![]() At New Orleans in Week 11, the Falcons tried “Big Ben” at the end of each half - and it worked both times. So Falcons coach Leeman Bennett took advantage of the opportunity to dream up a play called “Big Ben,” named after the clock tower in London (Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t even born yet). ![]() Such a deflection - from one offensive player to another without a defensive player touching the ball in between - would have been illegal then.Īmong several rules changes introduced for the 1978 NFL season - the first with a 16-game schedule - was the freedom for one eligible receiver to tip the ball directly to another. Under a gray December sky and with no stripes on the ball to contrast with Fuqua’s black jersey, video technology of the time could not definitively show whether the ball deflected from Fuqua directly to teammate Harris. The only way that pass could be legal would be if it ricocheted off Oakland defender Jack Tatum, not Pittsburgh running back John Fuqua, before Franco Harris caught it off his shoe tops to complete perhaps the most unlikely scoring play in football history. In fact, that was the main reason for the controversy surrounding the famous “Immaculate Reception” play of 1972. Before 1978, the tactic hadn’t been tried because the rules didn’t allow it. On November 12, 1978, the Atlanta Falcons put the play on the football map when they became the first NFL team to win a game with it. The play was described on Twitter and other media as a “Hail Mary” pass, but “Big Ben” would be more historically accurate. In the most stunning finish of the NFL season, the Packers turned a 20-0 third-quarter deficit into a 27-23 triumph. With players from both teams gathering behind him in the end zone, tight end Richard Rodgers positioned himself in front of the crowd and jumped high to complete a 61-yard scoring play. Since a game cannot end on a foul by the defense, quarterback Rodgers, given a reprieve, launched a high rainbow that traveled 70 yards in the air. The Lions appeared to have the game won, only to have it extended by a facemask penalty as the Ford Field clock struck 0:00. That’s what Green Bay star Aaron Rodgers was hoping for Thursday night in Detroit. A receiver can produce the winning touchdown either one of two ways - by leaping above the crowd to grab the jump ball, or by tipping the pass like a volleyball so that a teammate can catch it. Two or more receivers line up on the same side of the formation, all of them run for the goal line, and the quarterback hopes his pass reaches the end zone. It’s the play football teams try when there’s time on the clock only for one last, desperate heave. ![]()
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