The Tackle - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The final play of Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV featured the National Football Conference champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference champion Tennessee Titans in an American football game to decide the National Football League champion for the 1999 regular season...

(also known as The Tackle and One Yard Short) happened in a game played between the St. Louis Rams

St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...

and the Tennessee Titans

Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...

on January 30, 2000. It resulted in Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson

Kevin Dyson

Kevin Tyree Dyson is a former American football wide receiver of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Tennessee Oilers 16th overall in the 1998 NFL Draft. He played college football at Utah....

being tackled by Rams linebacker Mike Jones

Mike Jones (football)

Michael Anthony Jones is an American football coach and former player in the National Football League . During his twelve-year NFL career he played linebacker for three teams: the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, the St...

at the one-yard line, preserving a 23–16 Rams victory. It remains one of the most memorable plays in NFL history.

Legacy

Given the pressure of the Super Bowl and the wild game that preceded it, "The Tackle" and/or "One Yard Short" is considered one of the most exciting game-ending plays in recent National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

history. The image of Dyson stretching the ball towards the goal line with Jones wrapped around him has become a staple of NFL highlights, especially in the participating teams' markets. ESPN.com ranked The Tackle as the 35th greatest moment of the past 25 years in sports (as of 2007) and the second-greatest moment in Super Bowl history.

Going into the Super Bowl, the Rams' defense, including Jones, was a powerful and stout unit, overshadowed by the team's high-powered offense, known as The Greatest Show on Turf

The Greatest Show on Turf

"The Greatest Show on Turf" was the nickname for the St. Louis Rams' considerably talented and famous record-breaking offense during the 1999, 2000, and 2001 National Football League seasons. The offense was designed by attack oriented offensive coordinator Mike Martz who advocated an unrelenting...

Play

The Titans had just used their last timeout with six seconds remaining. The Titans had driven to the Rams' 10 yard line and, trailing by a touchdown

Touchdown

A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

, had one last chance to tie the game (or win it with a two-point conversion

Two-point conversion

In American and Canadian football, a two-point conversion is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point convert immediately after it scores a touchdown...

). The Titans executed a plan wherein tight end

Tight end

The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...

Frank Wycheck

Frank John Wycheck is a former American football tight end in the National Football League. Wycheck attended Archbishop Ryan High School in Northeast Philadelphia. Drafted in sixth round of the 1993 NFL Draft out of the University of Maryland by the Washington Redskins...

would run straight up the field on the right side in order to lure Jones away from Dyson, who would slant left over the middle. With Jones focused on Wycheck, quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

Steve McNair

Stephen LaTreal McNair was an American football quarterback who spent the majority of his NFL career with the Tennessee Titans....

would pass the ball to Dyson, who would be open from about five yards out for the score.

At the outset, the play was proceeding as the Titans envisioned. Jones stayed with Wycheck on the streak route from the beginning of the play. After McNair fired to an open Dyson, Jones, now at the goal line, glanced over his left shoulder and noticed Dyson catching the ball. Jones then switched directions and managed to wrap up Dyson's legs approximately two and a half yards from the goal line.

With his legs immobilized, Dyson then attempted to reach towards the end zone and breach the plane with the ball. Both players then went into a rolling motion of sorts as Dyson—his back in the air but nearly touching the ground, as his legs were on top of Jones—outstretched his hand with the football towards the goal line in the hopes of scoring the touchdown.

The call

ABC Sports broadcaster Al Michaels

Al Michaels

Alan Richard "Al" Michaels is an American television sportscaster. Now employed by NBC Sports after nearly three decades with ABC Sports, Michaels is one of the most prominent members of his profession...

made the following call as the play happened:

"It is caught by Dyson. Can he get in? NO, HE CANNOT! Mike Jones made the tackle...and the Rams have won the Super Bowl!"

Al Michaels, after the game, said this about Mike Jones:

"Mike Jones, the linebacker—you don't hear a lot about him—he is the guy that was able to take Dyson down before he got to the goal line."

The St. Louis Rams radio announcer, Mike Bush

Mike Bush

Mike Bush is a veteran, award winning news anchor/reporter for KSDK-TV in St. Louis, Missouri.- Biography :At the time of this writing, he is the anchor for Newschannel5's 5, and 10pm newscasts...

, made the call as it happened:

"Back to throw is McNair. He's got Kevin Dyson. Reaches for the goal line. No! He falls at the one. Time runs out. That's it!"

Mike Bush, after seconds of St. Louis celebrating, said this:

"St. Louis, the Gateway to the West, is now the gateway to the BEST...football team in the world!"

The Tennessee Titans radio announcers, Mike Keith

Mike Keith (announcer)

Mike Keith is the radio play-by-play voice of the NFL's Tennessee Titans. A native of Franklin, Tennessee, Keith's career began in 1987, when he worked as a student for the University of Tennessee's Vol Radio Network, one year after graduating from Franklin's Battle Ground Academy...

and Pat Ryan

Pat Ryan

Patrick J. C. Ryan is a Canadian curler originally from Edmonton, Alberta. Ryan is a former World Champion skip, and three time Brier champion. Ryan currently lives in Toronto....

called on the play:

"McNair drops, throws, right side for Dyson. He dives for the end zone!"
"He didn't make it."
"He came up one yard short. The Rams win by a yard!"

Westwood One

Westwood One was an American radio network and was based in New York City. At one time, it was managed by CBS Radio, the radio arm of CBS Corporation, and Viacom and was later purchased by the private equity firm The Gores Group...

/CBS Radio Sports broadcaster Howard David

Howard David

-Biography:Over the years, David has been the radio play-by-play man for several pro sports teams including the NBA's New Jersey Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Boston Celtics, and the NFL's New York Jets and Miami Dolphins...

, during the national radio broadcast of the game:

"Shotgun for McNair...takes the snap, looks to the right, throws...and it's complete to Dyson at the one yard line and he's stopped short! The clock strikes triple zero. Kevin Dyson caught the ball and Mike Jones made the tackle at the one yard line to preserve a win for the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV."

St. Louis Rams

head coach Dick Vermeil

Dick Vermeil

Richard Albert "Dick" Vermeil is a former American head coach for the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles , St. Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs...

after the play (captured by NFL Films

NFL Films

NFL Films is a Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based company devoted to producing commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries on the National Football League, as well as other unrelated major events and awards shows...

"Didn't make it, Didn't make it, no, no, that's it, we won it, wooohooo! That's the game, it's over, it's over, we're world champions!"

Legacy

Play

The call

See also