It's the officially the offseason! So let's run it back with an all-time classic, Neil O Donnell threw the superbowl away. I was only 2 during Superbowl 30, however talking to other Steelers family members years later, this is a common belief among older fans. That Neil threw the game away to pay back gambling debts.
47 comments
Nah
If you were there and watching it you couldn’t help but let the thought cross your mind. The guy was either the biggest dumbass on the biggest stage or he threw the game.
While Coach Cowher was doing Kordell’s sister?
They were probably two of the worst big game passes I’ve ever seen. I’m not saying he did it, but they were so bad it wouldn’t shock me if he did.
To throw the game he would have had to be good enough to hit the Cowboy defender in stride on purpose. He was not.
Jerry jones paid him off!
Yet the Steelers covered the 13.5 point spread. If he intentionally threw the game for gambling purposes he did a bad job of it.
I read a book on the cowboy’s from the 90’s and they laughed there was no conspiracy or throwing the game he just cracked under the pressure and Larry Brown wasn’t an all time great but whoever played that position during the game would’ve gotten MVP because O’Donnell was that bad in the Super Bowl
I never considered that he threw the int’s to pay gambling dates, but they were uncharacteristically bad throw for O’Donnell
Well he did
Nope, it was bad play calling. The run offense was murdering the Cowboys and we let him throw instead…
That last pick was atrocious
He always had a puss arm but the one thing he rarely did was throw picks, those were so bad and uncharacteristic I always thought that he threw that game 🤬
If you go back and look at the interceptions it is clear that the rookie receivers misread the coverage and ran the wrong routes. He was throwing to spots and they made the wrong routes.
I was a bit older than two when that game aired and I remember it pretty well. I don’t recall hearing anything like that at the time, but I do recall that a lot of us called him Neil O’Dumbell–both before and after the Super Bowl.
Is this the basis of Adam Sandler’s character Paul Crewe in The Longest Yard? I believe in the movie Paul Crewe was a former Steelers Quarterback.
Im not saying he did but he basically singlehandedly lost us that SB. I was a kid but I remember how horrible he played, some of the worst I’ve seen in a SB.
Go look up the stats for that game. If you take away turnovers (I know, you cant) it looks like we would’ve won by 2 TDs with the stats in that game
Who the F is Emerson Martin?
Whole defensive secondary have gambling debts to pay too? O’Donnell was horrible, but wasn’t like the pass defense covered itself in glory that game either.
That’s the 1st I’ve heard that. I’m a rabid Steeler fan and was heartbroken. We had Christmas lights on our stockade fence that spelled out Go Steelers!
This is something I watched as a kid and to this day my dad still claims he did it on purpose.
O’Donnell threw that game and…. (taking the youngins slang here) .. I will die on that hill.
Who the fuck is Emerson Martin? We couldn’t find someone more irrelevant to weigh in?
This must be a popular day to drag Steelers QBs through the mud
Worst kept secret lol
Whats crazy is two months later he competed in the QB challenge and killed it.
I remember thinking he threw the game too. I never believed it deep down but at least one of those throws I thought was unforgivable and so I never forgave him.
This game still lives rent free in my head all these years later.
I assume this isn’t serious. Putting aside that the picks were obviously misreads as between QB and WR, you’d have to be an enormous moron to throw the SB for gambling debts. One, you will make a ton more money if you are a SB winning QB, so debts easily paid. Two, if you’re going to throw a game, you throw a low profile week 2 game against some NFC South team that nobody gaf.
I was 20 then. I think he just sucked.
As a Steeler fan living in a sea of filthy Cowboy fans, I agree. That asshole!!
Ok maybe he didn’t throw it, but I’m still hurting from that game. The only solace I have is it’s the last Super Bowl the Cowboys have won. A legion of their fans have grown up with a mediocre team.
I thought the same thing when I was watching the game.
Lotta ex Steelers embarrassing themselves and the organization today
Fundamentals, people
I believe so. Very suspicious interceptions.
I don’t know, but it’s worth noting that O’Donnell ended his career with the lowest interception percentage in league history.
FUCK ICE, GO STEELERS
I was in college when this happened. I ABSOLUTELY believe the interception he threw was intentional.
I said it when it happened.
I remember watching that game, I totally think he took a dive for money
When he gets super drunk he talks about Jerry Jones approaching and threatening him in the locker room at halftime. I think he was trying to pin him with the blame for the death of an equipment manager.
Super Bowl 30 is still the toughest loss for me. But I never once thought he threw the game on purpose. Where do you guys come up with this shit??!!
“Practice Squad Player Who Never Played a Down Accuses Mediocre QB of Playing a Shitty Game in the Super Bowl”
I’m pretty sure that’s what most of us thought while we were watching it happen
People forget that O’Donnell had the lowest INT to pass attempt ratio in the NFL that season. Him throwing those INT’s were so dramatically out of character that I’m inclined to believe he threw the game.
I think he was just always average at best and trash at worst.
Reading that article just makes me remember how good Cowher was. This was peak Cowboys dynasty. We literally went in there and prob were the better team that day.