OT: RIP Franco Harris
December 21st, 2022 at 8:21 AM ^
And they had just showed commercials of the Immaculate Reception special they are going to air.
December 21st, 2022 at 8:29 AM ^
Here's some footage from the original broadcast. It was Harris' rookie year. Rest in peace, Dude; you made a lot of people happy over the years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHIXFKrrUhA
December 21st, 2022 at 9:10 AM ^
That initial hit, today, would get flagged for targeting or defenseless receiver. Boy, football was so much more brutal back in the day.
December 21st, 2022 at 3:43 PM ^
the nfl today is like a huge fraternity, they are all friends and change teams frequently. there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not the same sport for sure.
back in the 70’s players literally hated each other, there were fewer teams and contracts were different.
i had the pleasure of seeing Eric Hipple speak about suicide a few years back (he works with UM Healthcare) and his cold open was a youtube video of him getting sacked out of bounds vs the buccaneers. it’s a brutal and very late hit and there wasn’t even a flag thrown. he joked that if you wanted to watch it again just search “Hipple gets destroyed”. Here’s the video:
December 21st, 2022 at 9:34 AM ^
Harris was criticized during his career as a guy who would go out of bounds rather than absorb varying degrees of punishment for a few extra yards, with Walter Payton being the he-man comparison. Seems like he outlived Walter by a couple of decades, so maybe Franco was just ahead of his time. RIP, #32
December 21st, 2022 at 9:55 AM ^
Yes, I remember the criticism, but it was later on after he had been with the Steelers several seasons. I don't blame him. He probably got a couple extra years playing by not taking those hits.
December 21st, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
Agree. That was more at the very end of his career, after he had taken a career-long beating. Besides, despite all the he-man talk around football, I've never been convinced taking a killer beating for an extra yard once you've gained 8-15 around the end matters much anyway.
It does at specific times -- on third-or-fourth-and-one, for instance, of course -- but think of Corum or Edwards skipping out of bounds after a 40 yard run late in this very season. Essentially fine by me. Protect yourself, save yourself for those plays where the extra yards matter.
What's that saying? The most important ability is availability?
December 21st, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
you are obviously correct here, once you have gotten the first down, 1 more yard does essentially nothing to add expected points.
But the two examples you give are pretty silly. Both the Corum and Edwards long runs could have netted much more than just an extra yard or two. Corum's, in particular, felt like he left a touchdown on the field.
Now, of course, this has been discussed at some length, that perhaps the coahes were happy to set points on fire in hopes of minimizing the probability of injuries. But we should still be clear: in these two cases, we were setting (expected) points (added) on fire, not just making a 46 yard run into a 45 yard run or whatever.
December 21st, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
Cool (I think) and relevant related story bro: I can't source this in the moment, but one of my cousins (playing CB on a rival team) once knocked Franco out of game temporarily when he was at Penn State. I'm told a rib (of Franco's) was fractured.
December 21st, 2022 at 2:41 PM ^
wtf does this have to do with walter payton? he died of liver disease.
December 22nd, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
Liver disease that was brought on by long term use of pain medication.
December 21st, 2022 at 5:56 PM ^
It depends on the game situation, and who is bearing down one them - versus a LB or an athletic DL, sure it's TD-First Down-OB. But against some poor tackling CB, a cutback can break a tackle and go a long way and possibly make the difference in the game.
December 21st, 2022 at 9:54 AM ^
Yeah that was my first thought, I just saw that commercial a few days ago...
December 21st, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
Top 6 RB IMO. Maybe it's because I grew up a Pittsburgh fan rather than a Dallas fan. He was a major part of one of the best dynasties in Pro Football history. RIP Franco
December 21st, 2022 at 4:05 PM ^
Since I grew up in Detroit, yah the Lions, I adopted the Steelers as my team in 1974 before they won their first superbowl. I think it started because of the DL nickname, the Steel Curtain with Mean Joe Green, LC Greenwood, Dwight White, and Earnie Holmes. Then I remember the famous backfield combo of Harris and Rocky Blier. And of course there was Bradshaw, Mel Blount, and Jack Ham. What fun timing it was to adopt a team, considered unlikely to make the Superbowl in 1974, and root for them through their run of 4 championships.
RIP Franco
December 21st, 2022 at 8:23 AM ^
He looked just like my dad. That was my weird connection to him. Both have passed... But a strange feeling seeing Harris go... Seemed like an ambassador for the game and a good guy overall
I always thought the immaculate reception was fake because the camera angle they always show doesn't really show the whole play. Just an odd angle since back then there weren't 100 cameras and the deflection probably fooled the camera man
December 21st, 2022 at 9:57 AM ^
"was fake"
Stop with the blasphemy. And don't ask Frenchy Fuqua any questions.
December 21st, 2022 at 10:16 AM ^
Even if Fuqua had touched it (looks to me like he didn't), the ball would not have bounced backward that far with that velocity if Tatum hadn't knocked it back.
December 21st, 2022 at 11:04 AM ^
The point will never resonate with the Raiders and I'm good with that.
December 21st, 2022 at 8:29 AM ^
The timing feels like an awful joke.
For anyone interested, NFL Network this Friday night is airing Franco's "A Football Life" episode immediately before a one-hour special on the Immaculate Reception.
My father and I attended that game -- top row, in the end zone where Franco scored. He just bought us T-shirts featuring a diagram of the play. (He's 84 and still an avid fan.)
December 21st, 2022 at 5:59 PM ^
I started watching that on YouTube a few hours ago and had to stop mid-way. Came back back a few minutes ago and the NFL had taken it down.
December 21st, 2022 at 8:31 AM ^
Almost every day something happens that makes me feel old and very mortal.
Rest in peace, Franco.
December 21st, 2022 at 8:39 AM ^
yep, that is the way of things.
December 21st, 2022 at 6:14 PM ^
Almost every day something happens that makes me feel old and very mortal.
I just lost my mother a few minutes before midnight this past Sunday.
So yeah, very old and mortal indeed..
December 21st, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^
Class guy on my least favorite NFL team.
December 21st, 2022 at 9:58 AM ^
Brownies fan?
December 21st, 2022 at 1:34 PM ^
The Browns were my mistress (my goomah, as they'd say in The Sopranos) especially in the pre-Barry Sanders era.
Before that, my childhood team was the Roger Staubach Cowboys. So, yeah, didn't like the Steelers. Still don't. But Franco was a dude. It wasn't his fault that the ref threw a block on Cliff Harris and allowed #32 to score the dagger against the Cowbows in SBXIII.
December 21st, 2022 at 11:36 AM ^
Funny you say that. I was, in my (very) youth, a Dolphins fan, so I cheered against those Steelers as well. Only later did I realize how poor my choice is. For a damned entertaining read, pick up Roy Blount's About Three Bricks Shy of a Load. Those Steeler teams were made up of great characters, were owned by a class family, and God knows, after decades of incompetence and failure -- cough, cough, Lions, cough -- they deserved their success.
December 21st, 2022 at 8:39 AM ^
wow, a memory of my youth. There were some mighty clashes back then. I fondly remember the Steelers beating the Cowboys in the Superbowl. Bradshaw, Swann, Stallworth, Harris, the Steel Curtain.
RIP.
December 21st, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
Those were some great Cowboys teams then. Add in the Raiders and that was some good stuff.
RIP another memory of my youth.
December 21st, 2022 at 8:44 AM ^
Very sad. One of the first football games that I have memories watching.
December 21st, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
We couldn't watch it on TV in Pittsburgh. You had to go to Erie to watch the game on TV. Home games had black outs.
December 21st, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
I loved the Raiders of that time with the innocence of the young kid I was, so The Immaculate Reception crushed 12 year-old me. Six years later, the rule that made it controversial was eliminated. That was a great rivalry. RIP.
December 21st, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
Ditto here. I was about 8-9 and was just getting into football, and was a Raiders fan with Stabler, Branch, Biletnikoff, Casper, Coach Madden, etc. Those Steeler games were epic, some of my earliest football memories. Watched this game live.
December 21st, 2022 at 2:51 PM ^
Was a Raiders fan as well. I remember the defense. Otis Sistrunk, Willie Brown, Jack Tatum
December 21st, 2022 at 6:09 PM ^
I think I might been in Erie too (with my family visiting relatives for the holidays) for that one.
IIRC the blackout was 75 miles, and I think Erie is just over 100 miles from Pittsburgh (and even less than that to Cleveland and Buffalo), so loyalties there could be divided or shift, depending on fortunes of the teams, and apparently Erie got a lot of visitors on the weekends for games until the rule changed.
December 21st, 2022 at 8:46 AM ^
Has made the final immaculate reception
December 21st, 2022 at 9:11 AM ^
When I started watching football Franco Harris was the quintessential running back. RIP
December 21st, 2022 at 9:23 AM ^
IIRC, Lydell Mitchell came out of Penn State as the top running back in the draft, and teammate Franco was lesser known. Do any of you know the name of Lydell Mitchell today? Even after four years of college, nobody knew what Franco would become.
December 21st, 2022 at 9:42 AM ^
I remember this
December 21st, 2022 at 10:06 AM ^
Oh Mitchell was fantastic with Franco at PSU
December 21st, 2022 at 2:02 PM ^
Harris was the fullback at PSU. Mitchell was the featured back. This was not unlike Gordon Bell and Rob Lytle at Michigan. Lytle became the featured back after Bell graduated, but Harris and Mitchell came out at the same time so most fans did not know how great Harris was coming out of college.
I remember the first time I heard his name. I didn't know if was Franco Harris or Frank O'Harris.
What a great player.
December 21st, 2022 at 9:31 AM ^
He seemed to be universally liked by anyone who came in contact with him. From a Browns fan, rest in peace.
Having said that, the ball hit the ground.
December 21st, 2022 at 9:59 AM ^
Never hit the ground. Total bullshit. It's football reality and legend! :-)
Here's proof. It's a good 5-7 inches off the ground.
December 21st, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
I say this thinking the ball never hit the ground.
December 21st, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
The reverse angle replay seems pretty conclusive to me that he caught it about shin level. It's not even close to hitting the ground (maybe ankle level at most, but lore makes it sound like it was an inch off the ground at most).
Sorry, can't embed because NFL won't allow it, you have to click through to YouTube.
December 21st, 2022 at 2:28 PM ^
The ball clearly didn't touch the ground. But if it touched Fuqua - the offensive player - then Franco Harris could not legally catch the ball.
December 21st, 2022 at 5:28 PM ^
Unless it also touched Tatum, which it most certainly did. The controversy around this play is entirely contrived.
December 21st, 2022 at 6:19 PM ^
If it had hit the ground, Harris would have slowed down, rather than accelerating through the catch.
In the Football Life documentary, they interviewed the former director of the CIA who reviewed the film and said as much, and that the film shows what is consistent with the call: catch, TD.