Immaculate Reception took place 50 years ago on December 23, 72. And it has attracted NFL fans ever since.
Why is the Immaculate Conception still revered 50 years later?
The same reason people love to discuss the existence of big feet, aliens, ghosts or honest lawyers.
Because there is only enough evidence to prove they existas if that proves they do not.
As for the many existing video footage of the play, none of them are conclusive. And in a world where absolutely nothing happens without being videotaped from multiple angles anymore, plotting this play has done nothing but keep growing every year as technology advances.
What was at stake before the Immaculate Reception during the AFC knockout game on December 23, 1972 at Three Rivers Stadium?
The 1972 season marked the third year after the AFL-NFL the merger, leading the Steelers to move to the newly formed American Football Conference despite not being a member of the American Football League. So this is the third year that the knockout game between the Raiders and Steelers can take place outside the stadium. super bowl.
Missing the knockout stages the previous year, the two teams met in the season opener (September 17), Pittsburgh won, 34–28. In that game, the The Steelers took the lead 17–0 and 27–7 thanks to a blocked return touch and two hasty touches from Terry Bradshaw.. Oakland will hit back with three touchdowns in the fourth half, including a 70-yard touchdown pass from the “Mad Bomber.” Daryle Lamonica ARRIVE Mike Sianibut Pittsburgh won
Both teams will eventually win in their respective divisions. Pittsburgh’s 11–3 record gets them through a game Cleveland Brownswho earned the AFC wildcard spot, and Oakland’s 10–3–1 record knocked out the Kansas City Captain 2½ games.
The Steelers hosted the game. Whoever wins will face Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship next week.
What happened in the game before the Immaculate Reception?
It was a tough, grueling, physical game between the Steelers and assault epitomizes the blood feud between the two franchises in the early 1970s. Every game is as brutal as it is meant to be.
Steelers and Raiders hate each other. So much so that in 1976 it led to a criminal courtroom.
A $2 million dispute stemming from Atkinson’s malice hit in the play at the end of the first half of the 1976 season opener brought Pittsburgh to wide broadcast. Lynn Swann ineffective in the second half with a concussion.
steel trainer chuck noll called Atkinson “a criminal element” and should be expelled from the NFL. Atkinson charged.
After four hours of further consideration, here’s what the jury decided: No slander. No malice. No damage to Atkinson. NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle fined him $1,500 for being a dirty player. Noll was fined $1,000 for criticizing another team’s player.
But that was four years after Holy Communion of the Immaculate Conception. The event itself marks an upcoming wave of tension.
The first half of the match against Immaculate Reception was a 0-0 draw. It was a classic, cold and windy day in Pittsburgh. By the end of the third half, the Steelers were leading 6-0 thanks to two goals.
When the match is 1:17, Raid’s QB Ken Stabler scored on one of the slowest 30-yard QB TD scrambles you’ll ever see.
What used to be immaculate reception?
Behind the Oakland Raiders with a score of 7–6, Pittsburgh Steelworker face the fourth and tenth on their own 40-yard line with 22 seconds remaining and no timeout.
steel midfielder Terry Bradshawunder heavy pressure, threw the ball to the Raiders 35-yard line, where it was intended to run backwards John Fuqua. Just in time for the ball to arrive, Raider’s safety Jack Tatum contacted Fuqua and beat him to the ground. The ball flew backwards, end to end, toward the frozen turf.
Steelers re-run Franco Harris was blocking play, but gradually moved down the court as received, as Bradshaw had to drop his bag out.
As soon as the ball hit the ground, Harris shouted from nowhere and quickly picked it up. Harris ran past two Raiders defenders and used a stiff arm against the Raiders defense and scored a TD goal.
Immaculate Reception GIFs:
From Wikipedia:
“Important question: who did the ball hit in the Fuqua/Tatum collision? If it bounces off Fuqua without touching Tatum, Harris’s reception is illegal. If the ball bounces off only Tatum, or if it bounces off both Fuqua and Tatum (in any order), the ball reception is valid.
The rule appropriately states that if an offensive player touches the pass first, he is the only offensive player eligible to catch the pass. “However, if a [defensive] players touch [the] pass before, or simultaneously with, or after it is touched by only one [offensive] players, then all [offensive] player becomes and remains eligible” to catch the pass.”
So what really happened? Is the Immaculate Conception Reception a legal game?
Depending on who you ask, you will get two completely different answers.
Raiders defender Tatum said the ball did not bounce off of him, neither after the game nor in his memoirs. Steelers’ Fuqua created a cottage industry when he participated in plays, gave talks and made public appearances, where he remained shy but said he knew “exactly what things are.” what happened” and will never tell.
John Madden, the Raiders coach at the time, summed it up best: “No matter how many times I watch the movies about the ‘perfect reception’, I don’t never know for sure what happened.”
Aside from reading through the event’s history and various first-person accounts, how can you get a direct answer? By speaking directly to the two players involved – Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris.
When I asked Bradshaw how the Immaculate Reception has affected his life, he bluntly said no.
“’Immaculate Reception’ didn’t help me; We won a game and were defeated the following week. It is voted a good play every year, but not by much. It won’t change anything that’s already happened.”
“I threw the ball as hard as I could from our 30-yard line to their 35 line, where it made contact and went up in the air. Franco is standing about 45 years old. I threw the ball not hard enough for it to bounce back to Fuqua that far, and since Fuqua was running across the court, the ball would deflect to the right if it Have hit him. That ball must have bounced off Tatum – if that had happened then Tatum’s momentum would have brought the ball back.”
After my conversation with Terry, I was hoping Franco would think more positively about the game. Maybe because I’ve had all these years. And Bradshaw’s affection for the play is like discovering Santa isn’t real.
But Franco is optimistic and positive about what the play means for him.
“It was the springboard to the success we had for the rest of that decade. Before that year, 1972, the Steelers were a laughing stock. I honestly did Are not wanted to play for them – and I went to Penn State, so I should!”
“Before that year, the Steelers had eight consecutive losing seasons. And even before that they weren’t good at all. We won the game of Immaculate Reception, but in the end we beat the Raiders. Sure, we lost to the Dolphins the following week, which won the Super Bowl that year, but for the next 7 years, we made it to the knockouts every year and won four Super Bowls. I think it definitely contributed and who knows how different things would have been if it hadn’t happened.”
“But one thing’s for sure – I definitely caught that ball.”
Immaculate Reception turns 50 years old.
Like any great mystery or unknown, what keeps it alive is the lack of convincing answers. And the same is true of the Immaculate Conception Reception.
Whether it was the supposed conclusion footage of the play recorded by Pittsburgh’s Channel 4 was lost due to “incomplete filing procedures”.
Or all the main videos shot that day from many angles do not show the full, complete play, the mystery of the Immaculate Conception will live forever.
Unless your name is Terry or Franco.
