Frank Wycheck, the Tennessee Titans tight end who threw the pass in the “Music City Miracle” in the 1999 playoffs against the Buffalo Bills, has died. He was 52.
In a statement issued, Wycheck’s family said he appeared to hit his head after a fall Saturday in his home in Chattanooga, Tenn. He was found unresponsive later in the day.
On Jan. 8, 2000, the Bills took a 16-15 lead over the Titans with 16 seconds left on a 41-yard field goal by Steve Christie. The last-minute drive was engineered by quarterback Rob Johnson, who was a surprise starter over Doug Flutie. A trip to the next round seemed certain.
Then came the call for “Home Run Throwback.”
Buffalo kicked off after the field goal. Lorenzo Neal handed the ball to Wycheck, who threw a long lateral to Kevin Dyson. From there, Dyson ran 75 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It might have been the most difficult loss in Bills’ history outside of Super Bowl XXV.
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The officials ruled that it was a legal lateral, the call stood after a review, and another indelible nightmare for Bills fans was born.
“I know (it was legal) because I threw it,” Wychek told The News in 2018. “And I know the action of how I threw it and how I flung it backwards. It was close, if you look down the line. I mean, I think MIT professors or physics departments went through it and diagrammed the whole thing. And, listen, that’s a tough thing to get over.
“It’s like the same thing with us in the Super Bowl (XXXIV, which the Titans lost to the then-St. Louis Rams 23-16). I think about the Super Bowl every day almost. What things could have went right? What things could have went wrong? And all that stuff. So I understand Wade Phillips’ point of view and those players, but, listen, it was the correct call, it was the correct play, it was executed the right way, and we benefited from it.
“The way I threw the ball has been the biggest question from Buffalo fans’ standpoint. I understand their frustration, because of the way it looked. I knew it was supposed to go backwards, but the way I threw it, it was almost like turning a double play. I kind of just jumped and flung it backward, but then I fell back. And Dyson was at one place and then went backwards to catch the ball. So it was a very deceiving play.”
Wycheck was a member of the Washington Redskins, who made him a sixth-round draft pick from Maryland in 1993 and released him in 1995 after a failed attempt to move him to fullback; the Houston Oilers, who signed him in ’95; and the Tennessee Oilers/Titans. Wycheck caught 505 passes for 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns in his career.
He retired as an NFL player at age 33, then was part of the Titans’ radio broadcast team until he was fired in 2017.
Wychek went public with the belief that he had CTE, citing bouts of severe depression, debilitating headaches and memory loss. He said it was like “having post-concussion syndrome for the rest of your life.”
“It’s a constant battle each and every day for me,” Wycheck told The News in 2018. “But I’m trying like heck to just keep my head above water. I hate when people say, ‘Well, everyone forgets where they were,’ or something like that. I just know every day that there’s a lot of the short-term memory I struggle with and a lot of long-term memories, too.
“It’s just one of those things that’s scary. I knew that these days were coming when I retired at 33. And, unfortunately, my predictions have been coming true.”
His family said it plans to donate his brain for CTE research.