Everything about the David Tyree helmet catch was legendary. Whether it be the fact that it spoiled the New England Patriots’ shot at a perfect season or the fact that it was one of the most physics-defying catches the NFL has ever seen, the play will go down in history as one of the greatest ever.
That isn't hyperbole. It’s so iconic that any conversation about the Patriots’ dynasty has to include the Super Bowl XLII loss to the New York Giants. It's arguably the biggest asterisk in sports and one of the most memorable plays ever. Even Justin Timberlake did a skit about it during the 2008 ESPYS... which also happened to win for Best Play.
The wildest part is that Tyree wasn’t remotely a focal point of the Giants’ offense. He finished the regular season with just four receptions. But when the biggest moment arrived on the biggest stage, it was Tyree who somehow came up with the play that flipped the sports world upside down. That season’s Giants squad had already been playing with house money. A 10-win wild card team wasn’t supposed to derail a potential 19-0 Patriots team, but that’s exactly what happened.
It’s wild to think that the play happened over 17 years ago, but don’t let the time warp distract from the memory. CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin didn’t. In a recent piece, he ranked the top 25 NFL moments since 2000. Unsurprisingly, the Tyree helmet catch stood alone at the top.
Helmet catch reigns supreme as NFL’s defining moment of the 2000s
Benjamin agreed that everything about the play was legendary:
"Everything about this was legendary. The Giants weren't just in the Super Bowl against the Patriots," he wrote. "They were looking to halt history, trying as underdogs to spoil New England's bid for the first perfect NFL season in more than 30 years."
The Patriots rolled into that Super Bowl with perfection in reach and a grip on the league that felt unbreakable. Tom Brady and Randy Moss were rewriting the record books, and the idea of anyone slowing them down seemed laughable. The G-Men were a team with a fourth-year quarterback trying to live up to the family name, an offense still trying to figure itself out, and a defense that had to claw its way through three road playoff games just to get there.
None of that mattered when the play happened.
Manning to Tyree.
— NFL (@NFL) January 30, 2019
Also known as... "The Helmet Catch." 😱 #WildPlayWednesday | #SBLII pic.twitter.com/mSLgpH1rsu
Eli Manning somehow, impossibly, stayed upright long enough to get the throw off, and Tyree made the most ridiculous catch of the century, if not ever. It wasn’t the cleanest, it wasn’t rehearsed, and it made zero sense in real time—but it’s the one moment people still talk about whenever the Super Bowl gets brought up. That single play derailed the most dominant season in modern NFL history and helped deliver a championship no one saw coming.
Seventeen years later, the league has produced plenty of wild endings and improbable moments. But it still hasn’t seen anything quite like Tyree pinning that football to his helmet while dragging the greatest team of a generation down with him. The magic hasn’t worn off—and never will.