Spectacular plays happen every week in the NFL. Colin Kaepernick‘s throw. Rob Gronkowski’s slalom through the Colts secondary. The Rams’ fake punt return. Julian Edelman’ s wall of doom. The greatest route ever run. But the race for Play of the Year probably ended last night, as Odell Beckham Jr. became a household name.
Facing a crucial 1st and 10 with only 32 seconds left in the game, Brian Hoyer and Josh Gordon connected…
Come on. You are here for one reason and one reason only. Odell Beckham Jr. gifs.
Happy to deliver.
My favorite part of this is the guy in the background, glasses on, right next to the “2.” Watch carefully as he slowly realizes this is the greatest thing he will ever see in his lifetime.
Here is another angle on the play:
On the sidelines punter Steve Weatherford starts the celebration early.
This is a well-designed play called at an opportune moment. The Giants put Eli Manning under center using 12 personnel and motion tight end Daniel Fells into the backfield:
The offense fakes the lead play with Fells and Andre Williams to the left side, and Manning then rolls to the right side of the formation where Beckham is running a straight go route:
But the catch is out-of-this-world good. This still shows how the rookie WR uses just three fingertips to secure the football:
The referee is throwing the flag for defensive pass interference. To be fair, there was a lot of hand checking on this play between Beckham and cornerback Brandon Carr. But the flag was for DPI, allowing this tremendous catch – perhaps the greatest in NFL history – to stand for a touchdown.
Or, maybe, just maybe, the ref just wanted to be part of the moment.
All video and images courtesy NFL and NBC Sports.
Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkSchofield.