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For 19 seasons, Trey Junkin labored in anonymity, his private badge of honor the fact that NFL special teams coaches didn't need even five fingers to enumerate the errant deep snaps he had produced during his career.
Then all that changed on Jan. 5, when Junkin's botched placement snap deprived New York Giants place kicker Matt Bryant the opportunity for a 41-yard, game-winning field goal, and set off a Keystone Kops sequence in which the game referees blew a pass interference call in San Francisco's 39-38 first-round playoff victory.
That final play, with panicked holder Matt Allen scrambling to his right and launching a desperation heave far downfield, focused much attention on the officiating crew headed by referee Ron Winter, and essentially earned many of the zebras involved public reprimand from commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Alas, it also ended a mostly faceless professional existence for Trey Junkin, brought out of retirement by Giants officials just to snap in the playoffs.
One of the greatest postseason comebacks in NFL history also represented a humbling comedown for Junkin, a class act who stood up to tough postgame questioning, and then announced he would never play again.
Then all that changed on Jan. 5, when Junkin's botched placement snap deprived New York Giants place kicker Matt Bryant the opportunity for a 41-yard, game-winning field goal, and set off a Keystone Kops sequence in which the game referees blew a pass interference call in San Francisco's 39-38 first-round playoff victory.
That final play, with panicked holder Matt Allen scrambling to his right and launching a desperation heave far downfield, focused much attention on the officiating crew headed by referee Ron Winter, and essentially earned many of the zebras involved public reprimand from commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Alas, it also ended a mostly faceless professional existence for Trey Junkin, brought out of retirement by Giants officials just to snap in the playoffs.
One of the greatest postseason comebacks in NFL history also represented a humbling comedown for Junkin, a class act who stood up to tough postgame questioning, and then announced he would never play again.
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