Remembering one of the greatest forgotten plays in Patriots history

[TennisBallHead]

The only things I remember about Watson are that play and fans calling him Pizza Paddles

 

[RayClay]

When they say forgotten play I think of this one.

Original Pats were tremendously funny. Sometimes good, sometimes awful, but always entertaining.

 

[MitchKumstein]

That game sucked and that play sucked.

And the refs sucked too

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Fellow posters: when you saw the thread title, did you guess it might be this play? I know I did.

I was thinking the intentional safety on the punt

 

[MitchKumstein]

I actually had no idea that Benjamin Watson played for the Ravens until Monday Night when Al Michaels said he was out for the year

 

[ALP]

its very annoying that big calls were missed in most of the patriots playoff losses starting at 2005

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

its very annoying that big calls were missed in most of the patriots playoff losses starting at 2005

Where's my tinfoil hat, conspiracy to kill the dynasty even then...flu in Indy the next year, helmet catch/no holding call, Bernard fing pollard, etc.etc

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Didn't they have 5 turnovers? I remember Curran picked the Broncos to win and after the game Tanguay asked him if the Pats would have won if they didn't turn the ball over, Curran said no, they still would have lost

 

[QuantumMechanic]

The untold story of that great play by Watson is that he forced Bailey to fumble THROUGH the endzone, which by rule would have given the ball back to the Pats on the 20. Yeah that's right. It might be a dumb rule, but it's still the rule today. Unfortunately for the Pats the refs understandably missed it and there was no DIFINITIVE camera angle to reverse the call. Even fewer cameras back 10 years ago. So it wasn't exactly a robbery, but rather a misfortune

I disagree there was no definitive angle to reverse the call. It was clear on replay the ball went through the endzone. There was no way for the ball not to have. Bailey had it in his field-side arm and was tackled so close to the goalline that to not go through the endzone the ball would have had to have flown directly across his body and not gone downfield at all. Which isn't what happened.

The problem is that the ref was Jeff Triplette -- the stupidest and most incompetent ref in the league, then and now.

 

[jbb9s]

BB framed the photo of BW during this game and has it hanging in the complex. it is -out of a few hundred pictures of the team, players and coaches - the only one taken during a Patriot loss.

 

[FCB02062]

Just pure awesomeness (given the circumstances).


Remembering one of the greatest forgotten plays in Patriots history

No thanks, a bad loss and an equally bad call on the no touchback

 

[MassPats38]

It was a lone bright spot in a lousy game. Unlike Troy Brown's hustle in the 2006 divisional round against the Chargers, this really was not going to help them win. Remarkable for the athleticism, but the Pats were never going to win this game. 5 turnovers, one by the sure-handed Troy Brown. It just wasn't their day.

That and fond memories of waking up at 2:30 a.m. on deployment to watch the game. Something surreal about watching a stinker of a game in the wee hours of the morning.

 

[obgod3]

I would really prefer to forget that game...it was awful. Great play followed by terrible officiating...but the game was an as-whipping.

 

[italian pat patriot]

i will never forget that awesome incredible Ben Watson play

never

so great

GRANDE BENJAMIN

 

[1960Pats]

Fellow posters: when you saw the thread title, did you guess it might be this play? I know I did.

I didn't. It wasn't until I saw the words "A decade later" that I knew.

The funny thing was that Kraft was on there and said it was a play that we'll remember forever. So much for the forgotten part.

 

[1960Pats]

The untold story of that great play by Watson is that he forced Bailey to fumble THROUGH the endzone, which by rule would have given the ball back to the Pats on the 20. Yeah that's right. It might be a dumb rule, but it's still the rule today. Unfortunately for the Pats the refs understandably missed it and there was no DIFINITIVE camera angle to reverse the call. Even fewer cameras back 10 years ago. So it wasn't exactly a robbery, but rather a misfortune,

Nevertheless, it is THAT play that will always make Ben Watson a favorite of mine, even though he currently plays for the dispiseable Ravens (on IR). I look forward to his retirement so he can come back and hang at Gillette and get all the accolades he deserves. Or maybe we resign him if he comes back healthy and have him back up Gronk and Bennett and do a swan song year.

Curious why you think it's a dumb rule. I like it.

 

[neali]

Troy Brown's strip of that interception in 2006 was the greatest play I have ever seen.

 

[Froob]

When they say forgotten play I think of this one.

The one time we actually cheated lmao.

 

[oldrover]

Troy Brown's strip of that interception in 2006 was the greatest play I have ever seen.

Malcolm Butler says hi.

 

[lamafist]

I disagree there was no definitive angle to reverse the call. It was clear on replay the ball went through the endzone. There was no way for the ball not to have. Bailey had it in his field-side arm and was tackled so close to the goalline that to not go through the endzone the ball would have had to have flown directly across his body and not gone downfield at all. Which isn't what happened.

The problem is that the ref was Jeff Triplette -- the stupidest and most incompetent ref in the league, then and now.

Well, it depends on how you interpret the "visual" part of the "indisputable visual evidence" standard. There was no camera where you could see the pylon covering the ball, or anything like that. The "indisputable evidence" required mentally projecting the path of the ball based on where it came out of Bailey's hands, and where it landed. So it comes down to the semantics of whether something indisputably extrapolated from visual evidence is still "visual evidence," or not.

I tend to agree with you, but I also understand Jeff Triplette not feeling comfortable reversing the call based on his possibly limited understanding of vectors and trajectory.