A Violin for Kyle Wiliams and Billy Cundiff

“Either we’re going to lead the world, or we’re going to bury our heads in the sand.” – George Clooney (Photo “courtesy” of SI)

After 16 regular season games and two (or three) playoff games, you’d be quite foolish to suggest that an NFL team’s entire season can hang on one player. But, of course, sometimes it just does.

When Billy Cundiff missed that chip shot that would have tied the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots at 23-all, you knew the whole world and the entire Chesapeake Bay was watching him. You knew they were staring at that Sad Number Seven, that dipped head in that God awful, ugly Ravens helmet.

And yet, why couldn’t you have blamed it on John Harbaugh, the head coach who decided to go for it on a 4th and 6 just over a minute earlier, when an easily achievable field goal (from 51 yards, long but within range) could have tied it then, also. Maybe Cundiff would have made that one, since 32 yards is not exactly in the “Janikowski Only” range.

When Kyle Williams fumbled that ball on the punt return in overtime, word is death threats started pouring in on Twitter like the citizens of San Francisco were organizing another social movement at Haight-Ashbury. Joe Buck couldn’t wait to tell us that Williams was the backup returner, filling in for an injured Ted Ginn Jr., as if Ginn wouldn’t have fumbled it.

And yet, wasn’t it just a great play by New York’s Jacquain Williams that knocked that ball loose? With both players running at full speed, wasn’t that just a head’s up play by another backup receiver looking to make an impact? It wasn’t like (Kyle) Williams was carelessly carrying the football, or that he was waving it around for anybody to take away… he had it tucked, and (Jacquain) Williams made a terrific play.

Everybody fumbles. You don’t remember Jerome Bettis’s nearly catastrophic one from the 2006 AFC Divisional game against the Indianapolis Colts because you instead remember Mike Vanderjagt shanking the potentially tying field goal.

But, it happened.

Neither one of these guys deserves the shuttles of hate that are coming their way, and will continue to. I mean, Hell, it’s not like they stole a foul ball from Moises Alou with the World Series on the line?