Immaculate Reception - coach's film "all 22" angle

[Brian wolf]

Franco was definitely in stride and I dont believe Villapiano would have caught him even without McMakin's clip. I still think Fuqua touched it, making Harris illegal but the refs missed both calls.

[JKelly]

So based on what was described had Tatum allowed Fuqua to make the catch. He tackles Fuqua and game over.

[Jay Z]

So based on what was described had Tatum allowed Fuqua to make the catch. He tackles Fuqua and game over.

I think the Steelers had time outs left, so that's not true. There were even five seconds left after Franco's TD. There was a kickoff and a desperation pass by Stabler. Fuqua would have been on the Raiders' 40 at least, in long FG range in that era.

Given the position of Fuqua, Tatum, and the ball, I understand what Tatum did instinctively. There was an intersection point there. Had Fuqua been coming towards Tatum more directly I think another play makes sense.

On the other hand, Tatum would have been better off playing the play more passively. Because I think Fuqua likely wouldn't have caught the ball even unimpeded. Asking a RB to freelance across the middle and catch that sort of pass in 1972 was asking a lot. Tatum would have been better off laying back a bit and just batting the ball away, because it was a tough catch at best.