List of Successful Hail Marys in American Football - List of Passes Often Mistakenly Referred To As A "Hail Mary"

List of Passes Often Mistakenly Referred To As A "Hail Mary"

• 1972 — AFC Divisional Playoffs — Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Oakland Raiders: Pittsburgh trailed in this game 7–6 and faced fourth down and 10 from their own 40 with 22 seconds remaining. Pittsburgh's Terry Bradshaw threw to halfback Frenchy Fuqua but the Raiders' Jack Tatum collided with him and the ball was deflected towards the Steelers' Franco Harris, who then scored a controversial touchdown. This play has become known as the Immaculate Reception. The pass is usually not considered a "Hail Mary" pass in that it was a scripted play intended for a specific receiver and not thrown desperately "up for grabs" like Hail Marys usually are. It also was not thrown anywhere near the Raiders' end zone by design.
• 1974 — Thanksgiving Classic — Washington Redskins vs Dallas Cowboys: Dallas reserve quarterback and rookie Clint Longley, filling in for an injured Roger Staubach, threw two touchdown passes including the game winning 50-yarder to Drew Pearson to push the Cowboys to a 24–23 victory and to keep the Cowboys in the playoff hunt. This pass was more of a traditional, late-game "bomb" throw with a scripted post route for Pearson. 35 seconds remained when attempted.
• 1997 — Nebraska vs. Missouri: Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost's last-second pass to Shevin Wiggins was deflected, then before the ball touched the ground, Wiggins kicked the ball towards the back of the end zone where teammate Matt Davidson scoped the ball up just before it hit the ground. The touchdown sent the game into overtime, when the top ranked Cornhuskers won. Nebraska went on to share the national title that season. This play is also known as the Flea Kicker. It is generally not considered a Hail Mary pass as it was very short — attempted within the red zone — and was more of a traditional, scripted pass play that just ended up having an unusual result.
• 2002 - Atlanta Falcons vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Tommy Maddox completed a 50-yard pass to Plaxico Burress as time expired in overtime, but Burress landed on his back at the 1-yard line and the game ended in a tie. This play is not considered a Hail Mary pass because, even though it was a successful pass attempt that ended in traditional Hail Mary "jump ball" style, the Steelers did not score a TD or win the game here, thus making the play as irrelevant to the outcome as an incomplete pass would have been.
• 2003 — Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings: The Cardinals stunned the Vikings on a 28-yard touchdown pass as time expired from Josh McCown to Nate Poole to win 18–17. The pass, which was made in just McCown's third start, appears to have been intended for strictly for Poole, one of two reasons it is not historically viewed as a Hail Mary (the other is that it was a relatively short play, as Hail Mary plays have usually traveled at least 50 yards to completion). The loss was costly for the Vikings as they not only lost the game, but lost the NFC North title to the Packers and were eliminated from playoff contention. The reception is more notable historically for the fact that under NFL rules at the time, Poole was given the TD reception even though he did not get both feet inbounds because he was shoved out of bounds by a Viking defender after making the catch and getting 1 foot in; the league has since changed this rule, and under current standards the pass would have been incomplete.
• 2005 — Capital One Bowl — Iowa vs. LSU: With 14 seconds left, Iowa quarterback Drew Tate completed a 56-yard touchdown pass to Warren Holloway, left open due to an LSU defensive breakdown, to give Iowa a 30–25 victory on the game's final play. This play is usually not considered a Hail Mary pass per se and varies from the traditional definition of one in that the throw was intended for a specific receiver and not tossed "up for grabs."
• 2009 — Minnesota Vikings vs. San Francisco 49ers: The 49ers were up 24–20 with 11 seconds left in the game. The Vikings had the ball at the 49ers' 32 yard line. Brett Favre rolled out right and avoided a defender by using a pump fake. Then, he threw it from about the 39 yard line and connected to Greg Lewis in the very back of the endzone. Lewis just got both of his feet in, making a spectacular catch. This play isn't considered a Hail Mary because there were two seconds left on the clock, and another play (which would have been a Hail Mary attempt) would have been run by Minnesota if Lewis' reception had been called off.