Athletes - Scott Norwood

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Scott Norwood

	Athletes - Scott Norwood

Scott Allan Norwood (born July 17, 1960 in Miami, Florida) is a former National Football League kicker who played his entire career for the Buffalo Bills. While he is the team's all-time leading scorer and was an integral part of its offense during the late 1980s, he is best remembered for a kick he missed, the one that would have given the Bills a Super Bowl victory.

Early career

Norwood grew up in Alexandria, Virginia and attended Thomas Jefferson High School. He had been playing soccer when he was approached by the school's football coach, who wondered if he might like to try kicking for him. After talking it over with his father, he decided to do so.

He attended James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He was ranked as the nation's top Division I-AA placekicker in 1980 when he was successful on 15 of 21 field goal attempts, and still holds JMU's records for field goals in a season (15) and in a career (32). In 1992, he was inducted into the JMU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Upon graduating with a degree in business, he was not drafted (kickers rarely are). However, the Atlanta Falcons invited him to their camp to try out, but cut him. He continued practicing and later played for the United States Football League's Birmingham Stallions for two seasons, but was released after suffering an injury.

Again he was out of football, but continued to rehabilitate and stay in shape. In 1985 the Bills invited him to their camp, and this time he beat out nine other candidates for the starting job.

Bills career

Norwood quickly became an invaluable asset to an offense that was going places as the Bills' general manager, Bill Polian, assembled talent like Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith. Within two seasons of Norwood's arrival the Bills had won the AFC East for the first time since 1980 and made it to the conference championship game. He soon overtook O.J. Simpson as the team's all-time leading scorer. In 1990 the Bills returned to the playoffs and qualified for their first-ever Super Bowl.

Super Bowl XXV

That game would cement Norwood's name in football history when he missed a 47-yard field goal attempt at the end of Super Bowl XXV, giving the New York Giants the victory. ABC sportscaster Al Michaels had the call: "No good! Wide right!"

While Norwood will always be blamed by many for "choking" in the clutch, the Bills had many opportunities during the course of the game to put it away on their own. On the opening drive of the third quarter, the Bills defense allowed the Giant offense to chew up 9:29 by converting three third down conversions. One conversion was on a 3rd and 13 play where, after Giant quarterback Jeff Hostetler completed a short pass to receiver Mark Ingram, the Bills missed several easy tackles and allowed Ingram to pick up the first down. This play would eventually lead to a Giant touchdown. The problem that ultimately killed the Bills in the end was the amount of time their defense was on the field. The Giants controlled the ball for a total of 40:33.

Later career and retirement

Norwood lasted one more season with the Bills. His kicking became erratic, and before the 1992 season he was cut, again, and replaced by the younger Steve Christie. The stigma of having been the kicker who lost a Super Bowl, however undeserved it was, kept other teams from showing any interest, and he left football for good.

He returned to Northern Virginia, where he still lives today, and became a Realtor. He is married, has three children and coaches his daughter's soccer team.

While it took him some time to get over having missed the kick, today he has no regrets about how his life has turned out since.

"You Can't Blame Scott Norwood!"

On February 2, 2006, as part of its ongoing series, ESPN Classic aired The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... Scott Norwood for the Bills losing Super Bowl XXV. Their reasons:

5. Ottis Anderson
. The Giant running back had a spectacular game, earning him the game's Most Valuable Player award.

4. Jeff Hostetler
. Called upon to substitute for an injured Phil Simms
late in the season, the Giant quarterback had the game of his career.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Scott Norwood ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Scott Norwood; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay