Rams CB Nickell Robey-Coleman committed clear pass interference on Saints WR Tommylee Lewis on a 3rd-and-10 pass attempt from L.A.’s 13-yard line.
Had the PI been correctly called, New Orleans could’ve burned the clock before scoring a touchdown or kicking a field goal. Even in a best-case scenario, the Rams would’ve gotten the ball back with roughly 10-15 seconds remaining, down by three points and holding no timeouts.
Instead, Los Angeles tied the game and won in overtime, before losing to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. After the game, Robey-Coleman said: "Hell yeah, that was PI."
Drew Brees was a free agent in 2006 after failing to negotiate an extension with the Chargers. Although the Saints had competition for Brees, the Dolphins were wary of Brees’ recovery after he’d undergone surgery for a torn labrum in his right shoulder in Jan. 2006.
Miami’s medical staff recommended against signing Brees. Then-Dolphins head coach Nick Saban later said the club’s decision to fail Brees’ physical was the primary reason he left Miami and returned to the college ranks after the 2006 NFL season.
Brees went on to win one Super Bowl, two Offensive Player of the Year awards, and secure 13 Pro Bowl nods over 15 years with the Saints. In 2026, he'll become a Hall of Famer.
Meanwhile, the Dolphins instead traded a second-round pick to the Vikings for QB Daunte Culpepper, who started just four games in Miami.
The Bills lost four straight Super Bowls from 1990 through 1993. The first defeat was the narrowest, as Buffalo went down 20-19 to the Giants after kicker Scott Norwood infamously missed a game-winning 47-yard field goal wide right.
None of Buffalo’s other defeats were particularly close. The Bills lost their next three Super Bowls by an average of 21.6 points; their 52-17 loss to the Cowboys in Super Bowl 27 is tied for the third-largest in the game’s history.
Buffalo still doesn’t have a Lombardi Trophy.
With the Seattle Seahawks one yard away from taking a three-point lead with 20 or so seconds left on the clock, Pete Carroll and the club’s coaching staff put the ball in QB Russell Wilson’s — not RB Marshawn Lynch’s — hands.
Patriots CB Malcolm Butler picked off Wilson, sealing the win and kicking off the second half of New England’s dynastic reign. The Seahawks, who’d won the Lombardi over the Denver Broncos the previous February, haven’t been back to a Super Bowl or NFC Championship Game since.
Seattle only had one timeout left when Wilson was intercepted, which always complicates the discussion about whether a pass play was warranted. But Lynch had more than 100 yards and many felt he could have easily gotten one more yard.
Eli Manning didn’t want to play for the Chargers, who held the No. 1 overall selection in the 2004 NFL Draft. So, the Bolts worked out a deal with the Giants, agreeing to draft Manning and then trade him to New York in exchange for fellow QB Philip Rivers and a package of additional picks.
Manning went on to become the best quarterback in Giants history, leading Big Blue to two Super Bowl titles, including an unforgettable upset against the undefeated Patriots in 2008. Clearly, New York was pleased with its side of this trade.
Rivers, meanwhile, never won a Lombardi with the Chargers, but he was inarguably a better player than Manning. Rivers eclipsed Manning in every imaginable passing metric and won games at a higher clip than the Giants starter.
What if Manning was willing to play for San Diego? How would Rivers have fared in New York?
Alex Smith was a good player, but the 49ers could have had a great one.
Aaron Rodgers, a Chico, Calif., native who finished his college career at the University of California, thought San Francisco would take him No. 1 overall in the 2005 NFL Draft. Instead, the 49ers went with Smith, while 22 other teams decided positional needs were more important than selecting a QB like Rodgers.
The Packers pounced at pick No. 24, securing their line of eventual Hall of Fame signal-callers. Rodgers had to wait for Brett Favre to leave but ultimately won a Super Bowl in Green Bay while capturing four league MVP awards and 10 Pro Bowl nods.
The Cowboys won three Super Bowls in four years from 1992 to 1995 and are already considered one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties.
But would we hold the Cowboys in even higher regard if head coach Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones could have stuck together instead of letting personal conflicts dissolve their working relationship? Jones famously said: “There are 500 coaches who could have won the Super Bowl with our team.”
Eight days later, Johnson was gone.
In January 2000, Bill Belichick walked to the podium and announced that he would not be succeeding his friend and mentor Bill Parcells as the Jets’ head coach. The Patriots hired Belichick, trading a 2000 first-round pick to New York for the right to do so. Bill just happened to become the NFL’s greatest all-time head coach upon joining the Patriots. It was a devastating misstep for Gang Green, who was forced to watch Belichick dominate the AFC East and the NFL for the next two decades.
Patrick Mahomes could be starting in the Windy City right now.
The Chiefs had no issues identifying Mahomes as an appealing prospect leading up to the 2017 NFL Draft. They moved up 17 spots in the draft order, sacrificing a third and a future first to land Mahomes, who’s now two-time NFL MVP and three-time Super Bowl winner.
The Bears went in a different direction in 2017. GM Ryan Pace gave up four picks to the 49ers to move up one place and select UNC QB Mitchell Trubisky at No. 2 (despite at one point telling Mahomes he was the top QB on their board).
Could the NFL’s GOAT have spent much of his early career on the bench? Tom Brady’s emergence with the Patriots might’ve taken much longer — or never happened at all — had Jets LB Mo Lewis not delivered a hard hit to Pats QB Drew Bledsoe in the second game of the 2001 season.
Bledsoe, who had inked a 10-year extension worth $103 million that March, was hospitalized with internal organ damage. Brady entered the game, guided the Pats to the playoffs, won Super Bowl 36 over the Rams, and the rest is history. If Bledsoe hadn't gotten hurt and eventually traded to the Bills, does Brady become a starter elsewhere? Do the Patriots become a dynasty?
