As he always does Sundays, Eric Thomas watched.
But on this Sunday, Thomas caught a glimpse of himself in a not-so funhouse mirror. Long before he was named one of the 50 greatest players in Bengals history.
"That was me," says Thomas of Bengals rookie safety Daijahn Anthony and the pass interference call against him with 38 seconds left that led to the Chiefs walking off a loss into a win. "I will tell the young man, you didn't lose the game for them. A game is never decided by one snap. Trust me. Just get back to work and put your head down and don't worry about what people are going to say. Don't worry about one play. In one game. It's not worth it."
The similarities of last Sunday in Arrowhead Stadium and Sept. 20, 1987, at Cincinnati's old Riverfront Stadium are downright eerie but illuminating. Thomas rebounded to go to the Pro Bowl the next season while putting himself on the iconic S.W.A.T team poster that celebrated the Bengals' Super Bowl secondary.
Both Thomas and Anthony were in the second game of their careers on the second Sunday of the season. Both were in the secondary protecting slim leads in the final minute while staring at the most decorated quarterbacks of their eras.
Thomas, a second-rounder coming off the bench as he did during the game as an extra cornerback, saw the 49ers' Joe Montana drop back with two seconds left from the Bengals 25 in a game the Bengals led, 26-20.
Future Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice ran at Thomas, already in the end zone tucked in a deep zone.
Anthony, the seventh-rounder who has been playing in the Bengals' dime package since his stunning training camp, dealt with the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes dancing at his 35 on fourth-and-16 while trailing, 25-23.
Anthony dropped into a zone. Wide receiver Rashee Rice isn't Jerry Rice, but he already had a 44-yard touchdown catch Sunday. When he cut in front of Anthony, he drew the flag as Anthony hit him early from behind while both leaped for the 29-yard pass.
Thomas was supposed to be in a zone, too, but it didn't look like it.
"We were lined up incorrectly," Thomas says. "There were supposed to be two other players on my side. We didn't know it until we watched film the next day."
It left the rookie all alone with the league's best receiver on the right side of the end zone. Somehow, Rice got position and separation in front of Thomas. Montana, with no pressure, flicked his wrist to produce a loft, and it was over.
"I just screwed it up. It's an easy play to make. The ball is coming right to me. I just froze," Thomas says. "I don't think it had anything to with it was Jerry Rice. It was me not being aware of the situation and not reacting the way I should have reacted."
The veteran Thomas, who would go on to play eight more seasons in the league while amassing 17 interceptions, says there's no question he would have batted it away.
"It was a very easy play to make," Thomas says. "You have to understand I was back all the way. I was in the end zone when the ball got snapped. If I was up on the line of scrimmage, I might have had a better chance at breaking the pass up. I'm just watching him running toward me."
Thomas admits since his gaffe didn't get the spotlight for very long, it probably helped him rebound quickly.
Bengals head coach Sam Wyche took even more heat for mangling clock management that day. The Bengals got the ball at their 45 with 54 seconds left and somehow proceeded to lose 20 yards on four snaps. When Wyche chose not to punt and lose five yards on fourth down, Montana got one last shot. It was like giving Hemingway the last word.
If that wasn't enough, NFL players went on strike shortly after the game and consumed the next month with replacement players, picket lines and playground practices.
"We weren't getting paid, and we were trying to figure out where and when to practice. And, as rookies, we didn't really know what the issues were. That's what we were talking about," Thomas says.
Just as Anthony's coaches and teammates rallied to him Sunday in Kansas City, Thomas got the same treatment 37 years ago. He remembers the veterans on defense, particularly the linebackers, coming over to say he had a good game against a great offense and that one play doesn't decide a game.
"Look at the film all the plays leading up to that moment," Thomas says.
"Then the next day after we watched the film, they came up to me again and said, 'Oh man. We're really sorry we put you in that position.' Part of that is they wanted to make sure that I was OK and that I could help them going forward. If you don't have confidence, you can't play."
If it was cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt and old college teammate Cedric Johnson consoling Anthony in Kansas City while he chose to talk to the press Thursday instead of after the game, it was Bengals defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau who Thomas remembers on that long ago Sunday.
After Thomas came into the locker room and stripped off his shoes and gloves, he leaned back in his locker as the door burst open and the media streamed to one spot.
"Who do you think they want to talk to?" Thomas says. "I think I heard one question. 'Eric, what happened on the play?' And this shows you the goodness of the man."
He saw LeBeau out of the corner of his eye wading through the crowd in front of his locker and then pulled him away saying, 'I've got to talk to you."
LeBeau took Thomas into one of the rooms reserved for the coaches and admitted, "I don't need to ask you anything. You don't deserve that crap. You want something to drink?"
While Thomas chugged a Gatorade, LeBeau didn't say a word about the play. When Thomas got back to his locker, there was nobody there to ask about it, either.
"When we got back to playing, I started playing nickel and slot corner a lot more, so I was getting snaps," Thomas says. "In spite of what happened to me, they didn't even let that stunt my development. They didn't let that spook them into not putting me on the field again. But it's up to me and how I responded. And I responded well.
"It just comes down to the people who are around you, the veteran players, the coaches, and how the coaches help you to get back to playing football and not worrying about one play. I was rather fortunate enough in that regard."
Thomas thinks Anthony is going to bounce back in head coach Zac Taylor’s culture. He sees why defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo likes Anthony's longish range that is interchangeable at cornerback and safety.
"You're talking about a guy who really has a different skill set of what they're trying to do," Thomas says. "Two years ago when they went to the Super Bowl they had a tall corner they picked up from Seattle. Tre Flowers. He was perfect because he was a guy who was a big corner who could cover (Travis) Kelce, and these tight ends because of his size. And this kid reminds me of that. I can see why they would want to put him in the dime package. He's trying to match up with personnel."
When his rookie season ended, Thomas went back to California for a month before returning to Cincinnati to work on getting into the starting lineup. He says his work ethic overcame any memory of Sept. 20.
When Thomas responded with seven interceptions, he was named to the Pro Bowl. He had two more picks in the playoffs, including a memorable AFC title game where he had an interception and three passes defensed on a day the Bengals short-circuited Jim Kelly's Buffalo K-Gun.
When he returned to the playoffs in 1990, it's believed Thomas became one of the first NFL players to undergo an offseason ACL reconstruction and return to play in that season.
For Thomas and his 111 NFL games, football is all about coming back.
"I would tell him, 'Man, just keep your head down. Keep going to work on your craft," says Thomas, who lived it before Anthony was born. "You're a young player. You have plenty of days to get better and don't worry about letting one play be the definition of what your career is about."
