Four days before the Pats faced the Dolphins in the 1986 AFC Championship Game in Miami, Irving Fryar, a wide receiver and the best punt returner in the NFL, cut two fingers and had his hand put in a cast. Pats GM Patrick Sullivan said it was a freak accident: "This morning, he was putting a kitchen knife back in the drawer ... It slipped and cut his hand."
Despite the fact that this explanation defied logic, newspapers reported it without comment.
Fryar, awho caught 39 passes and scored 10 TDs during the regular season, missed the Dolphins game but did play in the Super Bowl, scoring the Pats' lone TD.
The Boston Globe reported before the Super Bowl that the knife cut, which required six stitches, came during a fight between Fryar and his wife, Jacqueline. He knocked her down, the Globe reported, and she got up and slashed his hand. Both went to the hospital.
Fryar ended up making a remarkable turnaround in his life and enjoyed 17 years in the NFL. He retired in 2000 after 17 seasons, and is the sixth-leading receiver league history with 851 career receptions.