10 Greatest Post-Season Pass Plays

Let's not forget, I have the Tyree catch in my Top 10. I am giving it props. It's just down a little lower than others would put it.

As for the Bradshaw play...I have always argued (and this is part of my criticism of BRADY) is that the greatest QBs have a swagger and a "no guts no glory" attitude. I love that in many cases Ben has that mentality. The pass to Antonio Brown, for instance, in last year's playoffs, was one of those moments where you say, "Oh my God, did you see that?" I have watched Tom Brady play for 11+ seasons now, and I have never once caught myself saying that about anything he has done on the field. Now, I am not saying that that is the ONLY criteria for what makes a QB truly elite, but it's a factor.

But you are RIGHT ON about the hook-and-ladder. Good call. I forgot/missed that one. That has to figure in somewhere!!!!

 

totally agree. most amazing catch in the most important game of the year.

 

I don't think anyone has ever minded us throwing a bomb when it's 3rd and long.

I also love the hook and ladder play. It blew my mind when I saw it as a small child on a highlight reel, and I've incorporated some form of the play in every team I've ever coached.

 

But you have to concede that no one in their right mind would pick that play if all of the uniforms were blurred out and you didn't know who was who. People are biased towards that play, perhaps partly because it's NY, and largely because of the whole NY-NE rivalry (city rivalry, extending into other sports, not just football), but MOSTLY because of all the "drama" that surrounded that game, with NE being 18-0 at that point and NY being a wild card team (I think). It's soooo amazing that little David slayed Goliath. People had already christened the 2007 Patriots as the greatest NFL team ever! What did the Steelers and Cardinals have going on? NOTHING! Oh, there is almost sorta kind of a controversy with the coaches, or at least there was two years ago, and neither of them really cares because they are both in the freakin' Super Bowl. Even the "blow everything out of proportion" sports media couldn't make much out of that. Anything else? Well, half their roster used to be on ours, so... we're actually kinda friends. BORING!

Our game was just as exciting as theirs at the finish (more, in my opinion, since the Cards had a chance all the way to the final play and the Pats never got out of their own red zone). We had by far a better finishing touchdown. Both games were sort of ho-hum through the first 3 quarters, except we win that tie-breaker with the JH play.

Now for the Tyree play. Oh yeah, don't forget Tyree, who is a great "story." A bust of a player who apparently scraped up every good play he was ever going to have, balled them together and used 'em up in one of the biggest sports games in history. JH was DPOY, the opposite end of the spectrum. He was once an underdog too, but that has been forgotten. Anyway, the play. Eli did a great job escaping, made an okay throw, Tyree went up and made a hell of a catch, and used his helmet when that prick Rodney Harrison was pulling his arm away. Great play. Awesome. Kept the drive alive. For it's spectacular nature alone combined with the time remaining in the game, it is one of the best plays in SB history. But let's not forget... it was 3rd and 5. He drops it? 4th and 5. What are the chances they convert that? The way they'd been moving the ball in the 4th quarter so far, I'd say pretty good. Probably 50/50. So I'm not even sure they needed it.

Harrison's play earned 14 points by itslef, and there would be no "next play" any way you work it. Comparing play by play and ignoring all importance and uniforms, I would put his catch and run, along with the blocking of his teammates, and the length of the play and time on the clock, ahead of Tyree's. When you include importance, I still give to to Harrison, because it made a bigger difference. He doesn't make that play, we are losing going into halftime instead of being up 10, and we know how hot the Cards got throwing the ball in the 2nd half. No way we win. Tyree doesn't make that play, it's 4th and 5.

The only thing it really lacked was the "drama," and I think there's a good reason for that, too. The momentum of the game was all Arizona. Suddenly they scored, we threw a pick, they got down to our 1 yard line easily. With 18 seconds they would have 3 chances to throw. An Arizona TD was a certainty. Harrison didn't bring us drama the same way the Giants did, he brought us surprise. And to me that's just as good, if not better. Who didn't jump out of their seats when he caught that ball?

I'm not trying to be just a Steeler fan here. I really think in a "blind taste test," so to speak, that Harrison's play completely whomps Tyree's. It was the "sexy matchup" component that gives Tyree the inexcusable boost he doesn't deserve to get to the top.

 

It matters that the Tyree play was part of the game-winning drive to beat an unbeaten team. If it had been theJaguars beating an unbeaten Panthers team, it still would have been a huge deal. It's not as if it happened in the first quarter of a game between garbage teams.

I give #42 a slight edge over #43 (I don't mean Lott and Polamalu) because of the stakes -- having a 19-0 Patriots team...ew. However, Holmes and Harrison get the edge over Tyree, and I constantly flip between which one was the greatest play in NFL history. Harrison's play had the "Did that really happen?" factor. He essentially scored 13 points on that play. The Holmes catch you could see coming. Maybe you didn't expect it to go quite the way it did or maybe you expected the touchdown to come from Ward or Miller, but after Holmes had the 40-yard catch to set us up on the 6-yard-line, who expected anything but 27-23 Steelers? Still, Holmes made a remarkable catch to cap a fantastic drive in which Ben had all kinds of pressure on him (Eli had minimal pressure...he wasn't expected to win), not to mention Ben made a perfect throw over three defenders when a field goal would have at least sent the game into overtime.