Five Most Memorable Super Bowl Moments

The Super Bowl is the biggest stage the NFL has to offer. As the grand finale to the regular and postseason, the Super Bowl is where everyone puts everything on the line to raise the Lombardi Trophy.

As is always hoped by broadcasters, this makes the Super Bowl particularly prone to huge moments. In fact, there’s been so many that boiling it down to just the five most memorable Super Bowl moments is quite the task.

With each offering something a bit different to stick in the minds of American football fans, these are five of the most memorable moments in Super Bowl history.

Didn’t Mean to Score that Touchdown

At Super Bowl XLVI in 2012, the New York Giants were well on their way to a victory. At just two points down and in the red zone with one minute left, the aim was to burn time and tee up a field goal.

Eli Manning handed the ball to running back Ahmad Bradshaw, tasking him with making up a bit of ground and going down. Expecting some resistance, Bradshaw put in too much effort for what the defence showed.

Being coached by Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots made the smart play to just move aside for Bradshaw to allow the TD and have the most time possible to try and make up the four or five-point deficit.

So, while a crowning moment for most players, Bradshaw’s touchdown was entirely accidental. Bradshaw’s awkward attempt to stop his forward momentum at the goal line did end up being the Super Bowl-winning play.

Elway’s Helicopter Dive

It was third and six with the score tied at 17-17 in the third quarter between the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers at Super Bowl XXXII. The ball was ready to be snapped to now-legendary quarterback John Elway.

He took the ball well, stepped back, assessed his options, and then flew through the broken line of scrimmage with ease. As Elway charged towards the end zone, three Packers defenders converged on his path.

Just eight yards out, Elway took to the air. He flew forward, tucked the ball to his chest, took a low hit to his left, a mid-level hit from the right, and spun into and over yet another defender coming in from his left side.

Now known as the ‘Helicopter Dive,’ it set up a Broncos touchdown just two plays later – which was put away by Super Bowl MVP Terrell Davis – and is seen as the defining moment of the big game in 1998.

Seeing memorable Super Bowl moments like this from quarterbacks has fans turn to the NFL betting to back the more audacious props on star QBs each year.

A Hand and a Helmet to Make the Catch

Again, we return to a battle between Eli Manning and the New York Giants against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, only this time, it’s at Super Bowl XLII in 2008.

On this play, Manning’s offensive line had fallen apart and he was forced to scramble around the backfield on a completely broken play. Defying what every coach would tell him, the QB lobbed into triple coverage.

His target was David Tyree, who leapt up, got one hand on the ball, and managed to secure it by holding the pass to his helmet. The receiver came down to the turf with the ball pinned to his head, finishing the 32-yard play.

With just one minute left, Manning used the momentum of the ‘Helmet Catch’ to fly towards the undefeated Patriots’ end zone and, four plays later, send the game-winning TD pass to Plaxico Burress.

A Colossal Comeback and Overtime

Easily one of the most thrilling games of the modern era, this time, Tom Brady was on the winning side of one of the most memorable Super Bowl moments.

Down 28-3 at halftime to the relentless Atlanta Falcons, Brady and Belichick orchestrated the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history to make the scores level at 28-28 and trigger the big game’s first ever overtime.

Therein, the Pats won the coin toss, elected to receive the ball, and went from their 25-yard line all the way to a final two-yard scramble from James White.

The running back was judged to have extended himself just enough to break the plane before his knee went down and score the winning touchdown, securing the epic comeback in the first-ever Super Bowl overtime period.

Super Bowl LI of 2017 is still only one of two Super Bowls to go to overtime, but that won’t stop punters from taking the long odds on there to be overtime again in the betting lines each year.

Pick it to Win it

In a clash between one of the most decorated Super Bowl coach-QB duos of all time against the most menacing defence in recent memory, the Patriots and Seattle Seahawks battled over a tight game at Super Bowl XLIX.

The ‘Legion of Boom’ had put in a good shift to hold the Patriots to 14 points through three quarters while the Seahawks collected 24 points. In the fourth, though, Brady and Co. broke through with two scores.

Down 28-24, Russell Wilson somehow found Jermaine Kearse, who made an incredible catch to secure Seattle’s position at the opposing goal line. With 26 seconds to go, the path was clear: give the rock to Marshawn Lynch.

Regardless of the defensive front, the best running back in the league at the time would have powered through on his first or second crack as he was, after all, ‘Beast Mode.’

Instead, the call was to make a passing play.

Wilson stepped out, flung it, and it was duly picked off by rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler, who ended the game on the goal line. In a game the oddsmakers couldn’t call, it ended on the finest margin.