As Las Vegas Raiders fans look back on their franchise’s estimable history, one of the games that changed things forever is the so-called Immaculate Reception, which took place 53 years ago today.
It happened on December 23, 1972 in a playoff game at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, and the then-Oakland Raiders were new to the NFL at that point. They’d been one of the dominant teams in the old AFL, and any playoff win from an AFL refugee over an NFL franchise was a big deal.
The sequence of the play sounds simple enough when described in print. With Pittsburgh Steelers trailing 7-6 late in the fourth quarter, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass to running back John “Frenchy” Fuqua. The ball bounced off the helmet of Raiders safety Jack Tatum, and the ball was scooped up by Pittsburgh fullback Franco Harris just before it hit the ground, and Harris ran the ball in for a game-winning touchdown.
Sounds straightforward enough, right? After all, we’ve all seen the footage, and “tape don’t lie,” as the saying goes.
Except it does, sort of, at least to some people. Many football experts, including some who were there, swear the ball hit the ground before Harris caught it, and the grainy tape doesn’t exactly provide proof positive that they’re wrong.
Replay didn’t exist back then, nor did frame-by-frame tape that allows a complete breakdown. The play has fueled thousands of barroom arguments over the years, not to mention a fierce rivalry between the Steelers and Raiders.
There’s more, too, at least for disgruntled Raiders fans. Technically, the play may not have even been legal. The rules were different back then, and the way they were written it would have been illegal for anyone but Fuqua to catch the ball had it not hit Tatum, who many say never actually touched the ball.
The way the play altered football history isn’t in dispute, however. It was Pittsburgh’s first playoff win in franchise history, and they went on to become the NFL’s team of the 70s behind coach Chuck Noel, Bradshaw and the legendary “Steel Curtain” defense.
Under coach John Madden, the Raiders would break through later in the decade to win the Super Bowl, but for Raiders fans, the play will go down alongside the controversial “Tuck Rule” play against the New England Patriots in 2002 as moments when the rules were incorrectly enforced in ways that cost the Raiders a pair of possible additional championships.