DeSean Jackson Says Winning NFL's Greatest Play Is A Blessing
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – According to a vote on NFL.COM, "The Catch," is not the greatest play of all time. Neither is the "Immaculate Reception." Nor is it the "Music City Miracle."
The Miracle At The Meadowlands II, the Miracle At The New Meadowlands, Miracle At The Meadowlands III. If this is going to be considered the NFL's greatest play, we might want to settle on one name for it
When the NFL asked fans which of 64 plays was the greatest in the history of the league, DeSean Jackson's comeback-capping punt return against the New York Giants on December 19th 2010, got over 58 million votes in the final round alone of NFL.COM's Bracketology to take the crown.
"My brother actually told me I had a good shot at winning, so from there on out I was kind of getting my mind and just praying, and just telling everybody to vote," Jackson told 94WIP's Anthony Gargano and Glen Macnow on Tuesday. "It's honestly and blessing for myself, for the Eagles, Jason Avant, a couple of guys on that team that just really laid it out on that play. I'm just really blessed on the situation."
LISTEN: Anthony and Glen interview DeSean Jackson
While the final vote was a close one, Jackson's play, a #10 seed, cruised through the other rounds in the tournament, including getting over 80% of the vote against "The Catch," which was a #1 seed.
"It was a great list. I can recall going back to the first round and going all the way to the sixth round," Jackson said. "Me and Steve Young---I looked up to him when I was a little snotty-nosed kid. It was actually an honor to really be able to beat him, and go up with him, and all the other guys as well too."
The play itself capped an unlikely, and frenetic comeback from the Eagles. Jackson seemed confident before the ball was kicked, and Giants coach Tom Coughlin was furious at Giants punter Matt Dodge after Jackson scored. Presumably for kicking the ball low, and directly to Jackson.
"The Meadowlands is one of my favorite stadiums to play at in. Going back to that the game, I can think of early in the first and second quarter we were getting brutally beat pretty bad," Jackson siad. "We just went into that locker room, Michael Vick, the rest of the guys, [LeSean] McCoy, [Brent] Celek, we just had a talk within ourselves to come back out there and just show the determination to really play together and come back and win that game. We came back out there and did some great things. It's not only myself, I was able to knock it out of the park with the home run, but the other three touchdowns that we scored to get us back in the game was actually awesome as well."
On that day, it seemed like Michael Vick decided he wouldn't let the Eagles lose that game. It was DeSean Jackson who finished the job.
