history...that sounds like a good way to start a bar fight, but it is part of our fan DNA.
Over the last 80 years, we have been blessed with matchups on the football field that have transcended sport. They are iconic moments of American history and true "where were you when..." moments. Many of those moments came when it mattered most, when the game was on the line.
Plays like "The Catch" and "The Fumble" are ingrained in our memories, even if we weren't there to witness them.
Take a step back in history as we break down the best of the best—the 50 greatest finishes in NFL history.
Back beforeTom Bradywas Tom Brady , he had to prove that he was the quarterback to lead the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl.
Brady cemented his status in the 2002 divisional playoff game versus the Oakland Raiders that would forever be known as the "Tuck Rule Game."
You want to talk about clutch finishes?
Matt Bryant of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers nails a 62-yard field goal—as time expires—to win the game.
It doesn't get much better than this for kickers.
Eighty yards. Overtime.Brett Favre.
Greatness.
It took Favre just one play in overtime to find Greg Jennings for the game-winning score. The coolness of Favre and the intestinal fortitude to go deep early on gives this play major bonus points.
47. Matthew Stafford Tells Trainers to "Get the F@!* Off"
Two great things about this video:
1)Matthew Staffordtelling the Detroit Lion trainers to "get the f@!* off".
2) ABrady Quinnsighting.
At the 3:47 mark, you will see Matthew Stafford take one of the hardest hits on a quarterback in a long, long time. Then you'll see him get up, shake off the dust and make history.
The moral of the story is that Stafford is tougher than you. And me. And all of us.
46. David Garrard's Hail Mary Beats Houston Texans
I know what you're thinking when the offense lines up at midfield with no time remaining and the game tied: "The Hail Mary Never Works!"
But sometimes it does.
The Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans had to both think they were headed for overtime, until Glover Quin did his best volleyballer impersonation and hit the ball right into the waiting hands of Mike Thomas.
Oops.
Heading into the 2009 season opener, the New England Patriots had beaten the Buffalo Bills 16 of 17 times—needless to say, no one expected Buffalo to actually win the game.
Good thing, too, because they didn't.
The Bills squandered an 11-point lead with just over five minutes to play, and then, Tom Brady took over.
The Patriots scored twice in the final five minutes, and Brady's Patriots rolled to another playoff season.
Down one with a minute and some change left, Bill Parcells and the Dallas Cowboys are faced with the decision to kick a game-tying extra point or go for two and take the game from Mike Holmgren and the Seattle Seahawks.
Parcells decides to kick, but starting quarterback and holderTony Romofumbles the snap. Game over.
In hindsight, going for two may have been the right call.
Side note: It's really loud in Seattle.
In what would later be called "the most exciting game in pro football history" by San Diego Charger head coach Don Coryell, the epic 1982 matchup between the Miami Dolphins and the Chargers is one of the greatest all time slug outs between NFL teams.
Tied at 38-all after four quarters, with both teams exhausted and dehydrated in the Miami heat, overtime loomed. And it would be no short overtime.
After 13 minutes and 52 seconds in the fifth quarter, San Diego finally kicked the game winning field goal.
I am friends with a good number of New England Patriot fans, and mentioning this game is a sure-fire way to piss them off.
The undefeated New England Patriots were supposed to handle the New York Giants without issue. Instead they met a defense fast enough and smart enough to keep up with their unstoppable offense. They also met an offense that knew how to take advantage of miraculous plays and great field position.
This play may rank higher in the minds of some, but the actual finish to the game was better, asEli Manningdrove the ball downfield to score the go-ahead points with 35 seconds left in the game.
If we were talking about the most ridiculous catches ever, this would top the list.
Antonio Freeman catches a late-game bomb from Brett Favre, after first dropping the ball and falling to the ground. It's truly a "you have to see it to believe it" moment.
The booth of Dennis Miller, Al Michaels and Dan Fouts is legendary in its own right.
The clip opens with announcers discussing what the Denver Broncos must do to get kicker Matt Prater in position to kick a game-winning field goal.
Kyle Orton says take your field goal and shove it.
Orton, with 28 seconds left on the clock, hits wide receiver Brandon Stokely for an 87-yard touchdown, ending the game before the Cincinnati Bengals knew what hit them. The assist should go to the Cincinnati Bengals' secondary for failing to cover Stokely and for tipping the ball up in the air.
Defensive Back Coaching 101: BAT THE BALL DOWN!
39. Brett Favre Rips out the Hearts of San Francisco Fans, Again
As if San Francisco 49er fans needed another excuse to hate Brett Favre...
With 4:30 left in the game, the San Francisco 49ers thought they had a win, as they took control of the game with a Vernon Davis touchdown catch, courtesy of Shaun Hill.
And then Favre took the field.
The 39-year-old quarterback rifled a 32-yard touchdown to Greg Lewis in the back of the end zone, breaking hearts across the Bay Area.
The best NFL rivalry of our generation just might be the New England Patriots versus the Indianapolis Colts. Their matchup in the 2006 AFC Championship game helped build what is now an annual rivalry.
The Colts trailed 21-3 in the first half and 34-31 late, and then,Peyton Manningtook over.
The real hero of the game may have been cornerback Marlin Jackson, who intercepted Tom Brady with 17 seconds left in the game, sealing the deal for the Colts.
Great NFL games always have a catchy nickname. The Catch. The Drive. The Fumble.
How about the Metropolitan Miracle? I'm always a fan of alliteration, and hey, it works.
What also worked was Ahmad Rashad scoring two fourth-quarter quarterback touchdowns as the Minnesota Vikings came back from a 23-9 deficit to beat the Cleveland Browns in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.
It was Rashad's 48-yard touchdown catch with XX seconds left that won the game, but the catch beforehand set it all up, as a hook-and-lateral took the Vikings from their own 20-yard line to the Browns' 48 in one play.
You can't blame your quarterback for having the danglies to say something like this—much less against his former team.
Matt Hasselbeck's danglies were big this day, as he guaranteed the Seattle Seahawks would defeat the Green Bay Packers in overtime once they won the coin toss.
Until they didn't.
Hasselbeck did take the ball but promptly gave it to cornerback Al Harris, who took the interception to the house and gave Green Bay a key playoff win.
Ken Stabler's 42-yard touchdown pass to Dave "The Ghost" Casper has become the stuff of NFL legend by now. For those who haven't caught an NFL Films episode featuring this play, it unfolded as follows.
The Baltimore Colts led the Oakland Raiders, coached by John Madden, 31-28 with just over two minutes to go. The Raiders got the ball back after a Baltimore score, and Stabler took over, after uttering an infamous NFL game quote, "the fans are sure getting their money's worth today."
They would indeed, as offensive coordinator Tom Flores would tell Stabler to "check the wide receivers but take a peek at the Ghost to the post,"; the rest is history.
Stabler would hit Casper streaking to the post on one of the most incredible catches in NFL history to win the game.
The coldest game in NFL history also happens to be one of the best, as the 1967 NFL Championship Game would come down to the fourth quarter.
With game-time temperature around −15°F / −26°C, with a wind chill of −48°F / −44°C, the game was brutally cold and hard-fought by both the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys.
After a back-and-forth game, the Packers took over possession with 4:50 left in the game, eventually leading his Packers to the 1-yard line. Two straight attempts to run the ball in were stuffed by Dallas.
On third down from the 1-yard line, Starr would call Brown right 31 Wedge , in essence a fake-handoff quarterback sneak—which worked to perfection.
Green Bay would win the game 21-17.
Trailing 14-12 with less than a minute remaining in the game, the Cleveland Browns had the ball on the Oakland Raiders 13-yard line, good for a potential game-winning field goal.
Browns quarterback Brian Sipe called a time out and conferred with head coach Sam Rutigliano, who called a pass play, "Red Right 88" and instructed Sipe to "throw it into Lake Erie" if he had no receivers open. No one checked to see if Sipe actually knew where Lake Erie was.
Sipe saw something no one else has in the 31 years since and chose to force a pass to tight end Ozzie Newsome. The pass was intercepted in the end zone by Raiders defensive back Mike Davis, putting an end to the Browns' season.
A tough fought game that went down to the final play, the 1996 AFC Championship Game goes down as one of the greatest of all time. The finish was pretty damn good too.
With 1:34 left in the game, Pittsburgh Steeler running back Bam Morris would score the go-ahead points on a one-yard touchdown run. The Indianapolis Colts took the ensuing kickoff and drove down to the Steeler's 29-yard line with just five seconds left.
Jim Harbaugh nearly turned the ball over when defensive back Chris Hope dropped a wide open interception, giving the Colts time for one last play.
Harbaugh attempted a Hail Mary pass with the ball momentarily resting against Colts Aaron Bailey's chest before it hit the turf, ending the game.
In a game perhaps better known for Janet Jackson's nipple, there was actually good football played—most of it in the second half.
The New England Patriots would head to the locker room at halftime with a 14-10 lead over the Carolina Panthers, as the two teams exploded offensively late in the second quarter. The third and fourth quarter would be the same.
New England and Carolina traded touchdowns until late in the fourth, when Carolina tied the game 29-29, with 1:08 to play in regulation.
The Panthers' good fortune would end when kicker John Kasay's kickoff went out of bounds, giving New England the ball at the 40-yard line. Two big receptions by Troy Brown and one pass interference call later, Tom Brady had his team in field goal range with 1:04 left in the game.
Adam Vinatieri would hit an easy 41-yard field goal to give the Patriots their second Super Bowl win.
Trailing 24-10 when the fourth quarter began, the Dallas Cowboys would score 20 points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and defeat the Atlanta Falcons, crushing the Falcons' season and the hopes of their fanbase.
During the 1983 season, Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers looked unbeatable, but someone forgot to tell the Washington Redskins.
With a 21-0 lead to begin the fourth quarter, the Redskins seemed to slow down, allowing Montana to lead the 49ers on three scoring drives in the fourth—tying the game at 21 with 7:08 left in the game.
What happened next is legendary in Washington.
The Redskins would go on a 13-play, 78-yard drive that took 6:12 off the clock and set up a 25-yard field goal with 40 seconds left in the game.
Any 49er fans will tell you the drive should have ended on 2nd-and-10 on the San Francisco 45-yard line, when Joe Theismann threw a deep ball for Art Monk, and Eric Wright was (unjustly) called for pass interference at the 18-yard line.
The drive was kept alive again by a (stupid) penalty when Ronnie Lott was called for holding away from the play on 3rd-and-five from the 49ers' 13-yard line.
One of the great rivalries in the history of the NFL is the one between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets and their sparring for the AFC East title.
In the late 2000s, one game between these two sparked what may be the greatest Monday night game ever.
At the end of the third quarter with the score 30–7 in Miami's favor, Jets broadcaster Howard David announced, "And with a whole quarter to go, this game is over."
But Howard was wrong.
The Jets would rally in the fourth quarter, scoring 23 unanswered points to tie the game at 30 apiece. The Dolphins would counter with a long touchdown pass from Jay Fiedler, but New York would not stay down.
The Jets drove down the field and tied the game when tackle Jumbo Elliott caught the go-ahead points. New York would take the ball in overtime and score on a field goal, completing the improbably comeback.
One yard. Three feet. 36 inches.
That's all that separated wide receiver Kevin Dyson from the end zone and a Super Bowl championship for the Tennessee Titans. It's those three feet that made linebacker Mike Jones a household name and propelled the St. Louis Rams to the "Greatest Show on Turf."
Down 23-16 with 1:48 and the ball on their own 12-yard line, the Titans started a drive that would take them all the way to the Rams' one.
With no timeouts remaining and the ball on the Rams' 10-yard line, the Titans planned to use tight end Frank Wycheck as a decoy, having him run straight up the field on the right side, to lure Jones away from Dyson in the middle of the field.
Jones didn't bite for long, playing perfect assignment football, as he stopped Dyson just short of the end zone.
The Pittsburgh Steelers led the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 when the fourth quarter began, but the game was just getting started for Pittsburgh. The Steelers would score twice again, running the score up to 35-17.
Players on the Pittsburgh sideline began to celebrate, but the Cowboys weren't done yet.
On their next drive, Dallas drove 89 yards in eight plays before successfully converting an onside kick. Suddenly, it was 35-24, and Dallas had the ball.
Roger Staubach would execute another scoring drive, closing the gap to 35-31 on a 52 yards in nine plays drive.
The Cowboys' final onside kick attempt would fail, and Pittsburgh could finally celebrate their Super Bowl win.
I would argue that the only thing Freddie Mitchell did in his career was this one play.
Down 17-14 with under two minutes to play and no timeouts,Donovan McNabbneeded to do something amazing. He did. The series, and the catch, are now legendary.
On 4th-and-26 to go, McNabb dropped back and fired a rifle shot to midfield, hitting a streaking Mitchell at the 50-yard line. A gain of 28 yards with 1:06 left in the game and no timeouts.
Philadelphia would go on to kick a game-winning field goal in overtime to win the game and the NFC Championship game.
With 2:37 left in the game and two timeouts remaining, the Pittsburgh Steelers trailed the Arizona Cardinals 23-20.
The drive did not start well, as a holding penalty on first down moved the Steelers back 10 yards. After a 40-yard completion to wide receiver Santonio Holmes, quarterbackBen Roethlisbergerhad the Steelers in scoring position.
He would find Holmes again in the corner of the end zone, connecting on one of the better catches in NFL history.
The game was not over, though, asKurt Warnerled the Cardinals to the Steeler 44-yard line with one last shot at the end zone.
LaMarr Woodley ended any chance of a Hail Mary when he sacked Warner and caused a fumble with five seconds left in the game.
Any time you get inclement weather, hated rivals and ex-convicts involved—good things will happen. That's what happened when the New England Patriots hosted the Miami Dolphins in December of 1982.
Heavy rains had soaked the Astroturf surface at New England's Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in the night before the game, which quickly froze as temperatures dropped over night. If that were not bad enough, a heavy snowstorm blew in before game time. Ice plus snow storm equals good times.
Due to an emergency ground rule, officials could call time out to have the field plowed to clear yard markers. This would come in handy as the Patriots coach Ron Meyer ordered snowplow operator Mark Henderson, a convicted burglar on work release, to clear a spot on the field specifically for placekicker John Smith.
Henderson's plow followed the yard marker until midfield, when the plow veered left, directly in front of the goal post, giving Smith a clean spot from which to kick.
The Patriots would win 3-0.
Losing five games in a row as a head coach in the NFL has to be tough. It's a pressure most of us will never know. Thankfully, we can still make fun of the coaches when they lose it.
Like Denny Green.
After losing a 20-point lead over the Chicago Bears in less than 20 minutes, and generally looking soft on the field, Denny Green gave one of the more memorable postgame press conferences ever.
What's lost in the moment is that the Bears came back from 20 points down to win the game, outscoring the Cardinals 24-3 in the second half.
The win would spark the Bears' Super Bowl run in 2006, where they would eventually lose to the Indianapolis Colts.
On the first play from scrimmage to start overtime versus the New York Jets, San Francisco 49er running back Garrison Hearst decided to end the game himself.
Hearst took the opening handoff and raced 96 yards, through a maze of Jet defenders, all the way to the end zone.
Game over.
With a 17-12 lead late in the fourth quarter, the New York Giants just had to run out the clock, and they would beat their rival, the Philadelphia Eagles.
After generalbitching in the huddleabout who would get the ball, Giants' quarterback Joe Pisarcik would do as his coaches told him and hand the ball to running back Larry Csonka, who had said moments before to not give him the ball.
Oops.
Csonka and Pisarcik screwed up the exchange, and Herm Edwards was there to scoop up the ball and run it in for the go-ahead points.
You don't see many walk-off punt returns in the NFL. DeSean Jackson is working to change that.
The New York Giants led 31-10 with seven minutes to play—and thenMichael Vicktook over. Vick led the Eagles on three scoring drives, the final one a Jeremy Maclin touchdown to tie the game at 31 with just over a minute remaining.
After holding the Giants to a 3-and-out on the final drive, the Eagles sent Jackson back to field a punt that everyone thought was going out of bounds. Until it didn't.
Jackson, surprised himself, fumbled the line-drive punt, dusted it off and raced up field for a 65-yard, game-winning score.
The New York Giants had a comfortable 28-14 lead at halftime and an even more comfortable 38-14 lead in the third quarter. The San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Jeff Garcia had little hope of a second-half comeback. Or at least we all thought so.
Doing his best Joe Montana impersonation, Garcia would lead the 49ers to 25 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters, putting the 49ers in the drivers seat.
This game featured almost as many trash talking interruptions, penalties and ejections as it did points. It's a must-watch if you can find it online.
San Francisco would go on to win the game 39-38 in what would be the last meaningful win in San Francisco since the
When he was nothing more than a backup quarterback, Roger Staubach started etching his name in the history of the NFL by leading a 17-point rally against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC playoffs.
The year was 1972, and the Cowboys trailed the 49ers 28-13 in the fourth quarter. Staubach was not deterred, taking the reigns and guiding Dallas to a touchdown with less than two minutes remaining in the game, with a 20-yard touchdown to Billy Parks.
Dallas' Mel Renfro recovered the ensuing onside kick, and Ron Sellers scored the winning touchdown on a 10-yard reception from Staubach with 52 seconds left.
No one tells this story better thanSteve Svekis of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
"It was a play that backup quarterback Bernie Kosar had brought to the team earlier in the year.
Trailing 24-21 in Giants Stadium with less than 30 seconds left, Kosar and coach Don Shula decided the time was right to attempt some chicanery.
After a completion to the Jets' 8, Dan Marino hurried the troops to the line of scrimmage. Kosar talked into the quarterback's headset, advising him to motion as if he was going to spike the ball to stop the clock. Marino yelled, "Clock! Clock! Clock!" to sell the ruse.
Marino pulled the act off to perfection, and as the ball was snapped, Mark Ingram ran down the field with Jets' cornerback Aaron Glenn trailing him. Marino fired a bullet to the front right corner of the end zone.
Ingram had pulled in his fourth touchdown pass of the day, and the Dolphins (8-4) sank the Jets to 6-6. The Jets also lost their next four games."
Yep, that about says it all.
Three seconds on the clock, down 30-27, Steve Young findsTerrell Owenson a post route to the end zone, between three Green Bay Packer defenders. History is made.
History should show that the Packers had knocked the 49ers out of the playoffs three straight years. It should also show that Jerry Rice probably fumbled the play before this.
The entire fourth quarter of this game is amazing, as is the talent on both sides of the ball.
It's a must-see for football fans.
Which quarterback guided the Baltimore Ravens to one of the best comebacks in NFL history? Anthony Wright.
Who?
Anthony Wright. Seriously. That's who the quarterback was.
In just his second start of the season, Wright led a crazy comeback against the Seattle Seahawks—who had taken a 41-24 lead with seven minutes remaining.
Wright blew up with four touchdown throws and 319 passing yards in a 44-41 overtime win that no one, and I mean no one, saw coming.
The Holy Roller not only changed the 1978 game between the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers, it changed the NFL.
With 10 seconds left in the game, the Raiders had the ball at the Chargers' 14-yard line, down 20-14.
Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler took the snap was nearly sacked by Chargers linebacker Woodrow Lowe—but instead of being sacked, Stabler "fumbled" the ball forward, rolling it towards the San Diego goal line.
Running back Pete Banaszak "tried" to recover the ball on the 12-yard line but could not get his balance and pitched the ball with both hands closer to the goal line.
This led to Raider tight end Dave Casper batting and kicking the ball into the end zone, where he eventually fell on it for the game-tying touchdown as time ran out.
An Errol Mann extra point gave the Raiders a 21-20 win.
The legend of Tom Brady is born.
With the New England Patriots making it to what many considered an improbable Super Bowl, no one thought they would actually beat the high-powered St. Louis Rams.
The Patriots impressed early, with a 17-3 lead as the fourth quarter started, but Kurt Warner was just getting warmed up.
Warner took the Rams on a 14-point, fourth-quarter roller coaster, tying the game 17–17 with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter.
Brady, the no-name kid from Michigan, was expected to play for overtime. Instead he opened the drive with three straight completions to running back J.R. Redmond, which moved the ball to their 41-yard line with 33 seconds left.
Two plays later, Brady hit Troy Brown for 23 yards, then Jermaine Wiggins for six more, putting the ball on the Rams' 30-yard line.
That was all it took for kicker Adam Vinatieri to trot out and knock through a field goal to clinch the Patriots first Super Bowl win.
All I have to say is "Scott Norwood" and every football fan over the age of 25 knows what I'm talking about.
Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills trailed 20-19 when they took the ball at their own 10-yard line with 2:16 remaining in the fourth quarter. Kelly would push the ball downfield with timely runs and short passes, eventually settling at the 29-yard line with eight seconds left. The rest is painful history.
The Buffalo Bills were the NFL's best team during the 1990 season, but they would lose the Super Bowl when their last-second field goal attempt went wide right.
10. 2003 Indianapolis Colts vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tony Dungy's return to Tampa Bay as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts was one of the most anticipated games of the 2003 season. It would live up to expectations.
Tampa Bay dominated early, entering halftime leading 21–0 and thoroughly frustrating Peyton Manning. Manning would make mistakes early and often, with an interception by Ronde Barber returned 29 yards for a touchdown, which put the Buccaneers up 35–14.
Manning would rally, with the help of his special teams units, scoring two touchdowns to cut the lead to 35-28 late in the game.
The Buccaneers were forced to punt with 1:48 to go, which as we all know now is too much time when Peyton Manning is on the other sideline.
Manning would answer, leading the Colts on a 87-yard touchdown drive to tie the score 35–35 with 0:35 remaining.
Kicker Mike Vanderjagt would close things out with an overtime field goal, giving Indianapolis a 38-35 win.
It's called the "Greatest Game Ever Played" for a reason—this was the first game in NFL history to go into "sudden death" overtime. It helps that it was for the league championship.
The Baltimore Colts and New York Giants faced off for 60 minutes and a 17-all tie before heading to overtime.The Giants received the kickoff, but struggled and turned the ball over on a three-and-out series.
Colts' receiver John Ameche and quarterback Johnny Unitas connected early and often, pushing the ball 80 yards down field as Unitas called his own plays in the huddle.
Ameche's one-yard run put the Colts ahead 23-17 and gave them the victory.
Please allow me a little personal back story, something you rarely see here.
In December of 2003, my oldest brother Mike was admitted to the ICU at a local trauma center after dying several times on an emergency room table. My family and I spent weeks in the waiting room—which for anyone who has even spent an hour at can tell you is miserable and depressing.
Once Mike started to turn the corner, and we felt he was in the clear, this game between the New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars is the first "good" thing I can remember about that December. We laughed, for what seemed like hours, at the expense of the Saints—who were at that time the laughing stock of the NFL.
So, there's the one personal story you'll probably ever get from me, but it really sums up why I love this clip.
The Denver Broncos jumped to a 21–3 halftime lead in the 1988 AFC Championship Game versus the Cleveland Browns, but the score would quickly change as Cleveland rallied.
Bernie Kosar would win the hearts of Browns' fans forever as he led the team back, closing the score at 31-31 in the middle of the fourth quarter. With four minutes left in the game, John Elway had pulled his Broncos ahead 38-31, but Cleveland had the ball.
Kosar would get the Browns to the eight-yard line with 1:12 left. Browns running back Earnest Byner took a handoff and appeared to have a clear shot at the game-tying touchdown but was stripped of the ball by Jeremiah Castille. The Broncos would recover the ball and end the Browns' hopes of making a Super Bowl.
Hey, let's pile on the Cleveland Browns, shall we?
If "The Fumble" wasn't bad enough, there is "The Drive". I bet John Elway is afraid to show his face in Cleveland to this day.
The drive, asshown below, was picture perfect execution by Elway.
1. 1st-and-10, Denver 2-yard line. Sammy Winder five-yard pass from Elway.
2. 2nd-and-five, Denver 7-yard line. Winder three-yard run.
3. 3rd-and-2, Denver 10-yard line. Winder two-yard run.
4. 1st-and-10, Denver 12-yard line. Winder three-yard run.
5. 2nd-and-7, Denver 15-yard line. Elway 11-yard run.
6. 1st-and-10, Denver 26-yard line. Steve Sewell 22-yard pass from Elway.
7. 1st-and-10, Denver 48-yard line. Steve Watson 12-yard pass from Elway.
8. 1st-and-10, Cleveland 40-yard line (1:59 remaining). Incomplete pass by Elway, intended for Vance Johnson.
9. 2nd-and-10, Cleveland 40-yard line (1:52 remaining). Dave Puzzuoli sack of Elway, eight-yard loss.
10. 3rd-and-18, Cleveland 48-yard line (1:47 remaining). Mark Jackson 20-yard pass from Elway.
11. 1st-and-10, Cleveland 28-yard line (1:19 remaining). Incomplete pass by Elway, intended for Watson.
12. 2nd-and-10, Cleveland 28-yard line (1:10 remaining). Steve Sewell 14-yard pass from Elway.
13. 1st-and-10, Cleveland 14-yard line (:57 remaining). Incomplete pass by Elway, intended for Watson.
14. 2nd-and-10, Cleveland 14-yard line (:42 remaining). John Elway nine-yard run (scramble).
15. 3rd-and-1, Cleveland 5-yard line (:39 remaining). Mark Jackson five-yard pass from Elway for the touchdown. Rich Karlis then adds the extra point to tie the game.
Not to be outdone, Joe Montana had a drive of his own.
The Cincinnati Bengals held a 16-13 lead with 3:20 left in the game after a field goal broke the tie.
The 49ers returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 15-yard line, but an illegal block penalty on the play pushed the ball back half the distance to the goal line to the eight-yard line.
With 92 yards to go, and just 3:10 on the clock, Joe Montana took over.
With famous coolness, uttering lines like, "Hey, isn't that John Candy?," in the huddle, Montana pushed the 49ers down the field with amazing accuracy and moxie.
With 39 seconds left in the game, Montana finished the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor, giving the 49ers the lead for good.
Was it a forward lateral, or not? That question remains almost 12 years later.
The classic showdown between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans in the 2000 NFL playoffs is now considered one of the greatest games in the history of the game, with an ending that has even experts confused.
After a 41-yard field goal put Buffalo in the lead, 16-15, the Titans were ready to take the ensuing kickoff, with just 16 seconds left in the game.
Lorenzo Neal fielded the squib kick and handed the ball off to Frank Wycheck, who threw a lateral across the field to Kevin Dyson, who then ran down the sidelines for a 75-yard touchdown.
With a name like "The Comeback," you have to figure the game will rank pretty high on the list. It does.
The Houston Oilers led the Buffalo Bills 28-3 at halftime of the AFC playoff game—a rematch of the Oilers' earlier season win over Buffalo.
Frank Reich would have none of it, as he led the Bills to a 28-point third quarter, followed by a seven-point showing to tie the game at 38 in the fourth quarter.
Buffalo, a team of destiny at this point, would win in overtime, 41-38.
The comeback is the largest in NFL playoff history
As part of a game in which neither team could hold the lead, Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers took over the ball at their own 11-yard line trailing the Dallas Cowboys 27-21.
With 89 yards to go, Montana's "Joe Cool" legacy would be built. San Francisco moved down to the Dallas 6-yard line, faced 3rd-and-three with 58 seconds left on the clock. It was do-or-die time.
Montana, in what is now perhaps the most famous play in NFL history, rolled right—and then rolled more—and finally faded away while throwing a high pass that many believed was headed to the stands...until Dwight Clark rose from out of nowhere to secure the ball, and the win, for the 49ers.
Chosen as the greatest and most controversial play of all time by NFL Films—The Immaculate Reception is one of the greatest moments in sporting history.
Trailing the Oakland Raiders 7-6, and facing 4th-and-10 on their own 40-yard line with 22 seconds left in the game and no timeouts, Pittsburgh Steeler head coach Chuck Noll called a pass play—66 Circle Option, intended for rookie wide receiver Barry Pearson.
What happened next is the biggest controversy in NFL history. Who touched the ball first? Did the ball hit the ground?
Truth is—no one knows.
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