Greatest Plays Of the 2011 NFL Season

The Chargers were 4-2 and the Chiefs had won three straight games to even their record at 3-3. Their Monday Night Football match-up was tied at 20 and the Chargers were driving into position for a game winning field goal. On first down with a minute left, the Chargers were on the Chiefs’ 16-yard line when Philip Rivers lost control of the snap. Kansas City came out of the scramble with the ball and the game eventually went to overtime. After the Chargers punted, Ryan Succop kicked a 30-yard field goal to win the game for the Chiefs. This ended up being the second game of a six game losing streak for the Chargers that all but dropped them from contention in the AFC West.

5. San Diego Chargers vs. Chicago Bears - Week 11; Jay Cutler Breaks his thumb while trying to prevent a touchdown.

After a slow start to the season, the Bears were shooting for their fifth win in a row and ready to make a case for a rematch with the Packers in this season’s NFC Championship Game. The Bears were ahead 31-21 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter of the Sunday night game when Johnny Knox slipped while making his cut and Antoine Cason intercepted on the Chargers 20. Cason ran for the end zone with Jay Cutler and Matt Forte in pursuit. Cutler took on Donald Butler which freed Forte to push Cason out of bounds. Instead of the Chargers drawing within a field goal, the Bears held the 10 point lead when Major Wright intercepted Philip Rivers in the end zone to stop the threat.

The impact of the play was much more far reaching though. Cutler broke his thumb fighting off the block and needed pins inserted to stabilize it. Caleb Hanie had to take over as starting quarterback. The Bears went from being a game ahead in the wild card chase, plus having tiebreaker advantages, to playing a meaningless game in week 17 against the Vikings before going home and planning for 2012.

4. Carolina Panthers vs. Houston Texans - Week 15; Panthers run the most fun trick play of the year for a touchdown.

The Panthers were leading 14-0 with a minute left in the second quarter. They were at the Houston seven and lining up without a huddle. Cam Newton took the snap, slipped the ball under Richie Brockel's legs to him and took off one way while Brockel went the other for the touchdown. The Texans all believed Newton had the ball and followed him. What's even more surprising about the play is Newton said they had never run the play at full speed in practice. He was surprised to see it called in the game.

3. New York Jets vs. Denver Broncos - Week 11; On Thursday Night, Tim Tebow brings his comeback magic to prime time.

Tim Tebow had already demonstrated his ability to bring the Broncos back from almost certain defeat but those were on Sunday afternoons. The week 11 game against the Jets was the Thursday Night game on the NFL Network. The Broncos were down 13-10 with 5:54 left and the ball on the Denver 5-yard line. Tebow drove the Broncos to the Jets’ 20 in 11 plays. On the twelfth play, Tebow rumbled around left end broke through a tackle attempt by Eric Smith for the game winning touchdown. Rex Ryan’s reaction summed up the feelings of the Jets and their fans everywhere.

2. New York Giants vs. New York Jets - Week 16; 99-yard touchdown reception by Victor Cruz.

The Giants were trailing the Jets 7-3 and pinned back on their own 1-yard line in a game with major playoff implications. Eli Manning took the snap and threw right to Victor Cruz at the 11-yard line. Cruz jumped away from a tackle and outran Eric Smith for a 99-yard touchdown that put the Giants up 10-7. The Giants won the game 29-14 and put themselves in position to win the division in their week 17 game against the Cowboys.

1. Arizona Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Bengals - Week 16; Jerome Simpson “sticks the landing” for the touchdown.

With three minutes left in the first half Andy Dalton dropped back to pass on second down from the Cardinals’ 19-yard line. Dalton swung a pass to the left for Simpson who saw linebacker Reggie Walker bearing down on him, leapt high in the air into a full somersault and landed on his feet for the touchdown.

Simpson said after the game, "To tell you the truth, it was just instinct, I just saw the guy. It seemed like he was going to hit me, and I didn't want to get hit. I used my athletic ability and my jumping ability.” Coach Marvin Lewis didn’t sound impressed though, "You just have to be careful. There's other ways to score. It's him and a linebacker, so just cut back and score the easy way. For effect, it sure was big."

Most are giving Simpson a perfect gymnastics score of10.0 for the play but, when you look at the play in slow motion you can see that he uses his hand to steady himself on the landing. Sorry Jerome but that’s a .05 point deduction but 9.95 is still pretty darn good for what is going to be impossible to top as the most spectacular play of the year.

After reviewing all the highlights from the 2011 season I know there are plenty of other deserving plays that could just as easily have made this list but these are the ones I’ve chosen. I look forward to hearing from any and all readers telling me what plays I should have listed if I knew anything about football.