Love watching this play over and over and I'm a fan of neither team. Just insane. Based on the rule of what constitutes a lateral, this was one and call was correct. Ball was thrown and moved backwards.
yea there is a clear angle that shows he caught the ball behind the forward line it's close no doubt but that angle shows you it was behind and not a forward pass
Still makes me tear up with joy, after many years. Great moment. It was the first Titans game I watched when they were new here in Nashville. Hardly missed a game since. Fairytale ending!
I was watching this at my then girlfriends apartment, downtown Nashville. When this happened, we heard every surrounding room suddenly started screaming and shouting and jumping around. The noise didn't calm down for at least 15 minutes. One of those moments you'll never forget until the day you die.
JeremysRants Jim Kelly is a first-ballot hall-of-famer. name another Super Bowl that Tennessee went to one-year fluke Buffalo repeatedly had greatness only team to win 4 straight AFC championships thanks
With the replay breakdown, it's pretty clear this was a lateral. What amazes me to this day is how the officials called it right in real time, because the players' movements sure created the illusion of a forward pass at real speed.
It was a forward pass. The Bill's should have kicked the titans ass in this game but had buffalo rightfully won they dont get to the SB unless flutie is reinserted. I like the Tennessee titans but this was not a lateral.
@Justin Young how can you possibly look at the movement of the ball from 1:57 to 2:01 and call that a forward pass? I do agree with you that if Flutie plays the Bills win.
Justin Young a lateral is a pass thrown behind the player or sideways. Frank was in front of the line and when Dyson caught it on the line, so clearly Frank was throwing back. If you can’t see that you’re blind.
I have not once been able to watch this without tearing up. I was a sophomore in HS and just getting into football. Before life starts letting you down and you have endless optimism, I remember watching as my dad walked up the stairs in disgust and thinking to myself "there's still time, we can do it." KICK, CATCH, TOSS...and Dyson was off to the races! I was screaming incoherently at the top of my lungs. Touchdown! My dad comes thundering down the steps as I am losing my mind screaming "WHAT, WHAT?" "WE WON" I screamed as he starts yelling at the tv to do the replay again! Yall core memory! Fast forward 22 years and I am a season ticket holder! #TITANUP
I was drunk in a bar in Amsterdam when I saw it happen.....The Dutch guy in the pub turned the game just for me......3 American guys were from Buffalo.....They were sick after the game
I was there. Very top row in the stadium. It was fun to watch all of the "fans" that had left the game after the field goal SPRINT back into the stadium. Me and my dad, god rest his soul. I was 21. What a memory...
I really liked the Titans when I was a kid, and I will never forget seeing this live and flipping my couch cushions all over the living room as it happened. Still to this day one of the most miraculous sports things I've ever seen.
I remember i was what like 12 and we were listening on the radio in my dads truck I think we were coming back from visiting my Grandma or something I remember them saying Bills win or whatever then 'ITS A MIRACLE!'
This is why 7-9, 8-8 mediocre-ass Jeff Fisher had a head coaching job(s) as long as he did. Without this play, he wouldn't have gone to the Super Bowl, he wouldn't have lasted that long in Tennessee AND he probably wouldn't have got hired by St. Louis.
I was there.. When the referee confirmed it was a lateral and TD, My God I have never to this day heard a crowd pop like that!! I get goosebumps thinking about it!!!
I still wish the Titans won the superbowl. Air McNair needed that so much. I miss you McNair, hopefully this season is the start of a great few years of the Titans, and seeing how the Rams are now in LA, I can finally go and see a game, and wear the #9 Jersey I had since 99-2000, rooting for my Titans!
The local radio call is the one in infamy, but the banter between Patrick, Theissman and McGuire is great, not to mention how Mike Patrick got completely drowned out by the crowd during the return.
Gotta feel for Wade Phillips. He always seems to be on the heartbreak side of these moments. He held the Patriots to 13 points in the Super Bowl and the Rams powerhouse offense only came up with 3 points.
nocalsteve wade really messed up this game. The bills took the lead with a field goal right before this play, and could’ve ran the clock down, but left 20 seconds on the clock. This play should’ve never happened...
I watched this as it was happening, beer in hand, screaming as loud as I could, and nearly putting a hole in the floor from jumping up and down. I was horse for two days and we talked about nothing else at work for the rest of the season. Wycheck is still my hero for making that lateral, and when Kevin Dyson crossed the goal line I cried.
When I watched this live I was cheering for the Titans, and did not celebrate because I thought it was a forward pass. The replay at 2:05 was when I celebrated. But for some reason the network never showed it again and it was in no highlight shows. Never understood why the clearest evidence was ignored, even to this day. It's right there.
2:05 gives the best angle, wish they had kept going to that one. Only the initial play looked like a forward lateral from the camera angle, most others were inconclusive, but 2:05 is very clearly a lateral. Caught this play on radio, travelling across the country.
The ball was thrown from the 25 and a half yard line and caught at the 25 and a half yard line. I'm definitely not a Titans fan, but the replay doesn't lie.
I disagree. It's third down, and if the play is kept in bounds, you can't spike it if you don't convert. Getting the field goal team on the field in a blown situation like that would be very difficult. If you make such a kick, the real crime is giving up a touchdown on the kickoff right after.
And yet Scheffer, Wade Phillips, and others still saying the moronic nonsensical asinine delusional unintelligent damn lie it's a forward pass and a mistake. No Wade Phillips the mistake is starting Johnson along with Bills not remaining in their lanes, and not kicking the ball out of bounds so Titans couldn't use this perfect miracle lateral play. The Bills choked and lost fair and square and no 1 at all to blame but themselves for this royal embarrassment that is karma for the Bills excellent comeback win vs the Oilers in a Wild Card game. The fact that Mythbusters needs to confirm the obvious so they'll quit saying a damn lie is a royal embarrassment.
Joe Theismann - the only network broadcaster that had the call right FROM JUMP. And he NEVER backed down from saying it was not as "obvious" a forward pass as the other two broadcasters (Mike Patrick and Paul Maguire) persisted, and for a good while (they insisting it HAD to be a forward pass.)
Ahhhh..wade Phillips such a calm, cool coach, never one to scream or rant, always the consummate professional..by the way in case you were wondering what he whispered at 0:33..it was “ We just got f..kd, What’s for dinner??”
Yep, looks like a forward pass from the live broadcast angle but on replay you can see that it's a lateral. Of course Bills fans focus only on that, and not the fact that their coverage team had a colossal fuck-up either way.
Saw this LIVE. It was soooo funny seeing the Bills disapointment. Wade Phillips was a dufus just like Rob Johnson. I think Flutie was even benched before the Playoffs after he led the team there. This was awesome! Same year they played the Rams in the Superbowl.
Yup. Watch "Doug Flutie a football life" Doug said it wasn't Wade's decision. It was The jackass owner . Flutie would have won that game. And I'm a Titan fan . Great season!
I rmbr watching this. I dont think the call is bad. Everyone outside Tennessee didn’t know if the play would stand until we saw the replay. The reaction of the announcers during the play was just like rest of us watching at home. It happened so fast in real time. That said...looking at the replay...It’s a legal play. The ball went in a straight line. Doesn’t matter where the body of Kevin Dyson is.
@@AaronSaysSKOL I never thought i would have to " dummy down" this statement. I am well aware who is playing in this game, but the point I was getting at was the Jaguars could not beat the Titans that season, had this play not happened, the Titans would have been eliminated the Bills would have won the game and the Jaguars more than likely would have faced the Rams in the Super Bowl
i met lorenzo neal, he caught the kickoff, and i asked him about this win and he kept sayin "best feeling ever! best feeling ever!" over and over. good dude.
I remember watching the game, shaking my head through the play, saying, “It’s getting called back.” Then I saw the replay at 2:03 and went crazy and kept saying, “show that other replay again!” They never showed it again, even on the highlight shows. Clips of the original broadcast is the only place to find it. Ponderous.
I'm a Steelers fan, and their near-miracle at the end of the Dolphins game that involved an apparent forward pass that wasn't flagged brought me here. The officials clearly got this right. At 2:04 you get a perfect angle of the ball actually going back about 6 inches, so it was clearly a lateral. I don't get how ANYONE can dispute this, unless they are tripping on some hallucinogen or need their eyes checked.
The play actually had 2 outs that would allow it to work ... it was designed #1) for a long kick, #2) for a pouch kick. That is why Wycheck was lined up where they had him and Dyson was deep ... to ensure it was a clear lateral. The kick the Bills gave him was the 1 kick they weren't prepared for, which is why Neal fielded the kick and had to sloppily find a way to handoff to Wycheck ... then Dyson over-read the kick and ran up too far, which is why he had to sprint backward and nearly hit the ground just to field the lateral. The fact the Wycheck and Dyson found some way to get their ball in their hands before coverage got there was a miracle in and of itself.
I watched this live and after the lateral the announcer said “I think he’s got something.. I think he’s got something.. I THINK HES GOT IT” as he was running down the sideline 💯
