History Main / PutMeInCoach

** Mayfield would end up doing this a second time in 2022, in a case that was arguably even ''more'' impressive due to the circumstances surrounding it. Despite Mayfield's success with the Browns, he was surprisingly pushed out of the Browns organization following an injury-plagued 2021 season. After a disappointing start to the year with a largely dysfunctional Carolina Panthers team, Mayfield was claimed off waivers ahead of Week 14 by the Los Angeles Rams, who had just lost quarterback Matthew Stafford for the year with a spinal injury. Now, it's worth noting here that it's already uncommon for teams to add an outside quarterback during the season (unless the person is already familiar with the team, like someone who was there in the offseason or a recent season) due to how difficult it is for NFL quarterbacks to learn a new offense; to play said outside quarterback for meaningful snaps in the same week that he's acquired is basically unheard of, and yet the Rams chose to put Mayfield in for all but the first series of their Thursday Night Football matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders. Mayfield quickly proved the team right for trusting him, leading the struggling Rams to a 14-point fourth-quarter comeback, including a record-breaking 98-yard drive in the final two minutes to create the go-ahead touchdown.

** Mayfield would end up doing this a second time only a few years later, after he was surprisingly pushed out of the Browns organization following an injury-plagued 2021 season. After a disappointing start to the year with a largely dysfunctional Carolina Panthers team, Mayfield was claimed off waivers ahead of Week 14 by the Los Angeles Rams, who had just lost quarterback Matthew Stafford for the year with a spinal injury. Despite arriving in Los Angeles just two days before the team's scheduled Thursday Night Football matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders, Mayfield ended up playing the majority of the game (all but the first offensive series), leading the struggling Rams to a 14-point fourth-quarter comeback that included a record-breaking 98-yard drive in the final two minutes that ended in the go-ahead touchdown. It's worth noting here that it's extremely uncommon for NFL teams to add an outside quarterback to the team midseason ''period'' due to how difficult it is for NFL quarterbacks to learn a new offense, let alone for said quarterback to end up playing within the same week that he's acquired -- and yet Mayfield did all of that and managed a feat that hadn't been achieved in the past ''45 years'' of NFL football.

* In the 2020 NFL season, the Denver Broncos found themselves in a predicament when one of the backup quarterbacks tested positive for COVID-19, which resulted in the entire QB corps being put in quarantine protocol due to close-contact exposure ''one day'' before the team's Week 12 game against the New Orleans Saints. They ended up having to call up Kendall Hinton, a practice squad wide receiver who had also played second-string quarterback in college, to fill the position on less than 24 hours' notice. It seemed like it could have been the setup for some crazy underdog victory story, especially since the Saints were also not starting their No. 1 quarterback[[note]]while they did still have an actual quarterback at the position, having career backup Taysom Hill under center instead of future Hall of Famer Drew Brees did seem to potentially open doors for opponents[[/note]]... but no, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome it ended exactly the way one would expect]], with a 31-3 [[CurbStompBattle blowout loss]]. Hinton would go on to be a solid wide receiver for the team in the following season, but it was clear that he was never a fit to play quarterback at the professional level.

** Postscript: The following year, Perry became the Midshipmen's starting QB and was named offensive player of the year in the American Athletic Conference.

* All Black first-five (flyhalf, for anyone outside of New Zealand) Stephen Donald had fallen out of favour due to a number of competitors for the position, and in particular had suffered a period of vilification due to mistakes made in a 2010 match against Australia that cost the All Blacks the win. Naturally, he was not selected for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. However, the All Blacks suffered an injury crisis in this key position, with the first two choices Dan Carter and Colin Slade picking up injuries. A week before the final against France, Donald came home from a day of fishing with a friend to find a text on his phone from the coach saying that he was needed. He was on the bench for the final, and in the first half the third choice first-five Aaron Cruden went down injured. Fourth choice Donald came on, played the rest of the match and made no mistakes, and kicked what proved to be the winning penalty goal as the All Blacks won 8-7, thus becoming known as the hero that brought the William Webb Ellis trophy back to New Zealand.

* Former All Black first-five Stephen Donald had dropped from favour due to a number of competitors for the position, and was not selected for the 2011 World Cup. However, the All Blacks suffered an injury crisis in this key position, with Dan Carter and Colin Slade picking up injuries. A week before the final, Donald came home from a day of fishing with a friend to find a text on his phone from the coach saying that he was needed. He was on the bench for the final, and in the first half the third-choice first-five Aaron Cruden went down injured. Donald came on, played the rest of the match and made no mistakes, and kicked what proved to be the winning penalty goal as the All Blacks won 8-7 over France.

* Green Bay was at it again in 2021, this time on the defensive side of the ball. Fifth-year defensive back Rasul Douglas was a largely unremarkable player, beginning the season on the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad after being cut from two different teams in two weeks in the preseason, before finally getting onto an active roster in early October when the Packers signed him to reinforce an injury-ravaged secondary. Due to Douglas' relative anonymity, the main fan reaction to the move was another wave of complaints about the team's inability to acquire a more notable player. That all changed after the Packers' Week 8 game against the undefeated Arizona Cardinals -- the same team they had poached Douglas from just 22 days earlier. In the final seconds of the game, the Packers were clinging to a three-point lead, but Arizona's high-powered offense had marched down the field and was inside the 10, and it seemed inevitable that they would score, with the best the Packers could hope for being to hold Arizona to a field goal and take it to overtime. Douglas, however, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y75pFY22078 had other ideas]], coming up with a clutch interception that sealed the Packers' victory and handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season. What's more, it would turn out that that was just the beginning; Douglas ultimately finished the season with five interceptions and two touchdowns.[[note]]If you want to know just how good those numbers are, Douglas was tied for fourth in the league in interceptions and first in the league in defensive touchdowns despite ''only playing 12 games''.[[/note]] Needless to say, when the Packers announced they had re-signed Douglas for 2022, the reaction was pretty much the polar opposite of what happened with the original signing.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''; in the final seconds of a peewee football game, the police come by to arrest the star quarterback, because he happens to be resident delinquent bully Nelson. Bart volunteers to be [[PutMeInCoach put in]]...to the back of a police car as Nelson scores a game winning touchdown.

[[folder: Film- Animated]]

[[folder: Film- Live Action]]

[[folder: Film]]

* Green Bay was at it again in 2021, this time on the defensive side of the ball. Fifth-year defensive back Rasul Douglas was a largely unremarkable player, beginning the season on the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad after being cut from two different teams in two weeks in the preseason, before finally getting onto an active roster in early October when the Packers signed him to reinforce an injury-ravaged secondary. Due to Douglas' relative anonymity, the main fan reaction to the move was another wave of complaints about the team's inability to acquire a more notable player. That all changed after the Packers' Week 8 game against the undefeated Arizona Cardinals -- the same team they had poached Douglas from just 22 days earlier. In the final seconds of the game, the Packers were clinging to a three-point lead, but Arizona's high-powered offense had marched down the field and was inside the 10, and it seemed inevitable that they would score, and it seemed the best the Packers could hope for would be to hold Arizona to a field goal and take it to overtime. Douglas, however, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y75pFY22078 had other ideas]], coming up with a clutch interception that sealed the Packers' victory and handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season. What's more, it would turn out that that was just the beginning; Douglas ultimately finished the season with five interceptions and two touchdowns.[[note]]If you want to know just how good those numbers are, Douglas was tied for fourth in the league in interceptions and first in the league in defensive touchdowns despite ''only playing 12 games''.[[/note]] Needless to say, when the Packers announced they had re-signed Douglas for 2022, the reaction was pretty much the polar opposite of what happened with the original signing.

* Green Bay was at it again in 2021, this time on the defensive side of the ball. Fifth-year defensive back Rasul Douglas was a largely unremarkable player, beginning the season on the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad after being cut from two different teams in two weeks in the preseason, before finally getting onto an active roster in early October when the Packers signed him to reinforce an injury-ravaged secondary. Due to Douglas' relative anonymity the main fan reaction to the move was another wave of complaints about the team's inability to acquire a more notable player. That all changed after the Packers' Week 8 game against the undefeated Arizona Cardinals -- the same team they had poached Douglas from just 22 days earlier. In the final seconds of the game, the Packers were clinging to a three-point lead, but Arizona's high-powered offense had marched down the field and was inside the 10, and it seemed inevitable that they would score, and it seemed the best the Packers could hope for would be to hold Arizona to a field goal and take it to overtime. Douglas, however, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y75pFY22078 had other ideas]], coming up with a clutch interception that sealed the Packers' victory and handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season. What's more, it would turn out that that was just the beginning; Douglas ultimately finished the season with five interceptions and two touchdowns.[[note]]If you want to know just how good those numbers are, Douglas was tied for fourth in the league in interceptions and first in the league in defensive touchdowns despite ''only playing 12 games''.[[/note]] Needless to say, when the Packers announced they had re-signed Douglas for 2022, the reaction was pretty much the polar opposite of what happened with the original signing.

** Green Bay was at it again in 2021, this time on the defensive side of the ball. Fifth-year defensive back Rasul Douglas was a largely unremarkable player, beginning the season on the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad after being cut from two different teams in two weeks in the preseason, before finally getting onto an active roster in early October when the Packers signed him to reinforce an injury-ravaged secondary. Due to Douglas' relative anonymity the main fan reaction to the move was another wave of complaints about the team's inability to acquire a more notable player. That all changed after the Packers' Week 8 game against the undefeated Arizona Cardinals -- the same team they had poached Douglas from just 22 days earlier. In the final seconds of the game, the Packers were clinging to a three-point lead, but Arizona's high-powered offense had marched down the field and was inside the 10, and it seemed inevitable that they would score, and it seemed the best the Packers could hope for would be to hold Arizona to a field goal and take it to overtime. Douglas, however, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y75pFY22078 had other ideas]], coming up with a clutch interception that sealed the Packers' victory and handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season. What's more, it would turn out that that was just the beginning; Douglas ultimately finished the season with five interceptions and two touchdowns.[[note]]If you want to know just how good those numbers are, Douglas was tied for fourth in the league in interceptions and first in the league in defensive touchdowns despite ''only playing 12 games''.[[/note]] Needless to say, when the Packers announced they had re-signed Douglas for 2022, the reaction was pretty much the polar opposite of what happened with the original signing.

* Jason [=McElwain=] was the autistic student-manager of the Greece Athena HS (Rochester, NY) basketball team. For the team's last home game of the season on Feb. 15, 2006, [=McElwain=] was put on the roster so he could be given a jersey and allowed to sit on the bench. With four minutes left in the game, and Greece Athena leading by double digits, coach Jim Johnson put [=McElwain=] in the game, who dropped six three-pointers. [=McElwain=]'s treys weren't relevant to the final outcome, but otherwise it was one of greatest PutMeInCoach moments in RealLife high school sports (though it led some people to wonder why [=McElwain=] never got a shot to actually play on the team for real, with some thinking that [[DisabledMeansHelpless his autism led to him being unfairly dismissed as a potential contributer]]).

** Her teammates Sunisa Lee (floor) and Jordan Chiles (bars and beam) stepped up to perform events they weren't expected to contribute to in the final, with all three remaining gymnasts having to compete all four events. The team won silver.

* Jason [=McElwain=] was the autistic student-manager of the Greece Athena HS (Rochester, NY) basketball team. For the team's last home game of the season on Feb. 15, 2006, [=McElwain=] was put on the roster so he could be given a jersey and allowed to sit on the bench. With four minutes left in the game, and Greece Athena leading by double digits, coach Jim Johnson put [=McElwain=] in the game, who dropped six three-pointers. [=McElwain=]'s treys weren't relevant to the final outcome, but otherwise it was one of greatest PutMeInCoach moments in RealLife high school sports (though it led some people to wonder why [=McElwain=] never got a shot to actually became a playing member of the team, with some thinking that [[DisabledMeansHelpless his autism led to him being unfairly written off]]).

* Jason [=McElwain=] was the autistic student-manager of the Greece Athena HS (Rochester, NY) basketball team. For the team's last home game of the season on Feb. 15, 2006, [=McElwain=] was put on the roster so he could be given a jersey and allowed to sit on the bench. With four minutes left in the game, and Greece Athena leading by double digits, coach Jim Johnson put [=McElwain=] in the game, who dropped six three-pointers. [=McElwain=]'s treys weren't relevant to the final outcome, but otherwise it was one of greatest PutMeInCoach moments in RealLife high school sports (though it led some people to wonder if [=McElwain=]'s capabilities had been [[DisabledMeansHelpless unfairly underestimated due to his autism]], given that his play in those final minutes suggested he could have actually been a contributor on the court).

* In the 2020 NFL season, the Denver Broncos found themselves without a quarterback when one of the backup quarterbacks tested positive for COVID-19, which resulted in the entire QB corps having to be quarantined due to close-contact exposure (although all of the others ultimately escaped infection). They ended up having to bring in Kendall Hinton, a practice squad wide receiver who had also played second-string quarterback in college, to fill the position. It seemed like it could have been the setup for some crazy underdog victory story, especially since the New Orleans Saints were also not starting their No. 1 quarterback[[note]]while they did still have an actual quarterback at the position, having career backup Taysom Hill under center instead of future Hall of Famer Drew Brees did seem to potentially open doors for opponents[[/note]]... but no, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome it ended exactly the way one would expect]], with a 31-3 [[CurbStompBattle blowout loss]]. Hinton would go on to be a solid wide receiver for the team in the following season, but it was clear that he was never a fit to play quarterback at the professional level.

* In the 2020 NFL season, the Denver Broncos found themselves without a quarterback when their entire QB corps had to be quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure. They ended up having to bring in Kendall Hinton, a practice squad wide receiver who had also played second-string quarterback in college, to fill the position. It seemed like it could have been the setup for some crazy underdog victory story, especially since the New Orleans Saints were also not starting their No. 1 quarterback[[note]]while they did still have an actual quarterback at the position, having career backup Taysom Hill under center instead of future Hall of Famer Drew Brees did seem to potentially open doors for opponents[[/note]]... but no, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome it ended exactly the way one would expect]], with a 31-3 [[CurbStompBattle blowout loss]]. Hinton would go on to be a solid wide receiver for the team in the following season, but it was clear that he was never a fit to play quarterback at the professional level.

* In a variation, this is how Kevin Dyson -- who was a top wide receiver, but was rarely used on special teams -- ended up playing the key role in the Tennessee Titans' most famous special teams play of all time. In the 1999 AFC Championship game between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans, the Titans needed a big play on the kickoff after the Bills kicked a go-ahead field goal with less than thirty seconds left to play. The team had a play they thought might do the trick, but head coach Jeff Fisher then realized that both their main kick returner and their primary backup were both out of the game (due to injury and muscle cramping respectively). Fisher then made a split-second decision to put in Dyson (by Fisher's account, he just happened to spot Dyson walking by at that exact moment), even though he was so unfamiliar with the special teams playbook that Fisher had to talk him through the play before sending him onto the field. The result was the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_City_Miracle Music City Miracle]], in which Dyson caught a lateral pass from Frank Wycheck and then made a 75-yard touchdown run as the clock expired.[[note]]The actual play design called for Dyson to hop out of bounds once he was far enough down the field to put them in field goal range, but he realized he had an open path to the end zone and decided to score while he had the chance rather than put the team in a position where there was a risk, however slim, of falling short.[[/note]]

* In a variation, this is how Kevin Dyson -- who was a top wide receiver, but was rarely used on special teams -- ended up playing the key role in the Tennessee Titans' most famous special teams play of all time. In the 1999 AFC Championship game between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans, the Titans needed a big play on the kickoff after the Bills kicked a go-ahead field goal with less than thirty seconds left to play. The team had a play they thought might do the trick, but head coach Jeff Fisher then realized that both their main kick returner and their primary backup were both out of the game (due to injury and muscle cramping respectively). Fisher then made a split-second decision to put in Dyson (by Fisher's account, he just happened to spot Dyson walking by at that exact moment), even though he was so unfamiliar with the special teams playbook that Fisher had to talk him through the play before sending him onto the field. The result was the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_City_Miracle Music City Miracle]], in which Dyson caught a lateral pass from Frank Wycheck and then made a 75-yard touchdown run as the clock expired. (The actual play design called for Dyson to hop out of bounds once he was far enough down the field to put them in field goal range, but he realized he had an open path to the end zone and decided to just finish it off.)

* In a variation, this is how Kevin Dyson -- who was a top wide receiver, but was rarely used on special teams -- ended up playing the key role in the Tennessee Titans' most famous special teams play of all time. In the 1999 AFC Championship game between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans, the Titans needed a big play on the kickoff after the Bills kicked a go-ahead field goal with less than thirty seconds left to play. The team had a play they thought might do the trick, but head coach Jeff Fisher then realized that both their main kick returner and their primary backup were out of the game. Fisher then made a split-second decision to put in Dyson (by Fisher's account, he just happened to spot Dyson walking by at that exact moment), even though he was so unfamiliar with the special teams playbook that Fisher had to talk him through the play before sending him onto the field. The result was the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_City_Miracle Music City Miracle]], in which Dyson caught a lateral pass from Frank Wycheck and then made a 75-yard touchdown run as the clock expired. (The actual play design called for Dyson to hop out of bounds once he was far enough down the field to put them in field goal range, but he realized he had an open path to the end zone and decided to just finish it off.)

* Though there was no direct substitution, shades of this were all over the American women's team at the 2011 Gymnastics World Championships after Alicia Sacramone, the veteran of the team and expected to compete on three out of four events (and probably be the anchor on at least one), tore her Achilles tendon. Of the remaining five team members[[note]]Gabby Douglas, [=McKayla=] Maroney, Aly Raisman, Sabrina Vega, and Jordyn Wieber[[/note]], only Aly Raisman had competed at a World Championships before, and all but Raisman were first-year seniors. Not only did the team qualify in first place and go on to win gold by a pretty nice margin, but in the qualification round, in which all five gymnasts competed on all events in order to maximize the five-up four-count[[note]]five gymnasts go up on each event with the lowest score dropped[[/note]] format, all of them performed so well that had it not been for the two-per-country rule, not only would all five of them have qualified into the all-around final, they would all have qualified in the top half of the field.

* In the 2020 NFL season, the Denver Broncos found themselves without a quarterback when their entire QB corps had to be quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure. They ended up having to bring in Kendall Hinton, a practice squad wide receiver who had also played second-string quarterback in college, to fill the position. It seemed like it could have been the setup for some crazy underdog victory story, especially since the New Orleans Saints were also not starting their No. 1 quarterback[[note]]while they did still have an actual quarterback at the position, having career backup Taysom Hill under center instead of future Hall of Famer Drew Brees did seem to potentially open doors for opponents[[/note]]... but no, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome it ended exactly the way one would expect]], with a 31-3 [[CurbStompBattle blowout loss]].

* During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Simone Biles of the United States had a rough day in qualifications and came down with an unfortunate case of the "twisties"[[note]]a phenomenon in which a gymnast loses air awareness, which results in getting completely lost in the air on twisting skills -- which, when you are an elite gymnast at the very top of your sport, is ''most'' skills,[[/note]] which took her out of the team final (after a disastrous vault) and subsequent individual finals, resulting in a number of these:

** Perhaps most notably, Mykayla Skinner, the other individual competitor for the USA, ''finally'' got her moment to shine. Skinner didn't even make it to Trials in 2012, only made alternate[[note]]more than a little controversially, as she finished fourth in the all-around but was left off the team in favor of seventh-place finisher Gabby Douglas -- although all-around results aren't the only factor used in choosing the team[[/note]] in 2016, and after ''finally'' making it to the Games, was two-per-countried out of the vault finals (her best event) by Carey and Biles. On less than 48 hours' notice, Skinner stepped up to the plate and hit a home run, performing two of the best vaults of her career to take the silver medal behind only an outstanding Rebeca Andrade of Brazil. The perpetual dark horse ''finally'' won her race.

** Jade Carey, an individual competitor two-per-countried out of the all-around, finished ''eighth'' when she was called up to take over the second American spot in the AA final -- something considered highly unlikely given that she was considered one of the weakest all-arounders on the American squad. Carey also won gold on floor, although this one wasn't as surprising as she was expected to medal on the event

** Similarly, Aaron Rodgers played very little in the three seasons he spent as Favre's backup. During his first season as starter, and despite a losing record, he passed for over 4,000 yards. He would go on to win the Superbowl two seasons later and have perhaps the greatest season for any quarterback a year after that.
** What can I say? We're just good at picking [=QBs=].