All 4 of the great Lynn Swann's catches in Super Bowl X. Nobody made more from limited opportunities than Swannie. IMO, this is still the greatest Super Bowl Performance by a wide receiver.
I have new respect for Terry. I had to rewind that last pass: He released it at his own 30 and Swann caught it at the 5. Watching QBs struggle to get hail mary into end zone from much beyond midfield.
He was only covered on the second one because Bradshaw threw it to the inside for some odd reason when Swann was to the outside. If Bradshaw throws it to the outside Swann has an uncontested catch.
What made these catches even more incredible was the fact that Mark Washington had Swann covered like a blanket on all 4 catches ...... fortunately for Washington, he got to play in all 5 Super Bowls that Cowboys played in in the 1970's. He played a solid 10 seasons in the NFL from 1970 through 1979, and his teams won 2 Golds and 3 Silvers.
Agreed, there's no faulting Mark Washington on these plays. He played them as well as they could be played. Swann was just playing in a whole different universe that day.
He was told by doctors that he would never play again after being severely injured in Vietnam, Rocky Blier was a major contributor in the Steelers 4 championships in the 70s.
Bradshaw's arm strength would STILL be considered top tier in the modern NFL. That TD ball to Swann traveled 65 yards in the air. That's an absolute MONSTER of a throw even in today's game. Let alone to be deadly accurate with it while about to get totally smoked by the defender. End to end, one of the finest throws in NFL history.
Agreed 100%. 🎯 NFL Films rated Bradshaw’s TD bomb to Swann in SB X the greatest throw of all time: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OrSkwRiC0LY.htmlsi=Eo1WEIoFCOG2xAIk
" Would 'still' be considered top-tier in the NFL"? Bradshaw had the most powerful harm in NFL history--I'm talking distance plus the bullet speed getting it there. With a football that was more difficult to get distance with than today's footballs. Note that Terry never once in his career aired it out/i.e., threw it his hardest; even this last one at the end of Super Bowl X was not the hardest he tried/farthest he could throw it, although in this case, he at least looked "somewhat" close to doing that.
I would put this performance alongside Jerry Rices performance in Superbowl 23. This is my favourite Superbowl to watch and Lynn Swanns catches are pure poetry in motion. What a fantastic athlete he was.
Iconically great catches by Swann (what grace!), brilliant passes by Bradshaw (what a gun of an arm!), great pass blocking by Rocky Bleier (what guts and heart!).
Great observation on Bleier. Rocky made fantastic blocks on the two most iconic catches. Without those blocks, those catches never happen. He was the ultimate team player in the ultimate team sport.
Incredible catches. I was able to go to his MVP party as a ten year-old kid in Foster City. My brother and I took a photo with him. Still have it to this day. :)
I worked with Mark Washington’s daughter in one of my previous jobs. I always felt bad for him. His coverage on Swann was actually very good on three of the plays here. Swann just made some spectacular plays.
As epic as the second catch is, the clarity of mind to get yards after that catch is icing on the cake. The third catch is not the flashiest, but the positioning past the first down marker and cradling that bullet is still absolute textbook.
@@topJimmyP1984 Evidently, you are the type who desperately seeks to find at least one ground in a perfectly brewed cup of coffee. I suppose the cynic (or in this case one not a Steeler fan, perhaps) has his place, but not here. He was not down by contact because he did gain full control of the ball until after the contact. Since the rule requires the player to be down by contact, he continued to advance the ball. Swann was not "awarded extra yards." The refs spotted it properly.
Swann's first catch was one of the greatest plays I have ever seen!!!! He literally is out of bounds, comes back in bounds, floats in the air and makes the play... AMAZING!!! The bobbling catch falling to the ground speaks for itself. What concentration!!! The final catch for the touchdown is the same play as the bobbled one, a post vs man to man. The greatness of this play is not the catch, but Bradshaw's bravery to hang in the box vs an all out blitz, knowing he was going to get blasted, and throwing a perfect strike. Everybody talks about Mahomes and Brady being great, and they are. All I know is when the money was on the table, Bradshaw delivered.. EVERYTIME!!!! 4 Super Bowls, 4 wins. Great players make great plays in great games. Two of the best to do it. Thanks for posting!!!
I was in 4th grade in North Jersey and this was the first Super Bowl I really watched. I remember that night throwing my foam football to myself in my bedroom and purposely bobbling it before catching it. Lynn Swann turned that Super Bowl into his personal showcase…
You will not find Lynn Swann on anyone's list of all-time top ten receivers but he is undoubtedly the most fluid, graceful, and acrobatic reciever of all-time. You don't hear Terry Bradshaws name mentioned when discussing the greatest Quarterback ever but in the 4 Superbowls he played in he was superb. Arguably the best deep thrower ever.
Swann is on my personal list of all-time top FIVE NFL receivers. I don't care about inflated stats; I care about who can get it done when it counts the most, and nobody has ever been better at that than Swann.
Swann’s second reception is probably the indelible memory most people have of this game, and among the most iconic plays in SB history, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t lead to a Pittsburgh score. His first catch, the big play in Pittsburgh’s first quarter drive to tie the game, is the finest sideline catch I’ve seen in nearly 60 years watching football.
You are correct-- that second catch is the one replayed over and over again, and perhaps the most memorable catch in super bowl history, but the Steelers did not score on that drive. So it was really an inconsequential play, as great as it was.
As a kid, pretending to be a quarterback out in the back yard, it was this last throw I always imagined I was making to win the game. I wasn’t old enough to remember this game, but a few years after it, they still showed the highlight someplace where i recall seeing it.
Just before the snap on the TD catch, Tom Brookshier said the play would determine the game and left the booth to go to the Steelers locker room. Also, the narration by John Facenda in the "NFL Films Session on SBX" of Bradshaw to Swans TD catch was for the ages.
Lynn Swan inspired a good friend to take ballet lessons. He saw a news story that Mr Swan took lessons to improve his body control and my buddy, as a kid, thought this was his way into the NFL. Funny enough, it didn't help him become a better receiver but he's had a multi-decade career, and made a good living, as a dancer. Funny how some find their niche.
The 2nd catch was one of the most illustrious and iconic catches in NFL history. The last catch he had came when the Cowboys came with an all out blitz which left Swann in single coverage. Not only was it an incredible pass, but it came under an intense rush where Bradshaw got knock silly by Larry Cole. Bradshaw never got a chance to admire his efforts.
You can see the arm strength from TB , especially on the last throw. Must have been reassuring in his mind he had Swann to throw to, … or Stallworth. You can just see for an instant on the behind view the wallop Bradshaw was about to receive. Growing up along the east coastline in Canada, I always marvelled at the nice Super Bowl weather in January.
2:35 My Late Great Momma & I in living room Omaha NE … same place we saw Hail Mary vs Vikings … Steelers ripped hearts out of Vikings Cowboys Rams Fans … being a Shreveporter Terry Bradshaw Performances Salt In The Wound … Great Post … Thx For Posting! Cheers!
No critic has ever played a snap of high school football, lynn swann played professional football in the 1970s at 160 pounds,winning 4 super bowl rings as a member of the last true dynasty in NFL history
Super bowl 10 instantly turned me into a football fan and had to watch every Steelers game after that. Lynn Swann was my one and only favorite player and I went on to play wide receiver and of course wore#88 in H.S. I still have dreams of playing football 37 years later.
The first Super Bowl I watched in its entirety, I was 11 and although I was pulling for Dallas I have to say Swann earned MVP honors that day especially not being for sure if he was gonna play or not after getting knocked out of the AFC championship game against Oakland.
One of the most insane statistics I've ever seen is Bradshaw's career Yds/Att in SuperBowls an incredible 11.1 -- and an NFL record that might never be broken!
The block of Webster on the 2nd pass. He pushed Petersen about 15 yards away from Bradshaw, and the arm of Bradshaw on the 4th pass, that was about 65 yards in the air after having to reset his feet to launch it.
Wow. And Swann doesn’t get up pounding his chest saying “Look at me. Look what I did.” Miss those days when players just did their job and when we knew what a catch was without waiting 10 minutes for the replay to tell us.
Truly, a thing of beauty. Deep and perfect. NFL Films ranked it the greatest throw of all time: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OrSkwRiC0LY.html
I lived in NW Indiana the last 36 years. The local TV was from Chicago so I saw a lot of Bears action, and since Hoosier tax rates are lower than those in IL, many Chicagoans have migrated there, basically turning the area into a suburb of Chicago over the last 20 years. I just moved near Baltimore, and will be seeing a lot of Ravens games. Still, nothing has (and nothing will) surpass or even equal what the Steelers did then. Phenomenal.
Also, I grew up in Pittsburgh from ‘64 to ‘86, and the Steelers then are a good part of why the Steelers will always be my favorite team and why Pittsburgh will always be my favorite city. Thank you!
Lynn Swann credits his grace to ballet lessons his mother made him take as a child. I remember watching an interview with him about the deflected ball he caught at the 50 (2nd one, I believe). He said that ballet taught him to keep his body upright, and that allowed him the ability to see the ball and catch it. He also compared the body posture of himself to Mark Washington's in that Washington tumbled and fell with no sense of body position.
Lynn Swann was the very deserving MVP of Super Bowl X, and I'll bet the Cowboy defensive back assigned to cover him, Mark Washington, still has nightmares over this game.
This is still one of the Top 5 Super Bowl performances of All Time. 3 of those 4 catches are in the Top 50 Plays in Football history and 2 are in the Top 10!!!
For sure. It took a special breed of player to survive at QB in the ‘70s. It was open season. Stats didn’t matter… only winning mattered. Big plays in big moments. Fantasy football (and the mammoth stats-based gambling industry built around t) has ruined the NFL.
@@mrsatire9475Exactly, calling guys like Brady and Mahommes the best ever, is a joke. If they had to play in the 70s and 80s, they wouldn't have half the success that they have now. Bradshaw, Staubach and Montana are better than they are.
And Swann did this with no gloves. Ninety-nine percent of people don't realize how much harder it is to catch a football with bare hands compared to having gloves on. Gloves of today are like Lester Haynes stickum without residue.
Lynn Swann doesn't have eye-popping career stats, but no wide receiver did more with the time he played and the plays he made than Swann. Quality over quantity. If you have one game to win, and everything is on the line, there's nobody better than Swann!
If I could pick an all-time NFL team my starting WRs are Swann and Stallworth -- numbers/stats be damned. When they had to make the big plays, regular or post season, they always rose to the occassions. They didn't get to grab huge quantities of catches but on a team like this, making the plays they did with 3, 4, 5 receptions a game, with the hits they had to take from myriad great physical defenses, damn that's just sheer quality. I love Rice. Terrell, Moss and Carter, but pound for pound, it's Swann and Stallworth.
Incredible performance from the past catching duo! I had always known about “the immaculate reception” but didn’t know about the other 3 catches. Very impressive even by today’s standards
Mark Washington did everything right. Yet Swann still made those great plays. Between being there and this being one of the most replayed moments ever, I imagine Washington has had many nights where he's wakened up in a cold sweat.
@@chrisoakley5830 you're wrong on that one......Harris was only meant to block on the play......when Bradshaw scrambled and shook off Raider Tacklers......Franco did what he learned at Penn State.......If you are unblocked.....Drift to where the Ball is supposed to go......he moved himself down toward Fuqua, because that was the play. It was Luck that he caught it......but he actually created the Chance, by listening to his College Coach Joe Paterno........and it Paid Off......with less than 25 seconds on the Clock!
There’s a lot of hyperbole out there, but the greatest THROW in NFL history is that final pass. A five point lead with five minutes to go in the Super Bowl, a rush that knocks you out, 64 yards in the air, dead on target, to help ice the game. I’m not a Steeler fan, but the truth is the truth. And this the day after KC beat SF 25-22 in OT at SB 58.
Agreed.... BUT Big Ben's game winning touchdown throw to Santoino Holmes in front of AND between 3 defenders, ranks right up there as an NFL all timer as well.
Definitely the greatest game by a WR in a SB. That last catch was somewhat surprising since Swann wasn't exactly a burner and somehow managed to get behind Washington......but hey, we will take it!!!
Stats, schmats. Fantasy football mentality has ruined the way the game is played and distorted what greatness means, making it about numbers instead of REAL production, clutch performance and winning. Greatness isn't just about "how many," it's about "HOW." It's the stage on which a player performs his impact on the game, the style with which he played the game, and the legacy he leaves behind. Swann hit it out of the park with all these things.
If you need to see a quarterback put a ball where only his receiver can get it and trust him to do so while the receiver also knows this and is making the step and jump to go get it, this is a clinic on that trust on both sides. Take a good look folks, you hardly see this anymore. The defense on each play was excellent and today qb's are told dont throw it into that coverage. That sideline pass and catch showed exceptional footwork
Agreed. 🎯 The NFL was less “turnover averse” in those days. The rules made it much harder to score compared to today’s game, so offenses had to take risks to score. Bradshaw had the arm to get it done, and IMO, Swann was by far the best receiver of the era. No receiver did more with such limited opportunities. Simply phenomenal.
@mcmillenandwife I was watching an off side camera that showed a hit from behind Swan by Jack Tatum to the base 8f his neck by a forearm at speed that knocked Swan down and out. He actually kept playing that game and caught passes. They played a man's game. Then again, guys died quite often on early college football. So it is always about perspective
@@ronharvey8442 This video (link below) is as brutal a shot as I’ve seen a receiver take. It’s in the first quarter, and Swann just pops up, trots back to the huddle, then goes on to rip the Browns apart (as usual). He was an amazing player. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ax80A1nD62Y.htmlsi=Jfb0IBPfMHKld4Pl
Promise as I sit here, I cried in the back seat on my way home from my Grandmas house in my first ever Super Bowl party. Yes, this Steeler team made a 10 yr old boy cry lol. My mom looked around at me and asked If I was crying because my team lost.... "NO' I yelled, I felt better and dried it up... oh and after she said "Dry it up back there, right now, there will be NO feelings in this household"
