Dwayne Rudd (born February 3, 1976) is a retired

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He was drafted in the first round of the 1997 NFL Draft. During his career he played for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

and the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

. Rudd was a teammate of Pittsburgh Steelers

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

Deshea Townsend Trevor Deshea Townsend (born September 8, 1975) is an American football coach and former cornerback who is the passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He previously serv ...

in both

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

, at

South Panola High School The South Panola School District is a public school district based in Batesville, Mississippi, US. In addition to Batesville, the district also serves the village of Pope, the town of Courtland, and the Panola County portion of Crowder as w ...

and the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

, respectively. Derek Pegues, a South Panola alum and an All- SEC Defensive Back for

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

, is his cousin.

Celebration penalties

In the 2002 season opener between the Browns and the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

, the Browns were clinging to a 39–37 lead with 4 seconds left. As Chiefs quarterback

Trent Green Trent Jason Green (born July 9, 1970) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for fifteen seasons. He played college football for Indiana University. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in ...

dropped back to pass, the entire Browns

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

swarmed him, and it initially appeared that Rudd had sacked Green as time expired. However, Green had actually lateraled the ball to tackle John Tait while in the act of falling, just before he had hit the ground. Not having seen this happen and believing that he had sacked Green to end the game, Rudd took off his helmet and threw it in the air in celebration of an apparent Browns victory. In the meantime, Tait had run to the Browns' 26-yard line where he was knocked out of bounds. That would have been the end of the game, but Rudd was assessed to have committed an

unsportsmanlike conduct Unsportsmanlike conduct (also called untrustworthy behaviour or ungentlemanly fraudulent or bad sportsmanship or poor sportsmanship or anti fair-play) is a foul or offense in many sports that violates the sport's generally accepted rules of sport ...

penalty for his premature helmet toss. Since football games, by rule, cannot end on a defensive penalty, the Chiefs got the chance to run one last untimed play. The ball was moved to the 13-yard line (half the distance to the goal from the end of the run). Chiefs

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

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then booted a 30-yard field goal to win the game 40–39. Rudd encountered a similar incident the next season in Tampa; as part of the

, he saw his teammate

Simeon Rice Simeon James Rice (; born February 24, 1974) is a former American football defensive end. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals third overall in the 1996 NFL Draft. In his 12-year NFL career, Rice recorded 122 sacks, forced 25 fumbles, recov ...

draw an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in a game against the Indianapolis Colts after a game-winning field goal attempt failed, giving the Colts another chance to win the game—being successful the second time.

Accomplishments

Rudd holds the NFL record for most fumble return yards in a single season with 157, which he set in 1998. He also shares the NFL record (with many players) both for the most total fumble recoveries for touchdowns in a season and the most opponent fumble recoveries for touchdowns in a season, with two apiece.Dwayne Rudd records
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References

External links

Dwayne Rudd
at

NFL.com The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudd, Dwayne 1976 births Living people People from Batesville, Mississippi Players of American football from Mississippi American football linebackers Alabama Crimson Tide football players Minnesota Vikings players Cleveland Browns players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players