Dwayne Rudd
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dwayne Rudd | |
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| Date of birth: | February 3, 1976 |
| Place of birth: |  Batesville, Mississippi |
| Career information | |
| Position(s): | Linebacker |
| College: | Alabama |
| NFL Draft: | 1997 / Round: 1 / Pick: 20 |
| Organizations | |
| As player: | |
| 1997–2000 2001–2002 2003 |
Minnesota Vikings Cleveland Browns Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| Stats at DatabaseFootball.com | |
Dwayne Rudd (born February 3, 1976 in Batesville, Mississippi) is an American football linebacker who is currently a free agent in the National Football League. During his career he played for the Minnesota Vikings, the Cleveland Browns and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rudd was a teammate of current Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Deshea Townsend in both high school and college, at South Panola High School and the University of Alabama, respectively. Derek Pegues, also a South Panola alumn and currently an All-SEC Defensive Back for Mississippi State, is his cousin.
[edit] Premature Celebration
Rudd's most (in)famous moment came in the 2002 season opener between the Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs. With less than 10 seconds left on the clock and the Browns clinging to a 39–37 lead, Chiefs quarterback Trent Green dropped back to pass, but the entire Browns defensive line swarmed him and it initially appeared that Rudd sacked Green. However, Green lateraled the ball to tackle John Tait just before he went down. Rudd did not see the play, however, and after getting up he threw his helmet in the air in celebration, thinking Green had been sacked and the game was over.
Tait rumbled to the Browns' 25-yard line where he was knocked out of bounds. That would have been the end of the game, but Rudd's premature helmet toss drew the Browns an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which moved the ball to the 13-yard line (half the distance to the goal), and since football games by rule can not end on a defensive penalty, Chiefs kicker Morten Andersen booted a 30-yard field goal with no time left to win the game 40–39.
His goof won him the Terry Award for biggest boneheaded move of that year, beating out Detroit Lions head coach Marty Mornhinweg's decision to kickoff against the Chicago Bears in overtime.
The newspaper headline in Cleveland the next day read, "Down the Dwayne."
[edit] Accomplishments
Rudd shares the NFL record (with many players) both for the most total fumble recoveries for touchdowns in a season and the most opponent fumble recoveries for touchdowns in a season, with two apiece.
[edit] External links
- Dwayne Rudd at NFL.com
- ^ AP Game recap of the game in question on nfl.com
- ^ Dwayne Rudd records at NFL.com
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