The New York Jets had a very bad season in 2012 by certain standards and while their record was not one of the worst in the NFL, their fans felt like it was, as they watched Mark Sanchez struggle and the team mismanage Tim Tebow and the biggest slap in the face was the final straw: the Butt Fumble.
Amazingly, the Butt Fumble has its own Wikipedia page and describes the 49-19 loss to the Patriots which happened in the Thanksgiving Classic game. The play of course, had Sanchez taking the snap, planning to handoff to one of the running backs, but after turning to give the handoff the wrong way, there was no one there and the play was broken, so he ran towards the line of scrimmage.
Sanchez ended up going right into the BUTT of offensive lineman Brandon Moore and then FUMBLED the ball before hitting the ground and before he could recover it, Patriots safety Steve Gregory picked it up and scored a touchdown. The Jets have up multiple touchdowns in a short few minute span and the butt fumble was the icing on the cake. The play made the SportsCenter Not Top 10 for nearly the entire summer and now people describe the Jets 2012 season by the Butt Fumble.
The Patriots scored 35 points in the second quarter and while this is old news, the reason it was brought up was due to how Rex Ryan made a mess of the quarterback situation this year. Geno Smith was awful in the preseason game against the Giants, and then he put in Sanchez in the fourth quarter of a meaningless game to "try and win" and he got hurt. Welcome to the season.
Sanchez said after the game: "I was thinking a different play in my head. That was a mental error there. As soon as I realized there was no one to hand it to I started to run toward the line and tried to cover it up and just get down and I slid right into Brandon Moore." "I was just trying to get down. The play was over. Say 'Uncle.' Do the right thing. Get to second-and-10 and live to play another down. I'm not a big believer in luck, but that was pretty unlucky. It was really too bad."
