The "Hands of Clod" Redux

The pressure is now off Robert Green, England's goalkeeper in the last World Cup, who let that oh so fine shot by Clint Dempsey bounce off his hands and into the goal. He was honored with the title "Hands of Clod" by the British media. As all good Futbol fans know that name originated when Maradona, many moons ago, put his fist up next to his head and used it to put a cross from an Argentine team mate into the goal. He was so deft at it neither the referee nor the linesman caught it but the replays sure did. It became known afterwards it as the "Hand of God" goal. Robert Green's botched goal was given the title of the "Hand of Clod". After this past Sunday, at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY, we have a new honoree now to be known as the "Hands of Clod" and that would be Bill's wide receiver Steve Johnson.
Just a little background for this presentation to Steve. The Pittsburgh Steelers took a 13-0 lead in the first half and the Bills fought back and tied the game at 13. Pittsburgh then took a 16-13 lead and with 2 seconds left the Bills tied it sending the game into overtime and setting the stage for that special moment. For the most part the Bills dominated the overtime. They should have won it on the opening kickoff but Leodis McKelvin managed to trip over a team mates foot just as he was about to pull away from the pack. He would have scored and the game would have been over but no, these are our Bills, the lovable, luckless Bills. After an exchange of punts the Bills drove down to approximately the Steelers forty yard line and then it happened. Ryan Fitzpatrick called the signals, the ball was snapped, he dropped back and threw one of the best passes I have ever seen. The cameras then focused on Steve Johnson..two yards clear of any defender.. the ball sailing perfectly into his hands...your King roaring with excitement and then it happened. At first I did not know he dropped it until they took a shot of a very depressed Fitzpatrick, not thinking a drop could be possible my first thought was "Oh no, a $*$%#& holding penalty" but that was not the case. They then cut to Steve Johnson sitting in the end zone not moving and then they showed the replay. He, now of Hands of Clod fame, dropped a perfectly thrown ball. He dropped the *%^&$#* ball. Of course this could only happen to the Bills and it set up what I certainly expected was going to happen next. The Steelers then took the ball and drove it down the throats of the deflated Bill's defense to kick the winning field goal. This could have been a statement game for the Bills yet it will forever be known as the "Hands of Clod" game.
The Bills are an improving lot. They have been much more entertaining these past six games than they were in their first five games but in order to take that next step they need to win a game like this. Unfortunately they 'dropped' it into the Steeler's lap.
It will now be interesting to see what happens to the career of Steve Johnson after this. Will he suck it up and work even harder or will he let this dog him throughout the remainder of his career. He took a good first step by stepping onto the podium and taking the blame but then his tweet afterwards showed a certain level of immaturity. You can't blame God for dropping the ball. You may as well spread the blame by naming Buddha, Confuscious, Allah and whomever else you can name. They had nothing to do with it. His having a case of butterfingers did and that was evident all day as he had five bad drops, one which led to a Steeler interception at the goal line when the Bills were driving late in the fourth quarter. I have easily gotten over this game as I expect this from our lovable Bills but it sure would have been nice to see Fitzpatrick carried off the field on the shoulders of his team mates for leading this team to a much deserved victory. Your King is getting tired of saying "Maybe next game".
Oh well, have a nice evening.