Immaculate Reception

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The Immaculate Reception is the nickname given to one of the most famous, controversial, and utterly bizarre plays in the history of American sports. It occurred in an AFC divisional playoff American football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 23, 1972. NFL Films has chosen it as the greatest play of all time. It is a play on the name of the Immaculate Conception in Christianity. However, because of the controversy surrounding this play, it is sometimes referred to as the "immaculate deception" by those who believe it was actually an illegal play.

1 How it happened
2 Controversy
3 Aftermath of the play
4 Resolution?
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] How it happened

The Pittsburgh Steelers trailed the Oakland Raiders 7-6, facing fourth-and-ten on their own 40-yard line with 22 seconds remaining in the game and no time outs. Head coach Chuck Noll called a pass play, 66 Circle Option, intended for receiver Barry Pearson^[1], a rookie who was playing in his first NFL game. Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, unable to find Pearson while avoiding two Raiders defenders, threw the football to the Raiders' 35-yard line, toward fullback John "Frenchy" Fuqua. Raiders safety Jack Tatum reached Fuqua just as the ball did. Tatum's hit knocked Fuqua to the ground. The ball sailed backward several yards, end over end. Steelers running back Franco Harris, after initially blocking on the play, had moved forward in case Bradshaw needed another eligible receiver. He scooped up the sailing ball just before it hit the ground, apparently off the tops of his shoes, and ran the rest of the way downfield to score the touchdown that gave the Steelers a 12-7 lead with five seconds remaining in the game.

[edit] Controversy

The critical question was: Off of whom did the ball bounce in that Fuqua/Tatum collision? If it bounced off Fuqua, and then Harris was the next to touch the ball, the reception was illegal since two offensive players could not touch a pass in succession; the Raiders would gain possession (on fourth down) and a sure win. If the ball bounced off Tatum, or if it bounced off Fuqua and then Tatum, the reception was legal, as a defensive player was the last to touch the ball.

The game officials did not immediately make any signal, and there was no instant replay rule at the time. Referee Fred Swearingen telephoned the NFL's supervisor of officials, Art McNally, who was sitting in the press box, after which he signaled a touchdown. This was the first known use of television replay to confirm a call [1]. Fans immediately rushed the field, and it took fifteen minutes to clear them so that the point-after, or conversion, could be kicked to give the Steelers what turned out to be their final margin of victory, 13-7.

The play is still disputed by those involved, particularly by living personnel from the Raiders and the team's fans, who insist that the Raiders should have won. The surviving videotape and photographs of the play are not conclusive. Tatum has said the ball did not bounce off him.[2] Fuqua has been coy, supposedly saying he knows exactly what happened that day but will never tell. [3] Raiders coach John Madden, currently a sportscaster with NBC television, has said he will never get over it, indicating that he's bothered more by the delay between the end of the play and the final signal of touchdown, than by which player the ball truly hit. [4]

[edit] Aftermath of the play

The week after this playoff victory, the Steelers lost the AFC championship game to the Miami Dolphins, who would then win Super Bowl VII in their landmark undefeated season. The Steelers, however, would reverse four decades of futility and go on to become a dominant force in the NFL for the subsequent decade, winning four Super Bowls with such stars as Bradshaw, Harris, and Lynn Swann and the Steel Curtain defense led by Jack Ham, "Mean" Joe Greene and Mel Blount.

The Immaculate Reception spawned a heated rivalry between the Steelers and Raiders, a rivalry that was at its peak during the 1970's, when both teams were among the best in the league and both were known for their hard-hitting, physical play. The teams met in the playoffs in each of the next four seasons, starting with the Raiders' 33-14 victory in the 1973 divisional playoffs. Pittsburgh would use AFC championship game victories over Oakland (24-13 at Oakland in 1974 and 16-10 at Pittsburgh in 1975) as a springboard to victories in Super Bowl IX and Super Bowl X, before the Raiders gained revenge with a 24-7 victory at home in 1976 before winning Super Bowl XI.

The phrase "Immaculate Reception" is a play on words of the Immaculate Conception, implying that the play was divine or miraculous in nature (see Hail Mary pass for a similar term). It was first used on air by Myron Cope, the Steelers announcer who was reporting on the Steelers' victory. A woman named Sharon Levosky called Cope the night of the game and suggested the name (which was coined by her friend, Michael Ord). Cope used the term on television and the phrase stuck.

For the 1978 NFL season, the rule in question regarding the forward pass was repealed. There is no restriction on any deflections of passes.

Fred Swearingen, the game's referee, was demoted to his former position of field judge (now known as the back judge) in 1975. He was selected to officiate Super Bowl XIII, where he was involved in another controversial call that favored the Steelers. In the fourth quarter with Pittsburgh leading the Dallas Cowboys 21-17, Bradshaw threw up a high pass for Lynn Swann. Swann tripped over Cowboys cornerback Benny Barnes, and the ball fluttered to the turf away from both players. Swearingen, well behind the play, called pass interference on Barnes, giving the Steelers a first down at the Cowboy 18. On the next play, Harris scored on an 18-yard touchdown run to put Pittsburgh ahead 28-17.

After the game, Cowboys coach Tom Landry and quarterback Roger Staubach blasted Swearingen's call. The NFL later sent a letter of apology to the Cowboys, stating that Swearingen's call was incorrect.

[edit] Resolution?

An article on the physics of the Immaculate Reception appeared in the science section of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on October 18, 2004. The article describes the work of John Fetkovich, an emeritus professor of physics at Carnegie Mellon University. Fetkovitch's analysis of the NFL Films tape of the play led him to the conclusion, based the trajectory of the bounced ball and conservation of momentum, that the ball must have bounced off of Tatum, who was running upfield at the time, rather than Fuqua, who was running across and down the field.

An addendum to the article stated that NBC's video of the play, broadcast during the telecast of the 1997 AFC Championship game, clearly showed that the ball had hit Tatum.