, man,’’ Tollefson went on. “That’s the high that as a football player you’re constantly chasing. Are you going to take that chance to make a play and potentially [bleep] it up for the rest of your team or make that huge play that can potentially change the tide of the game?’’
For every game-turning interception or sack at the most crucial moment, there is a receiver who drops what would have been the game-winning catch — Baltimore’s Lee Evans at the end of the AFC Championship Game. For every Vinatieri in the big moment, there is a Norwood or a Cundiff.
Giants linebacker Jacquian Williams, who forced the Kyle Williams fumble in San Francisco, a play that sent the Giants to the Super Bowl and began an inane backlash that included death threats from 49ers fans to Kyle Williams, said the play “was something I’ve dreamed about making since I was a kid.’’
His euphoria as the hero of that game, though, comes with empathy for Kyle Williams.
“Nobody wants to be the villain,’’ he said. “Nobody wants to be that guy who messes up the game. I was happy I made the play. At the same time, of course there’s a part of me saying I wish that hadn’t happened to him. You don’t want him to have to deal with that, because at any time that can be someone on my team.’’
So who will it be tomorrow night? Which Giants or Patriots player will be the hero or goat and have his life changed forever?
“I’m sure there’ll be somebody who emerges,’’ Giants linebacker Michael Boley said. “With a game of this magnitude, you never know who’s going to be that guy, who’s going to be the guy to step up and make something happen.’’
Or screw up.
This is what awaits every Giants and Patriots player who plays tomorrow. But this, too, is what they all signed up for when they started playing sports.