It was far from a great play but it was "miraculous" and came in a time period that the Steelers were all-powerful and rarely beaten. Terry Bradshaw made many great passes in his career and some are the best the game has ever known. This was not one of them.

Franco was one of the best backs of all time, easily in the NFL's top 25. He was a smart player and always had his head in the game. This "head-in-the-game" quality was the result of excellent coaching by Chuck Noll. So when the ball took that unbelievable bounce, Franco was not surprised and was able to take it out of the air at the last second.

They replayed the thing over and over for weeks and months and still even yearly. Great play by design and initial execution------no. But it was certainly an "Immaculate Reception."

As a footnote, in my younger days I played a lot of handball and racquetball. In '77. Wendy's, the burger chain, rented part of the club I went to for a corporate evening during a national franchisee meeting in Columbus (home to Wendy's). Franco owned a few stores and was there. Guys were lining up to play him and I got my chance. He was playing 11 point games and the guy played well and for HOURS with minimal breaks. He beat me by only the requisite 2 points but he'd already played for a couple of hours. I was a Browns fan and hated the Steelers out of "tradition" but playing racquetball with Franco was not something I would have missed! Nice guy btw.

Spaw