AHail Mary pass is a very longforward pass inAmerican football, typically made in desperation, with a very small chance of achieving acompletion. Due to the difficulty of a completion with this pass, it makes reference to theCatholic "Hail Mary" prayer for strength and help.[1]
The expression goes back at least to the 1930s, when it was used publicly byElmer Layden andJim Crowley, two former members of theNotre Dame Fighting Irish'sFour Horsemen. Originally meaning any sort of desperation play, a Hail Mary pass gradually came to denote a long, low-probability pass, typically of the "alley-oop" variety, attempted at the end of a half when a team is too far from the end zone to execute a more conventional play, implying that it would take a miracle for the play to succeed. For more than 40 years, use of the term was largely confined to Notre Dame and other Catholic universities.[1]
TheCatholic-inspired name of the play derives from its early use at theUniversity of Notre Dame and its frequent fusion of religious and football imagery (such as inTouchdown Jesus, pictured above)
Crowley often told the story of a game betweenNotre Dame andGeorgia Tech on October 28, 1922, in which the Fighting Irish players saidHail Mary prayers together before scoring each of the touchdowns, before winning the game 13–3. According to Crowley, it was one of the team's linemen,Noble Kizer (aPresbyterian), who suggested praying before the first touchdown, which occurred on a fourth and goal play at the Georgia Tech 6-yard line during the second quarter. QuarterbackHarry Stuhldreher, another of the Horsemen, threw a quick pass over the middle toPaul Castner for the score. The ritual was repeated before a third and goal play, again at Georgia Tech's 6-yard line, in the fourth quarter. This time Stuhldreher ran for a touchdown, which sealed the win for Notre Dame. After the game, Kizer exclaimed to Crowley, "Say, that Hail Mary is the best play we've got." Crowley related this story many times in public speeches beginning in the 1930s.[1]
On November 2, 1935, with 32 seconds left in the so-called "Game of the Century" betweenOhio State and Notre Dame, Irish halfbackBill Shakespeare found receiverWayne Millner for a 19-yard, game-winning touchdown. Notre Dame head coachElmer Layden, who had played in the 1922 Georgia Tech game, afterwards called it a "Hail Mary" play.[1]
An early appearance of the term was in anAssociated Press story about the upcoming 1941Orange Bowl between theMississippi State Bulldogs and theGeorgetown Hoyas. The piece appeared in several newspapers including the December 31, 1940,Daytona Beach Morning Journal under the headline, "Orange Bowl: [Georgetown] Hoyas Put Faith in 'Hail Mary' Pass". As the article explained, "A 'hail Mary' pass, in the talk of the Washington eleven, is one that is thrown with a prayer because the odds against completion are big." During anNBC broadcast in 1963, Staubach, then aNavy quarterback, described a pass play during his team's victory overMichigan that year as a "Hail Mary play". He scrambled to escape a pass rush, nearly getting sacked 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage before completing a desperation pass for a one-yard gain.[1]
Arguably the most memorable and replayed Hail Marywalk-off touchdown pass came on November 23, 1984, in a game now known as "Hail Flutie".[3]Boston College was trailingMiami (FL) 45–41 with six seconds left, when their quarterbackDoug Flutie threw a 63-yard touchdown pass toGerard Phelan, succeeding primarily because Miami's secondary stood on thegoal line to keep the receivers in front of them without covering apost route behind them.
Miami's defense was based on the assumption that the five-foot-nine-inch Flutie could not throw the ball as far as the end zone: instead, Flutie hit Phelan in stride against a flatfooted defense ayard deep in the end zone as time expired.[4] To commemorate the play, a statue of Flutie in his Hail Mary passing pose was unveiled outside Alumni Stadium at Boston College on November 7, 2008.[5]
November 20, 1983: In a Week 12 matchup featuring theSan Francisco 49ers vs theAtlanta Falcons, Falcon's quarterbackSteve Bartowski threw a 47-yard touchdown pass toBilly "White Shoes" Johnson with no time left on the clock to win, 28–24. Johnson caught the ball at the six yard line, ran to his right and was tackled into the endzone by three 49er defenders.
September 24, 1994: Known as the "Miracle at Michigan",Colorado quarterbackKordell Stewart threw a 64-yardwalk-off touchdown pass to wide receiverMichael Westbrook to beatMichigan 27–26. Stewart's pass had traveled 73 yards in the air from the Colorado 26 to the opposite 1-yard line, was tipped by Blake Anderson, then caught by Westbrook four yards deep in the end zone.[7]
October 31, 1999: TheCleveland Browns' first win after returning as an expansion team came on a Hail Marywalk-off touchdown against theNew Orleans Saints, when Browns quarterbackTim Couch avoided the Saints pass rush and launched a 56-yard pass that was tipped up in the air and caught by receiverKevin Johnson near the pylon for a 21–16 Browns victory.
December 8, 2002: Three years after his first Hail Mary,Tim Couch won another game with a game-ender against theJacksonville Jaguars. Couch launched a 50-yard Hail Mary that was caught byQuincy Morgan, and the ensuing extra point gave the Browns a 21–20 win. Although he remains a hotly debated player - due to being picked #1 overall in the1999 NFL draft and his injury-plagued career - Tim Couch remains the only NFL player to win two games on game-ending Hail Marys.
November 16, 2013: Known as the "Prayer at Jordan-Hare",Auburn quarterbackNick Marshall threw a 73-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ricardo Louis on fourth-and-18 with 36 seconds left to beatGeorgia 43–38.[10] Louis caught the ball after one Georgia defender tipped it away from another.
November 10, 2013: With theBaltimore Ravens leading 17–10 on the last play of their game against theCincinnati Bengals, Bengals quarterbackAndy Dalton launched a 51-yard Hail Mary to the end zone, where a Ravens player tipped the ball in the air directly toA. J. Green for a touchdown. Despite this game-tying score, the Ravens won the game in overtime, 20–17.
September 5, 2015: Known as the "Miracle at Memorial",BYU quarterbackTanner Mangum threw a desperate 42-yard pass to wide receiver Mitch Mathews as time expired to defeatNebraska 33–28 atMemorial Stadium, and break a streak of 29 consecutive home opener victories for theCornhuskers. Mangum, a freshman just two months removed from amission forthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was the backup to seniorTaysom Hill, who had left the game earlier with a season-endingLisfranc injury, and was playing in his first organized football game in nearly four years.[11]
December 3, 2015: Known as the "Miracle in Motown", a 15-yard defensive facemask penalty on theDetroit Lions as time expired gave theGreen Bay Packers, who had been trailing the entire game, an additional untimed down. Green Bay quarterbackAaron Rodgers threw a 61-yard touchdown pass which left his hand at Green Bay's 35-yard line and was caught four yards into the end zone by tight endRichard Rodgers to give the Packers a 27–23 win.[12] The total distance of 69 yards is the longest Hail Mary pass in NFL history.
January 16, 2016: In the postseason after theMiracle in Motown, Aaron Rodgers completed a second Hail Mary pass: faced with a 4th and 20 on his own 4-yard line and a 20–13 deficit against theArizona Cardinals in the final minute of the game, Rodgers threw a 60-yard completion toJeff Janis. On the final play of regulation, he completed a 41-yard touchdown pass to Janis, making Green Bay the first postseason team ever to score a game-tying touchdown on the final play of the 4th quarter. Despite this, Arizona won the game in overtime largely through the efforts ofLarry Fitzgerald, who went all the way to the Green Bay 5-yard line on a short pass he caught while wide open before scoring two plays afterwards.[13]
September 10, 2016: AfterOklahoma State football quarterbackMason Rudolph threw the ball up into the air as time expired, it was ruled intentional grounding: under college football rules, the game should have ended and Oklahoma State should have defeatedCentral Michigan 27–24. However, both on-field officials (from Central Michigan's home of theMid-American Conference) and replay officials (from Oklahoma State's home of theBig 12 Conference) missed the call and gave Central Michigan anuntimed down. CMU quarterbackCooper Rush threw a 49-yard Hail Mary to receiver Jesse Kroll, who then lateraled to Malik Fountain, who ran it into the end zone to win the game 30–27.[14]
October 1, 2016: After a 47-yard touchdown pass with ten seconds remaining on the clock, aGeorgia player took off his helmet during the celebration, resulting in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The kickoff was returned to the Georgia 43-yard line: on the final play,Tennessee QBJoshua Dobbs threw a game-winning touchdown, caught byJauan Jennings, as time expired to win 34–31.[15]
January 8, 2017: In a wildcard playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, Aaron Rodgers completed a 42-yard pass toRandall Cobb over a crowd of players from both teams on the last play before halftime. This gave Green Bay a 14–6 halftime lead, and they went on to win 38–13.[16]
September 17, 2022: During aCollege GameDay betweenAppalachian State andTroy, Appalachian State quarterback,Chase Brice, threw a 63-yard pass as time expired to Christan Horn who caught the pass for a touchdown, allowing Appalachian State to win, 32–28.[20][21]
September 17, 2023: In the dwindling seconds of a Week 2 matchup between theWashington Commanders andDenver Broncos, Broncos quarterbackRussell Wilson completed a 50-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brandon Johnson to bring the game within a conversion, 35–33. Despite the incredible catch, which came off of multiple Commanders players deflecting the ball, the Broncos failed to complete the subsequent two-point conversion.[22]
October 14, 2024: In a Week 6 Monday night game between theBuffalo Bills andNew York Jets, Aaron Rodgers threw a 52-yard deep pass to Allen Lazard into the end zone, crowded around the Bills defense on the last play before halftime. It was initially ruled as an incomplete pass, however, with the assistance of replay assist, the ruling was changed to a touchdown. The score after the PAT was 20-17 going into halftime. Despite this, Buffalo won the game 23–20.
October 27, 2024: Known as the "Hail Maryland",Washington quarterbackJayden Daniels threw a deep middle pass for 52 yards to receiverNoah Brown for a walk-off Commanders touchdown to beatChicago 18–15. According to NextGen Stats, Daniels scrambled for 12.79 seconds to make the play possible, the longest since the statistic was begun in 2016. His pass of 64 yards in the air is the second-longest successful NFL Hail Mary behind Aaron Rodgers's 69-yarder in the 2015 "Miracle in Motown."
The term "Hail Mary" is sometimes used to refer to any last-ditch effort with little chance of success.
In military uses, GeneralNorman Schwarzkopf described his strategy during thePersian Gulf War to bypass the bulk of Iraqi forces in Kuwait by attacking in a wide left sweep through their rear as a "Hail Mary" plan. This usage, however, did not refer to the plan's chances of success but to the movement of Coalition forces to the left side of the front lines prior to the attack, which reflected the formation for a Hail Mary pass in which all the offensive team's wide receivers line up on one side of the line of scrimmage.[23][24]
There are similar usages in other fields, such as a "Hail Mary shot" in photography where a photographer holds the view finder of anSLR camera away from the eyes (so unable to compose the picture), usually high above the head, and takes a shot. This is often used in crowded situations.[27]
Incomputer security, a "Hail Mary attack" will throw everyexploit it has against a system to see whether any of them work.[28]
At the end of theNASCAR Cup Series'2022 Xfinity 500 atMartinsville Speedway,Ross Chastain's wall-ride move to get the positions he needed to clinch a spot in the Championship 4 was given the name "Hail Melon", combining the name of the football pass play with Chastain's association with watermelons.[31]
