Jump to content

Hail Mary pass

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Transglobular (talk | contribs) at 08:13, 4 November 2011 (→‎Examples: best without (bracketing)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A Hail Mary pass or Hail Mary route in American football refers to any very long forward pass made in desperation with only a small chance of success, especially at or near the end of a half.

Although the expression had been used before, it was made famous when it was used to describe the game-winning touchdown pass by Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach to Drew Pearson in a December 28, 1975, NFL playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings. Afterwards, it was reported that Staubach (a Roman Catholic) said, "I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary." [1] An early print appearance of the term was an Associated Press story about the upcoming 1941 Orange Bowl, appearing in several newspapers (the 31 December 1940 Daytona Beach Morning Journal, for one: "Orange Bowl: [Georgetown] Hoyas Put Faith in “Hail Mary” Pass"). As the article explained, "A ‘hail Mary’ pass, in the talk of the Washington eleven, is one that is thrown with a prayer because the odds against completion are big."

Origins

The Hail Mary
Dallas Cowboys Minnesota Vikings
DateDecember 28, 1975
StadiumMetropolitan Stadium, Bloomington, Minnesota
RefereeChuck Heberling
TV in the United States
NetworkCBS
AnnouncersGary Bender and Johnny Unitas

The term "Hail Mary pass" was used by the press to describe a pass by Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach in a 1975 divisional playoff game. The term first came into mainstream use by the sporting press resulting from an interview shortly after the game-winning touchdown pass. Staubach was referring to his desperation (and Catholic faith) for his game-winning touchdown pass in the December 28, 1975, NFC Divisional Playoff Game.

The Dallas Cowboys started with the ball on their own 15-yard line, trailing 14-10, with one minute and fifty-one seconds left in the fourth quarter. Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach managed a nine-play drive to midfield against the Minnesota Vikings defense. From midfield, with 24 seconds now remaining, Staubach lined up in the shotgun formation, took the snap, pump-faked left, then turned to his right and threw a desperation pass to wide receiver Drew Pearson, who was being covered by Minnesota Vikings cornerback Nate Wright. Wright was pushed in the back and fell to the ground and Pearson was barely able to complete the catch by trapping the ball against his right hip at the 5-yard line and backing into the end zone to make the score 16-14 in favor of Dallas, and what would eventually be the winning touchdown. The point after was successful, making the final score 17-14. In a later interview with Pearson, he stated that he thought he dropped the ball only to find it against his hip and then just waltzed right into the end zone.

Reactions

As Pearson strode into the end zone for the score, free safety Paul Krause complained to field judge Armen Terzian that an interference penalty on Pearson should have been called. An orange, thrown by a spectator in the stands, whizzed by Pearson at the goal line. The orange is visible on NFL Films footage of the play and was initially confused by some as a penalty flag and was also misinterpreted by the Vikings defense as a penalty. [citation needed] More debris was thrown from the stands by angry Vikings fans, enraged that no penalty was called on Dallas.

Defensive tackle Alan Page argued with officials and was assessed a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the ensuing kickoff. On Minnesota's next possession with 14 seconds left to play, a Corby's whiskey bottle was thrown by a spectator, striking referee Armen Terzian in the head at Minnesota's own 10-yard line, creating a large forehead gash and rendering him unconscious. [citation needed] Terzian had to wear a bandage, later requiring 11 stitches, as he walked off the field and was replaced by substitute official Charley Musser for the final two plays.

Aftermath

The term "Hail Mary pass" was used by Roger Staubach following the game in a post-game interview. Previous to this play, a last-second desperation pass had been called several names, most notably the "Alley-Oop". Staubach, who had been hit immediately after throwing the ball and didn't see its ending, was asked about the play and he said, "You mean [Pearson] caught the ball and ran in for the touchdown? It was just a Hail Mary pass; a very, very lucky play." Staubach told reporters "I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary". This was among the plays by Roger Staubach that enhanced his fame and legend as noted in NFL Hall of Fame Archives. [1]

Shortly after the game concluded, Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton was informed that his father, Dallas Tarkenton, had died of a heart attack during the third quarter while watching the game on television at his Savannah, Georgia, home.

Setup

There is no one setup, although many teams may have a "Hail Mary" type play in their playbooks. More often such plays are called a "post" or a "fly," although most plays in football playbooks have numerical tags as opposed to names. Generally there is no standard "Hail Mary Play."

A play is more often called "Hail Mary" after the fact, that is if and after it has worked out against all odds and resulted in a score in the final moments. It is more a descriptive term of a sports moment, as opposed to a planned play.

Although such plays have low percentage chance of completion, there is likely some type of long pass play in every playbook at the professional and college level. Such a "long ball" "post" pass can occur with four or five wide receivers in the singleback formation or with four or five wide receivers in the standard or shotgun formation. Generally, three or more eligible receivers are lined up on the short side of the field and all run a fly pattern. The running backs, if in the play, may be kept in to block. Sometimes the team running a post will not even have a running back in the backfield, instead choosing to use every possible eligible receiver (five of them) to run a pass route, hoping to spread out the defense and give the quarterback more passing options. The quarterback throws towards a receiver, making the decision as to which one within 2 - 2.5 seconds of getting the snap. The Hail Mary pass does not always need to be completed to move the ball for the offense. It may succeed in drawing a pass interference penalty on the defense (a strong possibility with so many receivers running deep routes for the defense to cover), which gives the offense the ability to run another play with better field position in all situations (since the game cannot end on a defensive penalty, even if there is no time left on the clock). In college it may not help much as pass interference is only a spot foul up to 15 yards, while in the NFL, it is a spot foul no matter where it occurs, with the ball placed at the 1 yard line if the infraction occurs in the end zone.

Defense

The standard defense against the Hail Mary pass is the prevent defense.

The first priority is to ensure the defensive backs are in zone coverage, and that they keep the receivers well in front of them until the ball is thrown. Second, generally no more than four defensive linemen rush the quarterback, with all the linebackers dropping back to prevent a shorter pass. In many cases, the defense will remove some of its linebackers and linemen and replace them with extra defensive backs, in order to help compensate when the opposing team brings in extra receivers, leading to there being five or six defensive backs on the field instead of the usual four, generally known as the nickel and dime packages, respectively. Once the ball gets down field, the primary role of the defensive back is to knock the ball to the ground, thus ending the play, and preventing something such as an offensive player stripping the ball, a tipped pass resulting in a reception, or a fumble that could happen if the defensive player intercepted the ball.

Occasionally, especially in college football, offensive players (usually wide receivers) will be put in on defense to defend a Hail Mary. Hail Mary passes are most successful when the defense is in the wrong alignment. If the defense is in man-to-man coverage, and a receiver manages to break coverage by getting further down field than the nearest defensive back, the chance of success is greatly improved.

Examples

See also: List of Hail Marys in American football

In the 1980 Holiday Bowl, BYU was down 45-25 with 4 minutes left in the game. Papist quarterback Jim McMahon spearheaded a last-gasp come-from-behind victory, capping the comeback with a successful Hail Mary pass to tight end Clay Brown as time expired that tied the game; Kurt Gunther's extra point gave BYU its first-ever bowl win, defeating SMU 46-45. This game is known among BYU fans as the "Miracle Bowl".

Another Hail Mary pass came in a 1984 game between Boston College and Miami (FL). With just 6 seconds left on the clock, Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie threw what was by then commonly called a Hail Mary pass, which succeeded primarily because Miami's secondary stood on the goal line to keep the receivers in front of them, and failed to cover a post route being run by Gerard Phelan. Miami's defense was based on the assumption that Flutie wasn't able to throw the ball as far as the end zone, but Flutie hit Phelan in stride against a flatfooted defense a yard deep in the end zone.[2] A connecting road in Natick, where Flutie played for the high school, has been named "Flutie Pass".

Another example was the Bluegrass Miracle, a Hail Mary pass by Tigers QB Marcus Randall with 2 seconds to go in the Kentucky-LSU game on 9 November 2002.

In other fields

The term "Hail Mary pass" has become generalized to refer to any last ditch effort with little chance of success.

In basketball, A "Hail Mary shot" or "Hail Mary throw" is a shot thrown from a place far away from the basket (e.g. behind the half court line.)

There are similar usages in other fields, such as a "Hail Mary shot" in photography where the photographer holds the view finder of an SLR camera far from his eye (so unable to compose the picture), usually high above his head, and takes a shot. This is often used in crowded situations [3]

In 1991, Norman Schwarzkopf (Desert Storm commander) likened his strategy of flanking Iraqi defenders (by sending his forces in a westward direction to get behind them) to a Hail Mary play. [4]

During the 2008 United States presidential election, Senator Chuck Schumer criticized John McCain's vice presidential pick, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, by calling it a "Hail Mary pass". The term was also applied to his decision to suspend his campaign,[5] and later, to his attempt to win Pennsylvania and "toss-up" states in order to win the election.[6]

In the 1996 movie Executive Decision commander in charge Lieutenant Colonel Austin Travis (Steven Seagal) describes the severity of a possible mission to Pentagon officials as 'Hail Mary'. This phrase eventually employed as the code name of the mission, denoting to its last-chance nature.

In the 2010 movie Extraordinary Measures Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford) uses the phrase during his conversation with John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) referring to chance of approval for sibling trial (a clinical trial) of an enzyme developed for treatment of Pompe; John Crowley's two kids are suffering from Pompe.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "History Release » Chat transcript with Roger Staubach". Profootballhof.com. 2010-02-07. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
  2. ^ 17 november 2006 (2006-11-17). "Flutie's Miracle in Miami". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2010-03-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Hail Mary – and Other Divine Photo Tricks". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
  4. ^ Lacayo, Richard (1991-03-11). "Five Decisive Moments". TIME. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
  5. ^ By  Josh Levs CNN. "Palin: Pioneer, maverick - and now game-changer". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2010-03-12. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help); no-break space character in |author= at position 3 (help)
  6. ^ Craig Crawford on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, 2008-11-02 at 15:23
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hail_Mary_pass&oldid=458940127"