November 24, 2014

"Like a swimmer diving into the pool at the start of a backstroke race, the 5-foot-11 receiver threw his body back toward the ball, stretched out his right arm as if it were made of Play-Doh..."

"... and caught the pass with three of his gloved fingers as he crash-landed in the short corner of the end zone. [Odell Beckham Jr.'s] left hand never touched the ball as the receiver pulled it in and pressed it against his stomach. The moment the official raised his arms in touchdown form, millions of witnesses in TV rooms everywhere turned to family and friends and said exactly what Victor Cruz tweeted: 'That's the best catch I've ever seen.'"

Video at that link. For efforts to capture it in a still, look here. The stills are pretty, but you can't really understand the effect without the video.

58 comments:

David53 said...

Best catch ever....in a loss.

FleetUSA said...

Geaux Tigers

sane_voter said...

This is the best catch I have ever seen. Also a BCS berth was on the line.

mccullough said...

He actually looked more like he was about to do the Fosbury Flop than a backstroker.

This is why the NFL is so popular and soccer is not in the US. Tremendous athleticism.

Ann Althouse said...

"This is the best catch I have ever seen. Also a BCS berth was on the line."

That was great, but that guy was not tormented by severe pass interference when it happened.

stan said...

Not the best catch ever. This is one is tougher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXRqyjzyBRg

PB said...

Nice catch, though not even close to the dive at the start of a backstroke race.

I've seen better. A real dive/leap forward going completely horizontal to grab the ball.

Tank said...

That dude is a great athlete with a great attitude. The Giants could use a dozen more.

Nonapod said...

Insane catch. Although to be fair you could probably scale a wall with those modern cutter gloves.

traditionalguy said...

He brings to mind Pele. Great balance of his center of gravity.

Joe Schmoe said...

The still shot by Adam Hunger is revealing. He looks like he barely has three fingers on the side of the ball. Note that the ball is falling at a terribly fast rate, so that in this photo, the ball should really not be caught. Deflected at best. This shot defies the physics involved.

Today's cameras (still and video) are so advanced now. Too bad Willie Mays' most famous catch is only a grainy black-and-white clip shot by a camera hundreds of feet away.

Larry J said...

It was a great catch. I wonder if those gloves were made from geckos or something. The way he gripped the ball was incredible. He has good genes - his father played football for LSU and his mother was a world class sprinter there as well.

Shanna said...

That was fantastic.

Also fantastic is the way the HOGS shut out Ole Miss! Woo Pig.

Fernandinande said...

Some guy caught a ball! A ball! With his hands!

So where's the bread?

Anonymous said...

Honestly, the gloves they have these days are as bad as Stick'em was, and should be outlawed from the game IMO.

Tibore said...

That catch was insane. It's the sort of catch that makes casual viewers of a team diehard fans. It's the sort of catch that makes fans look at each other and silently celebrate their shared fandom.

For me as a Colts fan, there are several up there: The Marvin Harrison diving one-armed catch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usKkYLRsIHs

... the Harrison tip-to-himself catch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tUWXWz9-Do

... the Dallas Clark one-handed catch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-09R2KGpFkI; resolution stinks, but the replay at the 20 second mark shows things better)...

So many plays to celebrate.

Giants fans will find that catch to be special. Things like that are shared memories for the fanbase. They'll love reliving the memories.

MadisonMan said...

Credit should be given to the QB who threw a ball that didn't wobble so the catch was possible. Still, an amazing example of athleticism and concentration to catch it.

Unknown said...

He regularly practices those one-handed catches, though without the defender repeatedly interfering.

And yes those gloves help but they all wear them, even qb's.

Anonymous said...

That catch was so good, my non-sports-watching mother in law called me a few minutes later to ask me if I had seen it. To be fair, though, it may not even be the greatest catch in Giants history, given that they have the David Tyree thing in a more monumental situation.

geokstr said...

"And yes those gloves help but they all wear them, even qb's."

Not all QB's do - Aaron Rodgers, for example. And the pgloves worn by the receivers are covered with SuperGlue or something. What use would such gloves be for a QB if they made it impossible to release the ball?

Dave in Tucson said...

Not even the first time that catch was made this year. And while Grimes wasn't interfered with, he's a DB, and not expected to be able to catch.

john burger said...

Yes, that was an amazing catch, especially with Carr all over him just before the reception. Wow.

jvb

Xmas said...

As a Pat's fan, this was the greatest catch ever (dammit...)

Helmet Catch

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

He is only 5'10" and he has ten inch fingers according to what I just heard on Rush, he said even the biggest basketball player has only 9 inchers.

Ann Althouse said...

"ten inch fingers"!

Where do you start the measurement, at the wrist?

I have 3-inch fingers, and I don't have small hands.

Sdv1949 said...

Jordan Westerkamp for the win!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c_DsfHFzkg

SteveR said...

NYG lost now 3-8

El Camino Real said...

Uh... backstroke swimmers do not dive to start the race. They are in the pool and push off at the start.

Tank said...

SteveR said...

NYG lost now 3-8


They have two SB victories in the last six years. What you got?

MadisonMan said...

backstroke swimmers do not dive to start the race

They arch their backs and dive in backwards. True, they're in the pool already when they start, but a good one can launch out of the water and then back in.

Joe Schmoe said...

As a Pat's fan, this was the greatest catch ever (dammit...)

Ditto. I'm also a diehard Pats' fan, and Tyree's helmet catch was the most improbable catch I've ever seen. Can't believe that ball never touched the ground.

Eli Manning also made the best throw ever, in my opinion, when he hit Mario Manningham on the sideline in the 2011 Super Bowl.

So even though Eli doesn't get anywhere near the adulation that his brother Peyton gets, Eli has now been involved in three of the greatest pass-catch combinations in the history of football.

Tibore said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
cliff claven said...

Pass interference can be blatant or obvious, not "severe." Your ignorance is showing, as it often does when you stray from your very limited areas of expertise.

Tibore said...

"Texas Annie said...
He is only 5'10" and he has ten inch fingers according to what I just heard on Rush, he said even the biggest basketball player has only 9 inchers.


That has to be a hand, not finger, measurement. Bill Russell's entire hand span measured in at 10 1/2 inches. Shaquille O'Neal's measured at 11. Yao Ming's was at 10, Wilt Chaimberlain's at 9 and a half. The 10 inch claim has got to be entire hand span. (Source: http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=261350)

If someone truly had fingers that long, they'd look something like Edward Scissorhands.

Henry said...

Lots of good highlight videos in this thread. Very enjoyable.

At a Patriot's fan I prefer highly probable catches.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Yeah, I think rush was referring to bottom of the palm to the fingertip, but he said ten inch fingers which made me grin.

Henry said...

Then there's this.

Anthony said...

Yeah, same thing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhN0OZA3aIs

There was another one I think this season in college that was pretty incredible. Can't remember when/who it was though.

twgin said...

OK, try this one, last year Cody Whitfield...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz8QuYkliKQ

SteveR said...

They have two SB victories in the last six years. What you got?

Mr Beckham acknowledged after the game that losing the game was all that mattered.

azbadger said...

Pass interference can be blatant or obvious, not "severe." Of course it can be "severe," Toby. There are different degrees of pass interference. Some are rather cheesy calls where the defender barely touches the the receiver, often accidentally. Then there is Duke Williams of the Bills earlier this year. He deliberately pushed Julian Edelman, knocking him to the ground while the ball was in the air. Carr's pass interference severely impeded Beckham.

Rick.T. said...

After viewing the recent Larry Fitzgerald commercial a few times where he catches a football in one hand and uses a phone in the other, I am less impressed with these one-handed catches. It seems like all they have to do is touch the ball and it sticks to the glove.

furious_a said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
richard mcenroe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
richard mcenroe said...

Deleted, wrong post...

Bob R said...

"That was great, but that guy was not tormented by severe pass interference when it happened."

In today's NFL that was "severe pass interference." It used to be called "good coverage." For instance see the best (at least my favorite) receiver of all time.

eddie willers said...

Also fantastic is the way the HOGS shut out Ole Miss! Woo Pig.

Please take care of Missouri this Friday.
UGA will thank you.

El Camino Real said...

Madison Man. You can't dive into the pool when you're already in the pool.

Matt said...

"Like a sports journalist reaching to fit a swimming analogy into an article about football, the 5-foot-11 receiver threw his body toward the ball, stretched out his right arm as if it were made of, I don't know, a children's toy - like a slinky or something . . ."

I'm Full of Soup said...

Eh good but not the best catch ever IMO. To be fair, I did not see it live and before I saw it, I heard from many people that it was the best catch ever so my expectations were way way too high kinda like my ho-hum reaction to seeing Star Wars months after it came out.

Meade said...

toby splains...

"Pass interference can be blatant or obvious, not "severe." Your ignorance is showing, as it often does when you stray from your very limited areas of expertise."



furious_a said...

Lynn Swann, vs. Cowboys, Super Bowl X. No Spider Man gloves.

Ann Althouse said...

"Pass interference can be blatant or obvious, not "severe." Your ignorance is showing, as it often does when you stray from your very limited areas of expertise."

That's like saying you can't call a murder "hideous" because there's only first degree, second degree, and third degree murder.

Unknown said...

It was a great catch. End of story.

David said...

When I was 32 years old I made a one handed over the shoulder catch for a TD on a dead run, took one step before I hit the tree and held on to the ball even though knocked out.

Only difference is that it was a Nerf ball. Well, one of the differences.

Guildofcannonballs said...

This is a link to a google search with the first result a three minute video of perhaps the greatest athletic feat of all-time, that, yes, is a catch.

Dave in Tucson said...

@NotauiteunBuckley, that Freeman catch was pretty amazing, but I'm not sure I'd call it exactly athletic. More just a great awareness of where the ball was, and that it was still live when he had a chance to pull it into his body.

If you want an example of a great one-handed catch by a Packer with (as Althouse says, "severe interference") how about this catch by Donald Driver, with the DB pretty much dragging him down to the ground?

JOB said...

Alas, a bright golden fringe to an otherwise grey cloud of a season for the G'ints.

I am hoping Packers will pick up the baton for us this year when they meet NE in the Super Bowl.

C'mon guys, willya? Deny Bellicek that twentieth ring, or whatever it is, and I'll wear green and gold for a week... I promise.