Hail Mary Pass
A Hail Mary pass ( IPA : [heɪl mɛɹi Paes]) is a turn of the offense in American football . It is a very long forward pass that has little chance of success. It is therefore almost only attempted towards the end of the game.
origin
The term goes back to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players who are said to have prayed the Ave Maria after every touchdown , whereupon they were able to win against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 13 to 3.
Move
With a Hail Mary Pass, all receivers run a fly route , i.e. straight ahead as quickly as possible in the direction of the opposing end zone. The quarterback is usually in the shotgun to have more time to attempt the pass. The opposing defense usually deploy three men to guard the zone where the football is likely to be thrown. The rest of the defense is played by man coverage. The quarterback tries to throw the ball as far as possible. Since the defense by the low standing men has a great advantage, it usually succeeds in blocking or intercepting the ball.
Establishment of the term
However, the term was only established in an interview after a game of the Dallas Cowboys against the Minnesota Vikings in 1975. The quarterback of the Cowboys, Roger Staubach , threw the ball to Drew Pearson , who was covered by an opposing player, but still catch the pass could and thus scored the decisive touchdown.
In the interview afterwards, Staubach said: You mean [Pearson] caught the ball and ran in for the touchdown? It was just a Hail Mary pass; a very, very lucky play. ("They said that he (Pearson) caught the ball and scored a touchdown? It was a Hail Mary pass , an incredibly lucky coincidence".) And on I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary . ("I closed my eyes and said an Ave Maria".).
Later there were other cases in which players could make similarly improbable moves and thus achieve victory at the crucial moment. In some cases, passes over 70 yards were caught in the last second.
Individual evidence
- ↑ nfl-crush.com: Definition of the Hail Mary Pass
- ↑ drewpearson88.com: Famous Drew Pearson "Hail Mary" Reception ( Memento of the original from July 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
