1. David Tyree’s Helmet Catch in Superbowl XLII, 2008
As good as the catch by Odell Beckham Jr. was, it isn’t even the best catch that a receiver even caught from QB Eli Manning. And there’s very little room for argument or debate on this one. Not only did this catch set up the game-winning TD catch for the Giants in Superbowl XLII to finish one of the greatest Superbowl upsets of all-time, but the play has been physically impossible to reproduce in any fashion ever since.
On 3rd-and-5 with the Giants trailing 14-10 to the undefeated New England Patriots in the Superbowl, QB Eli Manning escapes from a sack and chucks the ball down the field right towards David Tyree, who has SS Rodney Harrison – one of the greatest safeties of all-time – draped around him. Tyree somehow jumps as high as he can, reaches all the way up with his hands and pins the ball to his helmet as Harrison tries to rip the ball away from him, but not before the catch is completed for a critical first down.
Perhaps what’s most impressive about this play compared to any other in NFL history is that David Tyree wasn’t even that great of a wide receiver. He made the Pro Bowl once as a special teams tackler. He never once had even 20 receptions in a season. That play is one that very likely can never physically be replicated ever again even in similar circumstances.
The difficulty of the play, combined with the talent level of the player, all in one of the hardest situations to play in in any player’s career, make David Tyree’s Helmet Catch the single greatest catch of all-time.
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