alternatehistory.com
Introduction and Tuck Rule Game
Hi everyone! This is my first timeline for the site and I’m eager to share it with all of you. I wanted to do something a little less “heavy” than a standard political/military timeline so I chose this. I sincerely hope you enjoy it! Any/all feedback/comments/critiques are appreciated.
The POD is Walt Coleman, the ref for the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff game between the Raiders and the Patriots, upholds the on-field ruling giving Oakland the football (and win) over New England in early 2002 in a playoff game, instead of overturning it via the “Tuck Rule” and awarding N.E the ball. If you need more info about this game here’s a wiki link that does a good job setting the scene and explaining everything in detail
--> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuck_Rule_Game.
A few things before we get started in earnest: This timeline will be some parts third-person narrative, some parts in-universe news articles/interviews/book excerpts/etc. Also, for purposes of my sanity
I’m casting a butterfly net over the NFL. So, unless otherwise explicitly mentioned in the text, any non-NFL events will proceed as OTL.
January 19, 2002 – Foxborough, MA.
I’ve never seen snow like that in my life. It snowed from the beginning to the end of the game, non-stop. Just perfect snowflakes – it was like something out of a movie. “Know When to Walk Away” by Rich Gannon, published 2009.
I’m coming on a blitz and I see Brady pump the ball, and he brings it back in, and I’m like “Wow, I’ve got him.” I hit him perfectly, Tom never saw it coming. Charles Woodson to SI’s Peter King, 2014
There just wasn’t enough on tape to overturn the call on the field. Walt Coleman to the AP after the game.
Yeah, it sucked…I cost us the game. I let down everyone in this room. Tom Brady to Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe after the game.
The host New England Patriots were the #2 seed in the AFC playoffs. They were left for dead after Drew Bledsoe, their franchise quarterback, suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest after a hit from Mo Lewis of the Jets early in the season left him unable to play for months. Unheralded backup Tom Brady took the offense’s reins and led the team to the playoff berth – New England’s first playoff appearance since 1998. Brady earned a trip to the Pro Bowl that season, the first of many for the quarterback.
Facing them was the Oakland Raiders. Jon Gruden’s squad made the AFC Championship the season before, falling to the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. They came back the next year looking to get over the hump.
The game itself was much like the weather – a sloppy mess. Neither offense, who were having as much trouble with the opposing defense as the weather, could move the ball much. Oakland took a 13-3 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter. The sixty thousand rabid Pats at Foxboro Stadium were silent until Tom Brady led the Patriots on a 10-play, 67-yard drive that resulted in him taking the ball into the endzone himself. The Patriots had life and Foxboro was rocking. New England was down 13-10.
New England got the ball back with 2:06 left on the clock and no timeouts after their defense made a stand and forced a punt. A field goal would tie the game, a touchdown would take the lead outright. It was now or never for Brady and his Pats.
It ended up being “never.” With 1:50 left on the clock Raiders DB Charles Woodson flew in unblocked on a slot cornerback blitz. His hit dislodged the football and Raiders linebacker Greg Biekert jumped on the loose ball. The officials ruled it a fumble – Raiders ball.
Since the play was under the two-minute warning, any turnovers were automatically reviewed. Referee Walt Coleman decided that there wasn’t “incontrovertible visual evidence” to overturn the call and he decided that the ruling on the field stood as called.
Oakland would take a few knees and win the game. They would play the winner of the next day’s Pittsburgh-Baltimore game for the right to represent the AFC in the 2002 Super Bowl.
The POD is Walt Coleman, the ref for the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff game between the Raiders and the Patriots, upholds the on-field ruling giving Oakland the football (and win) over New England in early 2002 in a playoff game, instead of overturning it via the “Tuck Rule” and awarding N.E the ball. If you need more info about this game here’s a wiki link that does a good job setting the scene and explaining everything in detail
--> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuck_Rule_Game.
A few things before we get started in earnest: This timeline will be some parts third-person narrative, some parts in-universe news articles/interviews/book excerpts/etc. Also, for purposes of my sanity
I’m casting a butterfly net over the NFL. So, unless otherwise explicitly mentioned in the text, any non-NFL events will proceed as OTL.January 19, 2002 – Foxborough, MA.
I’ve never seen snow like that in my life. It snowed from the beginning to the end of the game, non-stop. Just perfect snowflakes – it was like something out of a movie. “Know When to Walk Away” by Rich Gannon, published 2009.
I’m coming on a blitz and I see Brady pump the ball, and he brings it back in, and I’m like “Wow, I’ve got him.” I hit him perfectly, Tom never saw it coming. Charles Woodson to SI’s Peter King, 2014
There just wasn’t enough on tape to overturn the call on the field. Walt Coleman to the AP after the game.
Yeah, it sucked…I cost us the game. I let down everyone in this room. Tom Brady to Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe after the game.
The host New England Patriots were the #2 seed in the AFC playoffs. They were left for dead after Drew Bledsoe, their franchise quarterback, suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest after a hit from Mo Lewis of the Jets early in the season left him unable to play for months. Unheralded backup Tom Brady took the offense’s reins and led the team to the playoff berth – New England’s first playoff appearance since 1998. Brady earned a trip to the Pro Bowl that season, the first of many for the quarterback.
Facing them was the Oakland Raiders. Jon Gruden’s squad made the AFC Championship the season before, falling to the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. They came back the next year looking to get over the hump.
The game itself was much like the weather – a sloppy mess. Neither offense, who were having as much trouble with the opposing defense as the weather, could move the ball much. Oakland took a 13-3 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter. The sixty thousand rabid Pats at Foxboro Stadium were silent until Tom Brady led the Patriots on a 10-play, 67-yard drive that resulted in him taking the ball into the endzone himself. The Patriots had life and Foxboro was rocking. New England was down 13-10.
New England got the ball back with 2:06 left on the clock and no timeouts after their defense made a stand and forced a punt. A field goal would tie the game, a touchdown would take the lead outright. It was now or never for Brady and his Pats.
It ended up being “never.” With 1:50 left on the clock Raiders DB Charles Woodson flew in unblocked on a slot cornerback blitz. His hit dislodged the football and Raiders linebacker Greg Biekert jumped on the loose ball. The officials ruled it a fumble – Raiders ball.
Since the play was under the two-minute warning, any turnovers were automatically reviewed. Referee Walt Coleman decided that there wasn’t “incontrovertible visual evidence” to overturn the call and he decided that the ruling on the field stood as called.
Oakland would take a few knees and win the game. They would play the winner of the next day’s Pittsburgh-Baltimore game for the right to represent the AFC in the 2002 Super Bowl.
- Curtain Jerker
- Word Count: 740