The Butt Fumble to the Butt Fumble Recovery: What Happened?

On Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2012, New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez gifted the world with one of the most memorable plays in NFL history: The Butt Fumble. Sanchez, after making a wrong turn for a hand-off, ran straight into teammate Brandon Moore’s rear end, fumbled the ball, and sat and watched as New England Patriots safety Steve Gregory recovered it and ran across the field for a touchdown. It was a play so truly remarkable and dumbfounding it went viral instantly. The play was so infamous and funny that SportsCenter had to stop counting votes for it on their weekly “Not Top 10”. The Butt Fumble held the number one spot on their list for 40 weeks before SportsCenter “retired it”. The term has since become synonymous with incredibly bad mistakes.

Earlier this month on December 3, 2018, Sanchez found himself playing quarterback for the Washington Redskins. The fact that Sanchez is playing right now is extremely unlikely already; he signed with the Redskins on November 19 after starting-QB Alex Smith suffered a season-ending leg injury. Backup Colt McCoy got bumped to the starting role, and Sanchez filled the gap. Now during this game against the Philadelphia Eagles, McCoy has also suffered a leg injury, one that would also prove to be season-ending. Sanchez now has the helm, his first time playing in nearly two years.

Sanchez’s last appearance on the field was with the Dallas Cowboys on New Year’s Day 2017. In that game, which was also against Philadelphia, he was 9/17 on pass attempts for 85 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, and 3 sacks for 25 yards lost. He had an overall quarterback rating of 27.5, his worst appearance since playing for…the New York Jets on December 2, 2012. This was the Jets’ very next game following the Butt Fumble. The Jets managed to win that game 7-6 against the Arizona Cardinals thanks to a 1-yard pass from the Jets’ backup quarterback Greg McElroy.

Now Sanchez finds himself in control of the ball, the new leader of a team that’s currently 6-5 and trying to stay atop of their division. After just completing a pass for a first down after a kickoff, Sanchez is sacked by Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham. The ball goes loose, and is recovered by…Mark Sanchez, using his own rear end to cover the ball and end the play. It’s been 2202 days since the Butt Fumble, but the football gods have now graced humanity with the Butt Fumble Recovery.

These two events can only be described as poetry; an utterly moronic gaff paired with a beautiful save, happening to a man whose career has been a roller-coaster to say the least. But what happened during those 2202 days between the Fumble and the Recovery? That’s just over six years, and a lot has gone down in the world of sports:

In his appearances between the two incidents, Sanchez has played in 20 games with 183.6 passing yards per game, 19 TD, 25 INT, 43 sacks, and an overall QBR of 74.6 with a win/loss record of 9-11. He also lost the game with the Butt Fumble Recovery and the game against the Giants the following week. The world is a different place now. Several teams have broken decades-long curses, new dynasties have been erected, new teams have been established, but one thing has remained constant: Mark Sanchez is not a good quarterback.