Given the effect that it had on certain businesses, in a certain town, sorta' wedged between the borders of California, Arizona, and Utah, I'd say "bookslayer" might be apt.

Losing the spread wagers was bad enough, but the moneyline beating had to make things really painful.....

Someone called it The Great Escape on another thread.

The Heave might also be good, but that doesn't really reflect the two greatest aspects of the play: the broken tackle or the amazing catch.

I favor The Great Escape.

Easterbrook is trying to call it The Play, which is not cool.

My favorite choice is another one that somebody already proposed in a different thread, namely "The Perfect Catch", as in the perfect catch to end the perfect season.

How about Corporeal Luck

Re 4: I agree, "The Play" is not cool, especially because (as I said in another thread), that term should forever belong to the ending of the Cal-Stanford game.

Heh, The Perfect Catch is...will I get run off the site on a rail if I call it "catchy?"

And yeah, that's why "The Play" is off limits. There's some history you don't touch.

I like The Great Escape, but some play on the word helmet would be cool too.

Helmet Cool.
(Think German chancellors.)

Simply the Play doesn't work for me either, but the Broken Play I could live with.

How about "The Immaculate Helmet"? Actually, nevermind...

Re: 12

I just lol'd.

I am forever going to refer to it as "The Immaculate Helmet".

I want to know what Eli saw as he was launching the ball. Many seconds had passed before the ball was thrown and a long also passed while the ball was in the air. Where were the receives and the secondary? You can't tell from any of the angles shown in TV.

I don't remember which poster it is, but whoever you are, we don't need to hear about how inaccurate "catching the ball at the highest point" is. We all know it should be "catching the ball at the highest point possible" and we all accept that. :-p

The Flee to Tyree is pretty good (it's got the alliteration going), but it's not generic enough - "The Catch", "The Immaculate Reception", "The Music City Miracle", "4th and 26", "The River City Relay", "The Tackle" are all generic names - nobody's names are mentioned in any of them, no teams are mentioned in any of them, etc.

So "The Great Escape" fits better for me.

Obviously, football's going to run out of names like that, but hey, not there yet.

Someone needs to kick Gregg Easterbrook's butt for suggesting "The Play." That's a terrible name - it tells you absolutely nothing.

excellent break-down of the play, and kudos for giving a section to a referee for doing his job well.
This play is still so amazing and improbable (if that's the correct word) that I just can't be upset.

Now think of a good name before Best Damn Sports Show butchers it! I'm helping support The Great Escape.

Great study of a great catch. The greatest catch in SB history?
.....Hmmmmm....
I put it 2nd behind Swann's sideline catch over the defender vs the Cowboys. I'm still not sure how, but Swann seemed to change direction in mid-air, leaving the field of play in bounds, landing in bounds, but being out of bounds, and over the head of the defender at the height of the jump.

Tyree defied Harrison, no mean feat, but Swann defied Newton.
and yes, I am a Steeler fan.

9: What about "Off the Helmizzle"?

#15: The reason "catching the ball at its highest point" sounds stupid is because it's actually "catching the ball at the highest point" - as in, the highest point of your jump.

Somehow that phrase gets botched all the time. I have no idea why. "At its highest point" makes no sense. Why would you care about getting the ball at its highest point? Its highest point could've been thirty yards away.

Catching the ball at the highest point of your jump, however, is true in virtually every sport with a jump catch (soccer, rugby, basketball) because then you're not wasting any of your leaping ability.

How about "Catch-XLII"?

5:

How about "The Imperfect Catch?" It captures the ending of the perfect season, and, of course, that catch was pretty "imperfect" from a fundamental standpoint. Not that that's stopped me from watching it about sixty times...

Another vote for The Great Escape.

And to think, if only Rodney Harrison had taken something to enhance his strength, Tyree wouldn't have held on.

Some of those names are nice, but I would really, really appreciate it if people would refer to the whole series as "The Drive". Please?

The Catch and Release... er, I mean Release and Catch.

That doesn't quite work...

Given what it did to the Pats, and given what Harrison almost did to Tyree, I kinda like The Backbreaker.

Although, admittedly, it leaves out the Manning part of the equation.

I feel that the great moment from the M*A*S*H movie cannot be overlooked, re Rich Seubert: "Sixty-nine is divine! Hey hey, ho ho!"

I gotta say- "Catch 42" is pretty good.

Also heard on WFAN (and i can't take credit for it): The Glendale Grab.

First choice - The Great Escape, with apologies to Steve McQueen.

Second choice - Catch 42.

"Catch 42"

Simplest is always best.

I've been calling it "sweet zombie jesus, how did that happen".

> Second choice - Catch 42

The play went for 32 yards, right?

Oh, Super Bowl XLII (42), I get it. Duh.

Glenn- it's for Super Bowl 42. This way it mentions the catch (something The Great Escape doesn't do), which, honestly, was the more impressive half of the play. And it memorializes the stage that it was made on.

I think the word "Miracle" needs to be in there to convey how amazing/unlikely that play really was and how desperate we* were at the time. "Catch 42" makes it sound like a great catch - which it was - but it was great more in the "holy s--t did that happen" sense (like the Music City Miracle) than great in the Montana-to-Clark sense. Final Minute Miracle? Tyree Miracle?

*Yes, I say "we" when I refer to the Giants

And I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else, so I'll say it here. While I was watching that play develop, I was thinking, "Holy crap, Eli looks like Donovan McNabb there." The whole series reminded me very much of The Scramble (except, of course, Freddie Mitchell didn't catch the pass on his helmet and is now out of football).

"Catch 42" is perfect, I think.

Re 38:

I've never heard that play called The Scramble, it's always 4th and 26.

#40- When he says The Scramble, he might be talking about the play in Dallas a few years ago....

The play will most likely just be known as the Tyree Catch.

Re 41 - Yes, I was referring to that play in Dallas in 2004 on MNF where McNabb got out of like 3 sacks and ran around for over 14 seconds, AKA "The Scramble."

FWIW, I'm a woman, not a guy.

#25 - you beat me to it, you bastard.

I think 'The Great Escape' has the best ring to it, but it really doesn't do justice to half of the play.

#14-

That's something I've wondered too. From the pictures in MDS' piece, it seems to suggest that Tyree must have been pretty open when Manning threw the ball because of the side angle at which Harrison came at the play (as opposed to being in front of Tyree), and the fact that he's the only defender close enough to make a play even though the pass was in the air a long time. How he got to be so open is the mystery, and probably a pretty interesting one.

44: It's very easy to get open if you have forever to do it. See: New England Patriots WRs vs Jacksonville Jaguars.

re 15:

speak for yourself. i find that to be the single most infuriating phrase/cliche in all of sport. i get an aneurysm every time i hear it.

I'd go with "The Imperfect Catch" (because it was caught against the helmet and helped end the perfect season) or, my favorite I've heard so far, "The Hat Trick."

Re 42:

Oops, my bad. Whenever I read about Freddie Mitchell doing anything useful, I assume it's 4th and 26. With Mitchell responsible for 2 of the most memorable plays with McNabb's Eagles, maybe they should keep him on the roster, but just play him when they need something magic to happen.

Game catches tell you more than practice catches--Tyree should have a real shot at receiver next year.

Awesome link. Could also name it after the first comment out of Aikman's mouth when he saw the replay of Tyree: "Oh my god!"

I like The Escape or The Great Escape, but I also heard some people refer it to "The Helmet Catch". I like that one too.

I seem to be the only Pats fan chiming in on this, but I would vote for "The Great Escape", given that my first vote of "Frikkin no-good SACK-THE-B***ARD! no-way-that-happened how-the-heck-was-that-a-catch it-must-have-touched-the-ground I-can't-f***in-believe-that" is a bit too long for a catchy name, and my second thought..."The Helmet Catch", is pretty lame and unoriginal.

Still, with all those pictures, you don't have the most significant one...the one showing the ball come within about 1" of the ground and yet not...quite...touch... Ahhhg, pain...

Someone on a different thread suggested "The Hat Trick", which I thought was pretty fantastic... Catch 42 is pretty good, too, though.

I'm a fan of "The Giant Snatch," myself.

hah! I like it even better- The Giant Snatch!

but yeah- given that Tyree will likely enjoy a special teams gunner/marginal reciever-type career, I can totally see 20 years from now this being refered to as the Tyree Catch.

54, yeah, but let's get back to the super bowl discussion.

This is a tough one to name appropriately--taking The Drive and Immac Reception as baselines, those phrases boiled their respective events down to their essence: the throw, the weird carom etc did not matter in the Immac Recep--it was all about the unlikely catch. The Drive--who remembers about the catches and runs, the penalties and blocking--It was all about putting together all the little pieces to form a perfect whole. Like composing a symphony.

So what can convey the amazing escape and improbable catch in just a couple words? Shit, that's why I quit writing for a living and went into real estate. Backbreaker certainly comes close except its descriptive contribution is nil. Heartbreaker? Nah. Hat trick is amusing, but... no. Escape and Helmet Catch only get half, but they do get their halves right. Flee to Tyree gets each half mentioned, but not very satisfactorily. And "Two Guys Pulling One Out of Their Asses" sounds more like East Village performance art than an immortal football play.

I dunno, in the end, Helmet Catch might end up being the most descriptive and easily recognizable in 10 years. Or anything with the word snatch in it.

Is there a name in the Philly/NYG fan lexicon for Randall Cunningham's MNF TD throw from about the 7 yard line when Pepper Johnson flew in and rammed him in the thigh pads, nearly decked him, but RC kept his balance with his free hand, stood up, and tossed a TD. I'd peg that as about 1990. Still in my list of top 5 most amazing plays.

Dov Kramer rocks. Where did you hear from him? Was it mentioned on a show?

ain't mine, one of the article's original comments suggested it, but i do like the catch in the hat.

I didn't know Eli could pull a Roethlisberger.

I'll put in a vote for "Catch-42".

Up to the catch itself, the play was a protection breakdown, a scramble out of a shirt-tackle, a split-second decision to throw long rather than to go for the first-down, and an inaccurate, lofted, Hail-Mary throw into traffic. All of that is exciting, but little of it is praise-worthy or particularly amazing. (Evading the shirt-tackle was nice, true, but it happens so often it isn't worth being a Named Play. Tyree stayed "alive" through the whole scramble - also excellent, but not worth naming in itself.)

On an off-target throw, in traffic, Tyree leapt at exactly the right moment to full extension to catch the ball. He maintained his concentration while the ball slipped against his helmet, and while defenders simultaneously hyperextentended his back and pulled at the ball. He got both hands on the ball, fell to the ground, and held the ball away from the defenders and off the ground, completing the catch.

"That's some catch, that Catch-42."

"Yep, It's the best there is."

If you insist on naming the play after Eli, a good name would be "Wing and a Prayer". Because that was his contribution.

Is it just me or was the play (at least the QB part) eerily reminiscint of Steve McNair on the second-to-last play of the loss to the Rams. (Play before the Dyson tackle.) Don't remember who it was thrown to, but I recall thinking that, given the circumstances (Super Bowl at stake, etc.), that was the greatest play I'd ever seen live. Of course, the Rams winning relegated it to forgotten status by the post game show...

The Giant Snatch... gives me goose-bumps ..

Catch-42. Genius.

To make a play that great you have to have an inaccurate QB throwing to a not-top-notch receiver, but to make the play you need to be a really good qb and a great receiver.

"This is throw-business"

Oh, and choice 2:

The "F**k The Patriots".

To me its "the grab".

Alot of the other great catches were about grace. This catch was about brute strength. Tryee's hanging onto the ball while a very angry individual is trying to break his back. Thats a feat of strength.

My suggestion is: "The Unperfect Play"; or "The Imperfect Play".

Catch-XLII also has my vote. Or, if you wanted integrate miracle, I guess you could go with Miracle on XLIInd. That seems a little to convoluted though.

While the play was happening I was on the phone with a working friend who couldn't watch the game. My exact words "Oh my God he got away, Oh my God he caught it., so with a tip of the hat to #50 and to Troy Aikman, I propose "Double Oh my God!"

I like something like "The Grasp" or "In the Grasp". It includes the possible in the grasp call and the grasp made by Tyree.

> the one showing the ball come within about 1″ of the ground and yet not…quite…touch

I think the tip of the ball might very well have touched the ground (that's what appeared to be the case on my DVR replay), but Tyree had two hands on the ball and solid control by that point. That'd still be a catch per the rule change on "complete control" after Ike Hilliard's overruled "catch" against the Rams in the 1999 NFCCG.

How about:
"The grab that beat the cheats!"

63: Catch-42 isn't mine. Are-tee (#21) proposed Catch-XLII - with roman numerals so you know where the 42 comes from. I'm not certain it started with Are-tee.

Catch-42 seems very fitting. And I really wish Eli had shown up for his MVP award naked.

I just read this on another site, it's catchy but I think it might be too cute.

Houdini and the Helmet.

That’d still be a catch per the rule change on “complete control” after Ike Hilliard’s overruled “catch” against the Rams in the 1999 NFCCG.

Bert Emanuel, not Ike Hilliard.

#56 writes: the throw, the weird carom etc did not matter in the Immac Recep–it was all about the unlikely catch.

Not quite. The Immaculate aspect referred to whether the ball touched Jack Tatum or not, since if had gone from Fuqua to Franco without a defender touching it, the pass would have been incomplete by rule.

"Catch 42", by all means.

I also love the "Immaculate Helmet" and the "Giant Snatch".

But let me suggest others: the "Surrogate Helmet", the "Helmet of Hamlet" (because it sounds so cool, because it was a "to be or not to be moment") "Belichik's Bane", and "Meltdown in Arizona".

How about "The Improbable Reception"?

I remember standing up watching Eli escape (when did he learn to do that?)and then not sitting down again until the knee after the Pats gacked. What an enormously satisfying victory. Right up there with SB XV.

> Bert Emanuel, not Ike Hilliard.

Correct, Emanuel (I don't know where I came up with Hilliard except that he's a Buc now). That was one of those plays where the ruling was technically correct to the letter of the law (the ball cannot touch the ground through any part of the catch process, including the player's contact with the ground), but where a bad rule was only exposed due to the advent of super-slow-motion replay. For 80 years that would have been a catch to the naked eye, and the same is true of Tyree's catch.

I think I'm sticking with The Broken Play. It pretty much captures everything. Whenever someone mentions success from a broken play, it conjures up images of a quarterback scrambling like crazy away from heavy pressure and then hitting an open man on a route that wasn't drawn into the play. Plus, it's succinct and fits with other classics like The Catch, The Drive, etc.

At PFT, Florio mentions that one of his readers proposed "The Shawshank Reception". I like it for the very simple fact that it would drive Simmons absolutely crazy.

Elijah's heave of faith.

I'll go with "The One That Got Away."

Bobman #56:

Is there a name in the Philly/NYG fan lexicon for Randall Cunningham’s MNF TD throw from about the 7 yard line when Pepper Johnson flew in and rammed him in the thigh pads, nearly decked him, but RC kept his balance with his free hand, stood up, and tossed a TD.

I think you are confusing two similar Cunningham plays, one against the Giants while escaping Carl Banks by holding himself up with one hand and another against Bruce Smith of the Bills ducking a sure sack.

The play against the Giants was a short one and is called "The Flip".

I've always heard the Bruce Smith play called "Cunningham's Escape".

That is known as "Cunningham's Escape" anytime I've heard of it.

Pat #16:

The Flee to Tyree is pretty good (it’s got the alliteration going), but it’s not generic enough - “The Catch”, “The Immaculate Reception”, “The Music City Miracle”, “4th and 26″, “The River City Relay”, “The Tackle” are all generic names - nobody’s names are mentioned in any of them, no teams are mentioned in any of them, etc.

What about "Ghost to the Post" for the play to Casper? "The Flee to Tyree" fits right in with that and is a pithy summarization.

"The Play" is the Stanford Band Play.

"The Catch" is Montana to Clark.

"The Drive" is Elway's 98 yarder against the Browns.

Those are all taken. Come up with something new and don't do a take-off on "The Immacualte Reception" or similar.

#82:

Wrong prophet. He's an "Elisha" not an "Elijah."

Catch-42 is probably the best we're going to get.

Flee to Tyree - that's my vote.

So here's a question. On ESPN a number of months ago, or maybe it was on NFLN, they ran a list of the "FIVE MOST MEMORABLE FOOTBALL PLAYS OF ALL TIME". Not surprisingly, their list consisted of:

1) The Play (Stanford Band Play)
2) The Catch (49ers)
3) The Music City Miracle (or, if you're a Bills fan, the Music City Foreward Pass)
4) The Immaculate Reception
5) Doug Flutie's Hail Mary

Now I'm sure you can quibble with this list, and maybe you want to include some of your own favorite memorable plays instead of some of these.

But what I wonder...does the "Flee to Tyree" or "Catch 42" or "The Great Escape" or whatever you want to call it, crack this list? And if so, how high? Is it a top 5 most memorable play?

What about “Ghost to the Post” for the play to Casper? “The Flee to Tyree” fits right in with that and is a pithy summarization.

Except his name wasn't Ghost, it was Casper. (Yes, his nickname was 'Ghost', but 'Ghost' is a normal non-proper noun).

Note that "Music City Miracle", "River City Relay" both avoid using the actual names. So did "Ghost to the Post." The main problem with "Flee to Tyree" is the fact that people won't easily remember "Tyree."

Then again, maybe it's allowed, because history won't likely remember him for anything else, either.

Re 89:

I don't think it cracks the top 5. All those plays were basically the last play of the game, a real do or die situation. The Great Escape was on 3rd down with over 50 seconds left in the game. A great in clutch time, but not quite as "clutch" as the other plays on the list.

I'm not even sure it beats Boise State's hook and ladder.

The Whirlwind Hurl or Manning's Whirlwind Hurl

OOoo I got one - "Runnin down a dream" If they dont remember Tyree theyll surely remember Tom Petty.

But seriously I like The Great Escape.

Come on, it justi hit me as bullet. We must also name the drive: it was the "Unstoppable Drive"!

I simply can listen the voice of any NFL Film: "When Tom Brandy found Randy Moss in the endzone with 3' left on the fourth quarter, the filling was that finally the heavily favority Patriots have secured their victory. Giants only hope was that their offense, leaded by Eli Manning, performed a 'Unstoppable Drive'. And so it did..."

I also appologize for every single grammar mistake I've made.

"Bolt From the Blue"

My vote is for Catch-42, followed by Immaculate Helmet and Giant Snatch (although I'd avoid this one for obvious sexual underpinnings).

For those that wondered what Manning saw when he escaped Jarvis Green and Thomas' grasp; he goes on to say he saw Tyree's helmet and heave-ho'ed in Tyree's direction (see attached link at 04:13)

Hat Trick. By far the most memorable sight in the whole superbowl was Tyree holding the ball on his helmet, the nickname has got to refer to that.

What about the Scud? It was an improbable launch that had a low chance of hitting it's target but it got by a Patriot and boom.

Humorously intended, I think Ray Finkle's mother sums the play up best for me.... Eli Manning should die of gonnorhea and rot in hell. Would you like a cookie, son? no but seriously, I'm supporting Great Escape. I know it doesn't describe Tyree's half, but I'm supporting it until I hear something better. I also like the sound of Catch 42, but Eli and Tyree were only "damned if they DON'T" and I don't think Heller would have considered either of them crazy.

Plus they don't have a Major Major Major.

This is probably too nerd for the mainstream, how about "Grabby and Squeezey"?

The poll question on NFL.com is what the name should be. The choices are:

1. Catch 42
2. The Giant Catch
3. Helmet Catch
4. Prayer and Snare
5. Miracle in Glendale
6. The Glendale Grab

Prayer and Snare isn't half bad, but "The Giant Catch" is leading for some inexplicable reason.

#14: "Many seconds had passed before the ball was thrown and a long [time] also passed while the ball was in the air."

That gives me an idea: How about calling it "The New York Minute"?

E to Tyree

Don't ask me why 7 weeks later, on the 112th viewing of this play, but check out the nfl.com video starting at 15:09 (http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80690393): quite clearly there is Shaun O'Hara's left arm draped around Richard Seymour (who then proceeds to block Jarvis Green's path to Manning as he made his final escape into the flat). Understandable how the refs might have missed this during such a long and chaotic play (O'Hara probably held him for about a second and then quickly got back into position in front of Seymour), but I'm amazed that after all this time and scrutiny I hadn't heard anyone mention this or notice it myself.