The Catch (American football)
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The Catch was the winning touchdown reception from Joe Montana to Dwight Clark in the January 10, 1982 NFC Championship American football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. The Catch is widely regarded as one of the most memorable events in NFL history.
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[edit] The play
In a game where the lead shifted back and forth repeatedly, the 49ers took over the ball trailing 27-21 and marched down to the 6-yard line on third down with 58 seconds left on the clock. When Joe Montana took the snap, the play, known as Sprint Right Option, was intended to be a pass to wide receiver Freddie Solomon; earlier in the game, Solomon scored a touchdown on that exact play.[1] However, the Cowboys covered Solomon perfectly. Making matters worse, the pass rush of the Cowboys collapsed the 49ers offensive line. Two of the Cowboys defensive ends Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Larry Bethea, plus linebacker D. D. Lewis chased a backpedalling Montana to the sideline and were certain to send him out of bounds or make a sack. At the last moment, after pump-faking and getting 6-foot 9-inch "Too Tall" Jones to jump up prematurely, Montana threw a high pass to the back of the end zone. 49ers receiver Dwight Clark made a leaping grab with his fingertips from the back of the end zone for the winning touchdown with 51 seconds left in the game. He finished the game with 8 catches for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The play, remembered in 49er lore as "Red Right Tight--Sprint Right Option" had called for both the primary receiver, Solomon, and Clark to line up on the right. Montana was supposed to roll to his right and find Solomon. Clark's pattern called for him to cut left across the end zone, stop, and immediately reverse his path to the right. If Solomon were covered, it would be up to Montana to find Clark. Due to the pressure, Montana's pass was high, but Clark was in position to make his memorable grab.
A photograph of the catch, with Clark at the height of his leap and Everson Walls reaching out to try to block the ball, was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated the following week.
Clark and Montana re-enacted The Catch in observance of the 25th anniversary of the play as part of San Francisco alumni day activities at halftime of the Minnesota game November 5, 2006 at Candlestick Park.
[edit] Reactions
Some people claimed that Montana was trying to throw the ball away, leaving time for a fourth down. Clark disputes that assertion, claiming that it was a backup plan that they practiced many times.[2] Montana confirmed that he could not see the end zone through the defenders, but claims that he knew exactly where Clark would be. The 49ers coach, Bill Walsh, assumed that it was a throw-away play and immediately began planning for the fourth down until he heard the cheers from the crowd.
As for the height of the catch, Montana has said that he didn't feel that he threw the ball very high. However, Clark leapt as high as he could only to get his fingertips on the ball. In the Sports Illustrated article, Montana explained that he never saw The Catch, since he had just been knocked to the ground by Too Tall Jones, but "I saw Dwight's feet touch the ground. I heard the crowd scream." Later, in the locker room, he expressed his amazement at how high Clark had jumped.
One of the best reactions, and maybe one of the least known, was Too Tall Jones saying to Joe Montana after Clark caught the pass "You just beat America's Team," with Montana replying "Well, you can watch the Super Bowl on TV with the rest of America."
[edit] Aftermath and legacy
While The Catch is well known by most NFL fans, many forget that there were still 51 seconds left on the clock after Clark's touchdown, and with Dallas needing only a field goal to win, the game was far from over.
After the ensuing kickoff, Dallas receiver Drew Pearson caught a long pass, but defensive back Eric Wright made a touchdown-saving tackle to keep him from scoring. Today, Wright would have been penalized and possibly fined for the tackle, as it was a horse collar-type tackle. This play was known as "The Grab." Two plays later, quarterback Danny White lost a fumble while being sacked by Lawrence Pillers, and San Francisco’s Jim Stuckey recovered the ball, sealing a victory for the 49ers.
The 49ers won 28-27 and went on to win Super Bowl XVI over the Cincinnati Bengals.
This game was a watershed in the historic fortunes of both the 49ers and the Cowboys. After being a losing team in the 1970s, San Francisco went on to win four Super Bowls in the 1980s, and made the playoffs eight out of the next 10 years. Meanwhile, Dallas, the winningest team in the NFC in the 1970s, never made it back to the Super Bowl in the 1980s, and suffered losing seasons in the last part of that decade.
The Catch was immortalized by two dramatic broadcast play-by-play calls. Vin Scully described the play on CBS Television:
| “ | Montana...looking, looking, throwing in the end zone...Clark caught it! | ” |
Meanwhile, Jack Buck had the call over on CBS Radio:
| “ | Montana lines up at the five...and on third-down-and-three he rolls right, looking to throw...looking to throw...and he throws into the end zone...Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown, San Francisco, by Dwight Clark! | ” |
In 2002, the NFL ran a series of advertisements promoting the playoffs, using famous plays as a uniting theme. Actor Don Cheadle demonstrated the height of Clark's catch by standing on a stepladder in the end zone.
In 2005, a commercial for the Gatorade sports drink, known as "The Winning Formula", portrayed an alternate version of The Catch, in which the ball bounced out of Clark's fingertips. Following the Gatorade logo, the real version was shown with Dwight Clark's completion. This is also done with Derek Jeter's "flip play" going wide of home plate and Michael Jordan's famous buzzer-beater against Cleveland going off the rim.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
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