what constitute a great play is often in the eye of the beholder fans of the victims of a
great play bemoaned missed calls by officials they claim some of the nfl's greatest plays
occurred because of misinterpretation of rules unseen interference or some other explanation
of the calamity to their team meanwhile fans of the team benefiting from such plays taunt them
as signs of their team's superiority in players game calling and football skill great plays and
other controversies are magnified during the playoffs when every game is televised to a
national audience and the nfl has generated plenty of both in the playoffs going back
at least here to 1958. here is a subjective list of the top 10 plays in fl playoff history
spoiler alert neither aaron rodgers nor tom brady figure in any of them
10. the hail mary pass many believe the last second long pass to or near the end zone known
as the hail mary to have been so christened on december 28 1975 in a divisional playoff game
the dallas cowboys trailed the minnesota vikings 14-10 they had the ball near midfield with 32
seconds left in the game roger staubach launched a desperation pass 50 yards down field toward drew
pearson pierson collided with a defender while adjusting the ball knocking him to the ground
no flags were thrown the catch gave dallas the win advancing them to the nfc championship game
afterwards stalbeck told reporters it was a hail mary pass the name stuck it wasn't the first time
the name had been applied to a desperate play as far back as the 1920s players at the university
of notre dame used the term georgetown used it in the 1940s newman store back called a play against
michigan when he played for navy a hail mary pass but the 1975 play was in nfl playoffs on the
national stage via television the cowboys went on to beat los angeles in the nfc championship
before losing to pittsburgh in super bowl 10. the desperation past known as the hail mary has been
a fixture of close nfl games ever since number 9. the catch the 1981 nfl championship game played on
january the 10th 1982 featured the san francisco 49ers against the dallas cowboys late in the
fourth quarter the cowboys led 27-21 san francisco got the ball on their own 11 yard line with just
under five minutes to play 49ers quarterback joe montana led the team on a drive which placed them
on the dallas six with 58 seconds to play on the third and four with a possible first down
available if they advance to the dallas too montana found wide receiver dwight clark at
the back of the end zone clark made a leaping twisting catch with his fingertips the niners
had the lead but dallas led 50 seconds to drive for a game-winning field goal the cowboys drove
to midfield before their events sputtered and the 49ers won the game the game-winning play instantly
became known as the catch neither montana nor the 49 as head coach bill walsh saw the catch
as it was made montana was on the ground after being hit and walsh assumed the ball had been
thrown away due to its altitude in the end zone 49ers went on to win the super bowl that year and
three additional super bowls during the decade the cowboys then fell into a period of decline in 2019
nfl films listed the catch second on their list of the 100 greatest nfl plays of all time number
eight allen amich's touchdown in the greatest game ever played often called the greatest game
ever played the 1958 nfl championship game between baltimore colts and the new york giants featured
12 players who were eventually enshrined in the nfl hall of fame among them were frank gilford
sam harth and don maynard from the giants johnny unitas raymond berry and geno marchetti were among
the cults legendary coaches and rivals tom lawdry and vince lombardi ran the new york defense and
offense respectively the colts head coach weeb eubank joined them in the hall the game was
nationally televised by nbc and despite a blackout in the new york area 45 million fans watched it on
television unitas led the colts in a late fourth quarter drive called the first to utilize the
two-minute drill to tie the game with a field goal with just seven seconds left in regulation
when the game went into sudden death over time the giants received the football first they
failed to advance punted and unitas led the colts on an 80 yard drive to the new york one yard line
from there allen amish on a third down play scored the winning touchdown until the 1958 championship
college football was more popular in the united states than its professional counterpart following
the nfl game popularity exploded on the still relatively new medium of television and it's grown
with it ever since 7. the immaculate reception the pittsburgh steelers had a long record of failure
in the nfl when they faced the oakland raiders in an afc divisional playoff game on december
3rd 1972 at that point the steelers had never won a playoff game in the fourth quarter it appeared
that that drought would continue the raiders led 7-6 late in quarter steelers quarterback terry
bradshaw with 30 seconds left in regulation through a deep pass to receiver john fuqua
what happens next remains controversial either the ball hit fookwood's helmets his hands or the hands
of raider's safety john tatum it ricocheted backwards heading toward the ground steelers
running frank o'hara's back caught the ball and ran to the end zone with the winning touchdown
it became known as the immaculate reception raiders fans contended that the ball hit faqua and
tatum never touched it which made harris's catch illegal since a defender had not touched the ball
others claimed harris snatched the ball just as it touched the ground making it an incomplete pass
the steelers won the game though they lost that year's afc championship to the miami dolphins who
went undefeated it began a run of success which saw them win four super bowls within the decade
the immaculate reception fueled a long and bitter rivalry between the steelers and the raiders which
included some of the most physically four games in nfl history number six ernest beiner's fumble
the goal line cost the browns a super bowl appearance as of this writing the cleveland
browns have never appeared in a super bowl one of just four teams to share that dubious distinction
but they have come close never closer than on january the 17th 1988 when they faced the
denver broncos at mile high stadium trading 21 three at halftime the browns led by running back
ernest beiner and quarterback bernie cosa clawed their way back in the third and fourth quarter
after denver scored a late touchdown the browns began another drive reaching the denver eight yard
line on second and five koza handed the ball yet again to biner who ran to his left picked up the
first down and continued toward the end zone he reached the end zone but the ball didn't bronco
defender jeremiah still unblocked hit byner at the 3-yard line castile later admitted that
he knew he couldn't stop buying her and went after the ball he succeeded in knocking it free and
the broncos recovered after forcing cleveland to use their timeouts denver deliberately gave up a
safety that made the score 3833 denver cleveland got the ball back with time for a hail mary from
midfield which failed ernest beiner at 67 yards and a touchdown running the ball that day and
120 yards and another touchdown receiving he is remembered for what entered nfl law as the fumble
to cleveland fans it remains another piece of evidence all their sports teams are cursed
5. bart starr's quarterback sneak to win the ice bowl new year's eve 1967 saw the dallas
cowboys and the green bay packers in a rematch of the preceding season's nfl championship game
it remains the coldest game in nfl history at game time the temperature in frigid green bay was minus
12 degrees it became known as the ice bowl the system meant to keep lambo field surface playing
from freezing failed several players suffered frostbite some players believed the game would
be postponed others considered postponing the game until they learned the forecast had predicted that
the next day would be even colder the game went on though pre-game performance by the wisconsin
lacrosse marching band was cancelled when the musician's lips froze to their mouthpieces
the game was hard fought late in the fourth quarter with dallas leading 1714 green bay
executed a 67-yard drive bringing them to the one yard line actually about a foot from the goal
line with 16 seconds remaining people glancing at the scoreboard could see the time remaining
yard line down score and the temperature minus 20 degrees on the next play packer guard jerry
kramer drove the fearsome cowboy defensive lineman jethro pugh off the line of scrimmage
at quarterback bart starr dove across for the touchdown and to pack a victory it was their
third straight nfl championship number four ben roethlisberger's touchdown pass to santonio holmes
super bowl 43 is remembered for among other things being the last appearance in the television booth
by the late john madden it also featured a 100-yard interception return for the touchdown
by steelers linebacker james harrison despite that play and other heroics with 2 minutes and 37
seconds remaining to play pittsburgh trailed the arizona cardinals 23-20 led by ben roethlisberger
pittsburgh drove 78 yards with 73 of those yards via receptions made by santonio holmes the final
play of the drive was a six-yard completion in the back corner of the end zone when holmes made one
of the most spectacular catches in nfl playoff history some fans even called the game the best
in super bowl history though not many of them are arizona supporters the play gave pittsburgh its
sixth super bowl win making them the first team to reach that level of continued success number
three the ghost to the post on christmas eve 1977 the raiders who then called oakland home
faced the baltimore colts in an afc divisional playoff game the game c sawed in the second half
and late in the fourth quarter oakland trailed the colts by three they got the ball with just under
three minutes left on their own 30-yard line raid quarterback ken stabler needed to get the team
into at least field goal range to force overtime he got them there with a 42-yard completion to
tighten dave casper known to teammates as the ghost a la casper the friendly ghost on a play the
raiders called ghost to the post casper altered his route and made an over-the-head catch of the
high-arching pass which put the raiders in field goal range the raiders tied the game a few plays
later forcing overtime in the second overtime casper caught a 10-yard pass from stabler which
won the game but it would not have been possible if it were not for the athletic catch he made late
in the fourth quarter number two malcolm butler's goal line interception in super bowl 49. super
bowl 49 saw the seattle seahawks winners of the preceding year play in the new england patriots
which had not won a championship for 10 years played on the 1st of february 2015 the game pitted
a seattle defense they called the legion of boom against new england's explosive offense in the end
though was new england's defense which completed the winning play seattle built a 10-point lead
in the third quarter but the patriots scored two touchdowns in the fourth giving them a 28-24 lead
in the game with just two minutes and two seconds remaining the seahawks weren't finished they drove
from their own 20-yard line to the patriot one where they faced seconds and goal with 26 seconds
to play inexplicably to some fans the seahawks called a pass play and malcolm butler intercepted
the ball the play did not end the game a penalty for excessive celebration made the possibility of
a safety on the patriots reel but an encroachment penalty on seattle moved the ball back and the
following brawl led to a personal foul on the seahawks driving them back further and giving tom
brady sufficient room to take a knee and run out the clock 1. narl davis's 106 yard kickoff return
on the first play of the 2015 playoffs on january 9 2016 the nfl playoffs for the 2015 season opened
with the wild card game between kansas city chiefs and the houston texans in
houston on the opening kickoff chief's return specialist and running back nile davis caught
the football six yards deep in his endzone he elected to run it out eleven seconds later he
was in the texans end zone having completed the longest kickoff return in nfl playoff history
it was also the quickest score in playoff history as well the stunned texans never recovered by half
time they trailed 13-0 and the game ended with a score of 3-0 the chiefs logged four interceptions
during the rout it was the first time the texans had failed to score in a game on their home field
in the end the only point the chiefs needed for their first playoff victory in 26 years came on
the opening kickoff by the way davis kickoff return was not the longest of his career in
his rookie season 2013 he returned to kick off 108 yards for a touchdown against the denver broncos
tying the second longest in nfl history the record is 109 yards currently held by three players