Do not duplicate in any form without permission of the Dallas Cowboys. Can't-Miss Play: Hail Mary TD Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield's 57-yard HEAVE hits Browns wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones just before halftime. With the Cowboys trailing with 0:32 to go and the ball at the 50-yard line, legendary Hall of Fame Quarterback Roger Staubach connected with Preston Pearson for game winning touchdown.Īfter the game, in the locker room, a reporter asked Staubach, a devout Catholic, what he was thinking during the play, and he replied, “I just closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary.” The next day, headlines read, “Hail Mary Pass Wins Game.” The national press ran with it, and the term has been part of popular sports culture ever since.©2021 Dallas Cowboys.
The play that really cemented the term in the popular culture however occurred Decemin the Dallas Cowboy’s 17-14 playoff win over the Minnesota Vikings. 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.” The piece appeared in several newspapers including the DecemDaytona Beach Morning Journal under the headline, “Orange Bowl: Hoyas Put Faith in ‘Hail Mary’ Pass”). For more than forty years use of the term was largely confined to Notre Dame and other Catholic universities.Īn early appearance of the term was in an Associated Press story about the upcoming 1941 Orange Bowl between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Jesuit run Georgetown Hoyas. Drawing on new interviews with former players from the Detroit Demons, the Toledo Troopers, the LA Dandelions, and more, Hail Mary brings us into the stadiums where they broke. Originally meaning any sort of desperation play, a “Hail Mary” gradually came to denote a long, low-probability pass attempted at the end of a half when a team is too far from the end zone to execute a more conventional play, implying that it would take divine intervention for the play to succeed. Hail Mary chronicles the highs and lows of the National Women’s Football League, which took root in nineteen cities across the US over the course of two decades. Two weeks ago Auburn beat Georgia under extraordinary circumstances on a Hail Mary called 'The Immaculate. Notre Dame head coach Elmer Layden (who had played in the 1922 Georgia Tech game) afterwards called it a “Hail Mary” play. Audio: Auburn and Alabama radio calls for miraculous game winning field goal return TD. On November 2, 1935, with 32 seconds left in the so-called “Game of the Century” between Ohio State and Notre Dame, Irish halfback Bill Shakespeare found receiver Wayne Millner for a 19-yard, game-winning touchdown. After the game, Kizer exclaimed to Crowley, “Say, that Hail Mary is the best play we’ve got.” Crowley related this story many times in public speeches beginning in the 1930s. This time Stuhldreher ran for a touchdown, which sealed the win for Notre Dame. The ritual was repeated before a third and goal play, again at Tech’s six, in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, another of the Horsemen, threw a quick pass over the middle to Paul Castner for the score. According to Crowley, it was one of the team’s linemen, Noble Kizer (a Presbyterian), who suggested praying before the first touchdown, which occurred on a fourth and goal play at the Tech 6-yard line during the second quarter. Jim Crowley often told the story of an October 28, 1922, game between Notre Dame and Georgia Tech in which the Fighting Irish players said Hail Mary prayers together before scoring each of the touchdowns, winning the game 13 to 3. Riding the talent of the perhaps most fabled quartet in college football history, Notre Dame established itself as a football powerhouse, losing only 2 games in the 3 years they were together. The Four Horsemen were Quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, Halfbacks Don Miller, and Jim Crowley, and Fullback Elmer Layden. Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers led the New York Giants by just a point with six seconds left in the first half of an NFC Wild Card Game in January of 2017.
The expression goes back at least to the 1924 Notre Dame backfield the famed Four Horsemen. The 8 greatest Hail Marys in NFL history.
Not surprisingly, the story starts at the confluence of Catholicism and Football The University of Notre Dame. But how did a last second desperation play become known as a “Hail Mary”? This day in 1984, Boston Colleges Doug Flutie completed his famous 'Hail Mary' in the Orange Bowl. It’s one of the most well known terms and iconic plays in sports. Touchdown!!! An amazing win on a last second Hail Mary! A receiver improbably comes down with the ball. He heaves the ball high in the air with no real target, only trying to get the distance to reach the end zone. The defensive backs and receivers bunch up waiting for the ball to descend. The quarterback drops back, scrambles, waiting for his receivers to get near the goal. The defense pulls the pass rush and defends deep. The offense has the ball at their own 48-yard line and are down by more than a field goal.