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Hail Mary Trivia


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The term "Hail Mary" was first used in the December 28, 1975 Wild card game between the Vikings and Cowboys. The term took off after Roger Staubach said after the game, "I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary."

 

Fran Tarkenton found out that his Dad died during the football game.

 

What was the name of Fran's Dad?

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The term "Hail Mary" was first used in the December 28, 1975 Wild card game between the Vikings and Cowboys. The term took off after Roger Staubach said after the game, "I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary."

The 50s 49ers used to run a somewhat similar deep play with YA Tittle and RC Owens and they called it the "Alley Oop" - though it was just Owens going deep and Tittle throwing a jump ball to him; and since he apparently could all but jump out of the stadium, it had a relatively good success rate.

 

The Falcons back in the late 70s-early 80s used to refer to the standard "Hail Mary" formation as "Big Ben."

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The 50s 49ers used to run a somewhat similar deep play with YA Tittle and RC Owens and they called it the "Alley Oop" - though it was just Owens going deep and Tittle throwing a jump ball to him; and since he apparently could all but jump out of the stadium, it had a relatively good success rate.

 

I recall reading somewhere that the Alley Oop was invented by accident one game, where Tittle just threw one up where only Owens could get at the ball - and since it worked, SFO formalized the play & started including it in the game plan by design.

 

On a related "50s SFO" theme ... when SFO was the 1st / only pro team running the shotgun formation, they typically used a 3 headed QB rotation for a couple of seasons - Tittle usually passed, Billy Kilmer usually ran, and the 3rd QB did a little of both - who was that 3rd QB?

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I recall reading somewhere that the Alley Oop was invented by accident one game, where Tittle just threw one up where only Owens could get at the ball - and since it worked, SFO formalized the play & started including it in the game plan by design.

 

On a related "50s SFO" theme ... when SFO was the 1st / only pro team running the shotgun formation, they typically used a 3 headed QB rotation for a couple of seasons - Tittle usually passed, Billy Kilmer usually ran, and the 3rd QB did a little of both - who was that 3rd QB?

Dan Pastorini?

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On a related "50s SFO" theme ... when SFO was the 1st / only pro team running the shotgun formation, they typically used a 3 headed QB rotation for a couple of seasons - Tittle usually passed, Billy Kilmer usually ran, and the 3rd QB did a little of both - who was that 3rd QB?

 

John Brodie didn't play back then, did he?

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Another interesting twist...

 

Armen Terzian is the official that didn't call the offensive pass interference call against Drew Pearson that many were looking for. Another non-call ended Armen Terzian's career in the NFL, this time as a replay booth official in a 1988 game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. Terzian failed to review a play where the on-field officials had erroneously awarded a safety to the New York Giants. Terzian's mistake provided the margin of victory, as the Giants defeated the Cowboys by a score of 12-10. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Terzian for two games following the error, but Terzian chose to resign.

 

One play for the Cowboys, and one against them that ended his career.

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Another interesting twist...

 

Armen Terzian is the official that didn't call the offensive pass interference call against Drew Pearson that many were looking for. Another non-call ended Armen Terzian's career in the NFL, this time as a replay booth official in a 1988 game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. Terzian failed to review a play where the on-field officials had erroneously awarded a safety to the New York Giants. Terzian's mistake provided the margin of victory, as the Giants defeated the Cowboys by a score of 12-10. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Terzian for two games following the error, but Terzian chose to resign.

 

One play for the Cowboys, and one against them that ended his career.

 

The moral of the story being "if you're going to blow a call, make sure it's in Dallas' favor."

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I recall reading somewhere that the Alley Oop was invented by accident one game, where Tittle just threw one up where only Owens could get at the ball - and since it worked, SFO formalized the play & started including it in the game plan by design.

 

On a related "50s SFO" theme ... when SFO was the 1st / only pro team running the shotgun formation, they typically used a 3 headed QB rotation for a couple of seasons - Tittle usually passed, Billy Kilmer usually ran, and the 3rd QB did a little of both - who was that 3rd QB?

 

Jackie Moon?

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John Brodie didn't play back then, did he?

Actually, you are more correct than I was, LOL - I just looked it up, and Tittle was gone from SFO by the time they were using the 3QB system for a short while - it was Brodie not Tittle doing the passing ... and Bobby Waters was the 3rd QB in the rotation, at least I remebered that part correctly.

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Another interesting twist...

 

Armen Terzian is the official that didn't call the offensive pass interference call against Drew Pearson that many were looking for. Another non-call ended Armen Terzian's career in the NFL, this time as a replay booth official in a 1988 game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. Terzian failed to review a play where the on-field officials had erroneously awarded a safety to the New York Giants. Terzian's mistake provided the margin of victory, as the Giants defeated the Cowboys by a score of 12-10. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Terzian for two games following the error, but Terzian chose to resign.

 

One play for the Cowboys, and one against them that ended his career.

 

 

I have to admit I'm somewhat proud to say the whiskey bottle thrown from the Met Stadium stands that clocked said incompetent official following the missed call came from the section where my parents had season tickets. Dad always said he didn't throw it, but Mom was unusually quiet when that topic came up. Hmmm...

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I recall reading somewhere that the Alley Oop was invented by accident one game, where Tittle just threw one up where only Owens could get at the ball - and since it worked, SFO formalized the play & started including it in the game plan by design.

 

On a related "50s SFO" theme ... when SFO was the 1st / only pro team running the shotgun formation, they typically used a 3 headed QB rotation for a couple of seasons - Tittle usually passed, Billy Kilmer usually ran, and the 3rd QB did a little of both - who was that 3rd QB?

 

 

What does the "o" stand for in your post when typing SFO ?

I know San Francisco Airport code is SFO but I did an abbreviation search for SFO and came up empty ?

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What does the "o" stand for in your post when typing SFO ?

I know San Francisco Airport code is SFO but I did an abbreviation search for SFO and came up empty ?

Some programs use all 3-letter codes for NFL teams/cities. So a letter was added to SF, and "O" was the choice for the last letter of the city.

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Some programs use all 3-letter codes for NFL teams/cities. So a letter was added to SF, and "O" was the choice for the last letter of the city.

 

 

Interesting, so it means nothing, just added for a 3rd. letter ?

I wonder why then the 49er's didn't come up when I searched abbreviations ?

There was a total of 18 and 49ers was not one of them. I was thinking he was using it for San Francisco Origination

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