Leading up to the 2007 Pro Bowl, Bills punter Brian Moorman and AFC coach Bill Belichick had conversations about possibly running a fake punt in the exhibition game. So, when those conversations turned into a chance to actually pull off the surprise, Moorman was all in.
“He looked at me and goes, ‘Do you want to run it?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely,'” Moorman told NBC Sports Washington in the newest episode of the Sports Uncovered podcast, which focuses on the life and legacy of Sean Taylor.
“He told me, ‘Hey, if it’s not there, just kick it away,’” Moorman added. "I was like, ‘Like hell, I’m running this thing.’”
It was a choice he’d come to regret.
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Every football fan, and especially every Redskins fan, knows what happened between the specialist and the special safety on the ensuing sequence: The former got absolutely flattened by the latter.
Decimated.
Destroyed.
Run over.
As NFL hits go, it was an absurd collision. But as NFL hits in the Pro Bowl go, it’s something that will never, ever be matched:
Moorman’s re-telling of the play itself is spectacular.
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"Here comes John Lynch blocking Derrick Brooks out, kicks him out, and I’m like, ‘I’ve got a block,’ so I cut up and that was pretty much the last thing I remembered,” he said.
"Obviously, the video tells the rest. Sean was standing back there at safety and just seeing it all unfold in front of him and he only knew one speed and I felt the brunt of it.”
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Has there ever been a more accurate statement than those last few words?
While the highlight happened long before Twitter or Instagram, it still attracted tons of attention. Moorman, in fact, described it as going “viral before viral was a thing.” And every so often, the clip will still resurface.
"To take a shot like that, it’s a gift that keeps on giving,” the good-spirited Moorman said. "15 seconds of fame that never stops."
In the end, Moorman sounded as if he’s relieved he can still watch the hit. Considering the size difference between him and Taylor, and the speed difference, and every other difference, he understands the ending could’ve been, um, different as well.
Listen to the full episode of Sports Uncovered's Sean Taylor: The NFL Superstar We Didn't Get to Know, click here.
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