NFL Power Rankings: The Greatest Plays Of All-Time
By Erik Lambert
Feb 1, 2015; Glendale, AZ, USA; New England Patriots strong safety Malcolm Butler (21) intercepts a pass intended for Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Ricardo Lockette (83) in the fourth quarter in Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
It’s impossible for human beings to remember entire games throughout the long history of the National Football League. As good as memories can be, it’s often much easier to remember singular moments from those games, often surrounding one epic play. There have been too many to count over the years that have steered the course of professional football, good and bad. So it’s time to ask the question. What are the greatest plays in NFL history?
These NFL power rankings with rate the absolute best 32 of all-time from follies, to interceptions, to fumbles to touchdowns. Any play that created an unforgettable moment in time and did something special for the league belongs on this list.
First though, it’s important to note a few that just barely missed the cut.
Honorable Mention: Devin Hester Super Bowl Return
The amazing background of this play was built over the course of the 2006 season when Chicago Bears rookie Devin Hester set the pro football world ablaze with his incredible return skills. He scored five touchdowns during the regular season including one or two that clinched big games for his team.
So by the time the Super Bowl came around, everyone was asking the same question: would the Indianapolis Colts dare boot the opening kickoff to him?
Short answer is they did, and he made them pay for it. Hester became the first player in history to score on the first play of a Super Bowl. The fact he was a rookie and playing in his college home of Miami made it all the sweeter to watch.
Honorable Mention: Wide Right
*Skip to 4:00 to see the play
Buffalo Bills fans still wake up with nightmares about this. Of the four Super Bowls their teams made between 1990 and 1993, the first one was the closest they came. Just a couple of feet in fact. Down by one point with eight seconds left, kicker Scott Norwood had a chance to win it with a 47-yard field goal. The snap and spot were good, but the kick ended up drifting to the right, handing the championship to the New York Giants and giving the play its fateful name: Wide Right.
Honorable Mention: Butt Fumble
Most would agree that of the infinite number of football follies over the years to come across the NFL, the Butt Fumble has to rank at the top because it’s the perfect encapsulation of the New York Jets and their futility.
On the play, quarterback Mark Sanchez dropped back to pass against the New England Patriots. Unable to find anybody open, he tried to scramble. At that moment one of his guards was violently shoved backwards. Though Sanchez tried to avoid it, he lost his footing and colliding with the hind end of the guard, causing the ball to pop free.
The Patriots recovered and returned it for a touchdown, going on to win the game.
Honorable Moss: The Randy Moss Lateral
For sheer brilliance this eye-popping play probably should’ve made it. Randy Moss at that time was known as one of the best wide receivers in football, scoring long touchdowns almost at will. However, his rare selflessness emerged on this play against Denver.
Tied 7-7 going into the half, Minnesota was hoping to get in position for a field goal. Quarterback Daunte Culpepper found Moss across the middle in Denver Broncos territory that put them in position. Then out of nowhere the star receiver chose to take a gamble and flipped the ball over his head, while being tackled no less, to teammate Moe Williams who scored the touchdown.
Honorable Mention: Kurt Warner Bomb to Ricky Proehl
Up until this moment the St. Louis Rams were a long-suffering franchise that had built a steady diet of painfully close calls in big games, all of them losses. Trailing 6-5 in the 1999 NFC championship against Tampa Bay, it looked like it was going to happen again.
With under five minutes to go, the Rams had managed to reach Buccaneers territory but were hovering right at the cusp of field goal range. Their quarterback Kurt Warner knew they needed to take a shot if they were going to win the game. So he took a huge gamble by lofting a 30-yard pass to reserve receiver Ricky Proehl who made a spectacular catch along the sideline in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.
It was his first and only score of the season.
Honorable Mention: John Riggins Is Gone
Playoff football had been a series of bitter pills to swallow for the Washington Redskins in the 1970s including a Super Bowl defeat against Miami in 1972. Ten years later the team had their shot at revenge, and redemption.
Down 17-13 in the fourth quarter, Washington faced 4th and 1 just outside of field goal range. They knew their opportunities would be few if they didn’t go for it now, so head coach Joe Gibbs called on star running back John Riggins to get them the first down.
On the snap he was handed the ball off the left side. A great series of blocks from “the Hogs,” Washington’s infamous offensive line, gave him a good hole to convert for the 1st down, but that wasn’t all. Riggins bounced off a Miami tackler and burst into the open field, streaking down the sideline for a game-turning touchdown.
The Redskins never relinquished the lead after that, winning their first championship of the Super Bowl era.
Honorable Mention: J.J. Watt Interception Return TD
If there is one play that signaled the arrival of the best defensive player the NFL has seen in over a decade, it would be this one. Up until this moment in the 2011 divisional playoff, J.J. Watt was just a rookie defensive end with lots of potential.
Then things got crazy.
All the things that make Watt great today showed up here from the length, to the athleticism to the uncanny instincts and vision to diagnose when a quarterback is going to throw the ball. He read it perfectly and Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton never had a chance.
Watt snared the pass literally out of midair and returned it for a touchdown. It broke the deadlock between the two teams right before the half, and Houston would end up riding it to their first playoff victory in franchise history.
Next: #32