Favorite Football Plays of All Time

[Jason]

It's so hard to pick a favorite football play by any team, but no other play gets me more excited than a big play by the Broncos.

I've got at least 4 in mind, and here they are in chronological order.

1) The touchdown bullet from John Elway to Mark Jackson in the 1986 AFC Championship game (THE DRIVE) that tied the game at 20-20 and sent it into overtime where Denver won the game on a Rich Karlis field goal. "The Drive", alone, is something to admire. You're in the Dog Pound in an AFC Championship game with ferocious winds in your face and you've only got one chance, one drive to go 98 yards downfield just to tie the game and send it into overtime. Elway did it, and it is almost inarguably the best football drive of all time. The bullet, of course, was the icing on the cake.

This is the complete video of "The Drive". The touchdown pass occurs at 7:30











2) The bone-crushing hit by Steve Atwater on "The Nigerian Nightmare" Christian Okoye in the 1990 Season. It was on Monday Night Football in Mile High Stadium. Christian Okoye was one of the most feared backs in the NFL. He was 265 pounds and ran a 4.4 40 yard dash coming out of college. Atwater stepped in and absolutely crushed The Nigerian Nightmare, sending him backwards.











3) John Elway's Helicopter Run in Super Bowl XXXII. In terms of atmosphere in a game, this one has got to be #1. It was 3rd & 6 with the score tied 17-17 in the second half. With every receiver covered, Elway had to scramble, as he's running toward Packer defenders, he takes a quick glance to the sideline at the 1st down marker, sees where he has to go, and dives into the defenders, flipping his way to a first down. The intensity in his eyes as he gets up and points to Shanahan gives me chills every time.













4) Champ Bailey's record setting 100 yard interception of Tom Brady in the end zone during the 2005 AFC Divisional Playoff game. It was nearing the end of the 3rd quarter. Denver was up 10-6 and New England had the ball on a 3rd and goal from the 5, looking for their first touchdown of the game. Instant pressure from Strong Safety Nick Ferguson forced Brady to get rid of it early where Champ came up with the game changing play of the game, intercepting Brady's certain touchdown pass 1 yard deep in the end zone and returning the ball 100 yards to the New England 1. It doesn't get much better than watching one of your all-time favorite football players make such an outstanding play, at such a crucial moment, against one of your most hated teams in the NFL and seeing it live. It's hard to believe this play wasn't even 6 years ago.

[Man in Black]

Cool thread... and I feel what you are saying: Nothing gets me going like an awesome play by the Dolphins. I haven't had many of those lately. I'll have to come up with a few. The fake spike would probably make the list but I'll have to think some on any others.


I remember all of those you mention except for the Champ int... but I'm all for any damage to Tom Beiber.

I was watching the game with that Atwater hit... I got all excited! I loved both of those players. I saw a game where Ronnie Lott hit Okoye so hard it knocked Lott out... Okoye went down too. I looked for the vid but couldn't find it. I saw it again a few months ago on the NFL network... I thought it might have been in Lott's clip of "The NFL's Most Feared Tacklers" but it wasn't. I guess the Atwater one was a better hit as he didn't even go down. But the Lott one was funnier ;D

[Jason]

I wanted to respond to this thread saying, "Inb4Marino'sfakespike!!"
Forgot, though.

That play is freakin' rad, I must say. If I were a Dolphins fan, it would definitely be among my top. It's probably my favorite play by the Dolphins, actually.

My Dad was telling me how excited he was about that Atwater hit. I watched football at a very young age. I may have been watching, but I certainly don't remember it, and if I did see it, it wouldn't have registered to me what a huge hit it was. But that is what Atwater is known for. If you were within reach of him, you were getting popped. He is a great man off the field, as well. One of my all time favorite players.

I searched for that Lott video. Couldn't find it, either.
I'm eager to see it, now. ;D

[Man in Black]

The quality of camera work and videos are not that great from that era... we are spoiled with all the angles and digital clarity now days. Everything is saved for records today on a negligible amount of space. There may be no good shot of that hit left. All I remember is hearing one of Lott's teammates describing the play (either Jets or Raiders - I think Jets).

An good example is that some of the original NASA moon recordings were just disposed of as part of regularly scheduled space saving plans where things are tossed out after a certain amount of years... an act that NASA readily admits is extremely regrettable now.



What makes the Fake Spike so memorable is that it absolutely destroyed the Jet fans. It didn't even work very well on the Jets D as they kept playing and Marino just drilled the ball to Mark Ingram anyway. The play involves a lot of NFL history directly and indirectly: The actual play was designed by Bernie Kosar who was speaking to Dan in the headset. As he made the prior completion to the 8 yard line Kosar told Marino to run the pass play but to make everyone think he would kill the clock. Marino yelled, "Clock! Clock! Clock!" And the rest is history.

I've always thought the Dolphins players looked more surprised than the Jets. And as he had absolutely torched the Jets all day (he was 24 for 30 with 275 yards in the 2nd half alone)... the play was just salt in the wounds as when Marino or Elway got that look in their eyes at the end of a game they WERE going to complete the pass... fake spike or not. Aaron Glenn had perfect coverage and was less than a foot away from Ingram... Dan threw it so hard Glenn never even got started in his break.

But as I said there was a lot of history in that play. Don Shula and Marino of course, but Mark Ingram caught the pass (his 4th TD of the day) and fathered a future Heisman winner. Bernie Kosar called the play, Pete Carroll was the N.Y. coach. Carroll was fired and that began a Jets slide that brought about a crazy turn of events that got Bill Parcells to the Jets and led to Bill Bellicheat to New England as he bolted N.Y. one day after Parcells left him in place as the Jets head coach... where he replaced Pete Carroll... who had replaced Bill Parcells of course.

That darned Marino... causing us to have to live with the Cheatriot Dynasty!!!

[Jason]

I heard about the Kosar involvment, as well. I've spoke with a guy who is a Cincinnati fan, claims to have friends in a band that have met Kosar in the bars they frequent. I told him if I were in their position, out of respect for Kosar, I would NEVER wear an Elway jersey in front of him. Ever.

I love the Bellicheat name. I always liked the Patriots growing up. Mainly sympathy, I guess. ;D
But I started disliking them when Tom Brady became the starter and he started getting big for his britches. Kind of irritating. On top of the Brady hate, in comes the spygate scandal.... I'm not sure when, or if, I'll ever forgive the Patriots for that.. It's a disgrace to football. I was actually extremely pissed about McDaniels being the head coach of Denver. I wanted no part of that cheater team on Denver. Sure enough, word came around that one of his middle men spied on the 49ers playbook during a game in 2010. Bowlen fired him (Thank YOU!!!) and now we have Fox.

[Man in Black]

Well, Fox is a stand up guy whether he wins or loses... there is no debating that. I've never heard a bad thing about him from anyone.


On that same Belicheat coaching connection subject... what's up that assclown Haley in K.C... does he need to have an issue with every single other coach he faces. If they get their ass whipped he bitches about them running up the score, yet he seems to do that anytime he gets the chance. He seems like such a doofus.



I think I've said it before, but I always pulled for the Patriots before Bellicheat. I was a big Bledsoe fan. And Kosar is one of my favorites too... I think it's awesome that he wore a Dolphin uniform for a few years.

[Jason]

I was a big Bledsoe fan, too. It's a shame that everywhere he went, someone took over. Flutie, Brady, Romo..

I rooted for the Patriots up until Brady got big for his britches and the team started acting like weenies. Then the whole spygate thing has sealed my hate for the Pats for years to come.

I was so happy to see Oakland lose, but I'm no Chiefs fan, either. And Haley reminded me of the Harbaugh-Schwartz incident.

[Man in Black]

Yep, Haley seems to hate everyone.