John Madden: I love to see a fat guy score.
Pat Summerall: Why?
John Madden: Because first you get a fat guy spike, then you get the fat guy dance.
That line from The Replacements has always held true. There are few things more extemporaneously joyful than when a huge dude in a football uniform scores a touchdown and gets, for a moment, the adulation usually reserved for the smaller skill-position guys. When the Bills scored a touchdown on a Josh Allen pass to 6-foot-5, 320-pound offensive tackle with one second left in the first half of Buffalo’s Week 16 tussle with the Patriots, it set a mark that hasn’t been set in a long time.
Because we know what you need at Touchdown Wire, we’re presenting all five Fat Guy Touchdowns right here.
Week 1: Ravens FB/DL Patrick Ricard
With 7:54 left in their 59-10 thrashing of the Dolphins, the Ravens dialed up this one-yard pass from Lamar Jackson to the 6-foot-3, 311-pound Patrick Ricard. It was Jackson’s fifth passing touchdown on the day.
“It was my idea,” Harbaugh said. “My brother had his guy in San Francisco… I just thought that was a weapon, a dominant type guy, and he looked like a really good athlete. Then I asked him, he said he played it in high school, and the rest is history.”
Jim Harbaugh’s guy in San Francisco from 2011-2014 was Bruce Miller, a linebacker and defensive lineman at Central Florida who Harbaugh converted to a fullback after the 49ers took him in the seventh round of the 2011 draft. Ricard is no stranger to the end zone — the former Maine defensive lineman caught two touchdown passes in his rookie campaign of 2017, and he has eight receptions on 11 targets for 47 yards and that touchdown. Ricard has lined up all over the place for the Ravens in 2019 — 152 snaps in the backfield, 69 snaps inline, 47 in the slot, 20 as a wideout, and 134 on the defensive line.
So, if you see this play when the Ravens get their postseason going, don’t be surprised.
Week 2: Titans OT David Quessenberry
With 14:55 left in the second quarter of Tennessee’s 19-17 loss to the Colts, Marcus Mariota threw a one-yard touchdown pass to offensive tackle David Quessenberry.
Quessenberry doesn’t need touchdown receptions to make his story impressive — he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma in 2014, went through three years of treatment before he was diagnosed as in remission, and returned to the NFL. The Titans signed him after the Texans waived him in 2017, and while he hasn’t seen a lot of action in the 2019 season, he made this one count.
The Titans have lined Quessenberry up anywhere on just seven offensive plays this season — all as an eligible receiver in Weeks 1-4. This was his only catch, and his only target.
“It was a simple route — any of the offensive linemen on this team could have caught that ball,” Quessenberry said. “I just happened to be the guy who had his number called on that play and was able to come down with it. All I was thinking was, ‘Don’t drop it.”
Week 12: Buccaneers DT Vita Vea
With 40 seconds left in the first half of Tampa Bay’s 35-22 win over the Falcons, Jameis Winston threw a one-yard touchdown pass to his 347-pound nose tackle, and Vea became the heaviest player in NFL history to score on a reception. Given Winston’s knack for throwing the ball to defensive players this season, this play should not have come as a surprise.
Vea lined up at fullback, and nobody on Atlanta’s defense had any clue what to do with the “F-Drag” concept.
“I scored? I thought it was a dream,” Vea said after the game.
“He’s been waiting for this opportunity.” head coach Bruce Arians said earlier in the year of his fullback on just two snaps this season. “We might throw him a pass one of these days if he keeps blocking like that.”
Week 12: Titans OT Dennis Kelly
Earlier in the Titans’ 42-20 win over the Jaguars, Kelly gave up a strip-sack of quarterback Ryan Tannehill to Jacksonville pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, which represented the first time Tennessee hadn’t converted in the red zone since Tannehill replaced Marcus Mariota as the starter in Week 7. Kelly at least partially made up for that flub with this one-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill with 13:13 left in the third quarter.
This was the first of a four-touchdown barrage for the Titans in the third quarter, which put the game away. And it put the Titans as the only team on our list with two touchdown passes to the big guys.
To his credit, Kelly gave all the credit to his predecessor.
“I learned from the best,” Kelly said. “(Quessenberry’s) catch was a lot more challenging.
“I’ve gone on a couple routes before here and there. But that one was the first one for this. (Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith) and I have always joked about – since I’ve been here – that he would try and get me one. So, it just happened to be it worked out well. It’s a cool feeling.”
Week 16: Bills OT Dion Dawkins
With one second left in the first half of the Bills’ 24-17 loss to the Patriots, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen completed a one-yard touchdown pass to offensive tackle Dion Dawkins.
This wasn’t Dawkins’ first touchdown pass of his NFL career — the 2017 second-rounder out of Tempe brought in a seven-yard score from Matt Barkley in a 41-10 Week 10 beatdown of the Jets last season — but this was the first time Josh Allen found him. This put the Bills in position to tie the Patriots at the half, and though they played the Super Bowl champs tough, Sean McDermott’s team fell just short as New England wrapped up its 11th straight AFC East title.
