Friday, April 12, 2013

Greatest Play?

So, in an NFL online poll, DeSean Jackson's walk-off punt return touchdown against the New York Giants of a couple of years ago was voted the "greatest play" of all time. Are you kidding me?!? That's the most ridiculous thing that I've ever heard. Seeing the results of same of these polls, that's saying something. I suppose that the results have more to do with the likely age of the voters and the incredibly short attention span of people in general. If it's not recent, it's forgotten. I could come up with several hundred plays before I land on Jackson's return. Here's a few that were greater and more historically significant:

-Nagurski to Grange touchdown pass in the 1932 Championship playoff.
     -name recognition alone is high but this play and that game changed the NFL and football
-speaking of Nagurksi, any run by the man against the Packers Clarke Hinkle. Now, that's football!
-John Unitas at the end of a game.
-Mike Stratton's "hit heard round the world" on Keith Lincolin in the 1964 AFL Championship
-Chuck Bednarik's hit on Frank Gifford
-Don Hutson. Period.
-John Mackey's run through the Lions defense

Dante Hall and Devin Hester had returns as game changing as Jackson's. The timing of Jackson's adds some juice but it doesn't make it the "greatest of all time." San Francisco 49ers back Garrison Hearst's 96-yard run in overtime against the New York Jets had the same "walk-off" aspect to it. Both are great plays. But, the greatest? No way. These are greater:

-the Immaculate Reception
-the very unfortunate, AND ILLEGAL, Roger Staubach "Hail Mary" touchdown pass to Drew Pearson
-any run by Gale Sayers and Barry Sanders
-the Catch
-Dan Bunz's goal line tackle of Charles Alexander in Super Bowl XVI

Great plays in Super Bowls and championship games make many plays memorable so I'm surprised that the memory challenged voters forgot these recent great plays in Super Bowls:

-David Tyree's helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII
-Mario Manningham's sideline catch in Super Bowl XLVII. Eli Manning's throw was greater than the catch.
-Santonio Holmes TD game-winning touch catch in Super Bowl XLIII
-James Harrison's goal-line to goal-line interception return to end the first half of Super Bowl XLIII

I'd pick all these plays over Jackson's return. I'd also pick nearly every Cris Carter reception. Carter was a pass-catching artist.

As with the "greatest" anything, it's all subjective. And, all in fun. Football is fun.



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