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Sporting Witness
Sporting Witness
The Super Bowl helmet catch
February 8, 2025
10 minutes
Available for over a year
In the final minutes of Super Bowl 42, the trailing New York Giants pulled off a move later described as “an insult to physics and Albert Einstein”.
Quarterback Eli Manning sent the ball hurtling forward towards wide receiver David Tyree.
As he leapt to make the catch, Tyree was under such intense pressure from the New England Patriots’ Rodney Harrison, that it was nearly impossible to get both hands on the ball.
Instead, he used one hand to grab it, then pressed it tightly against his helmet as he fell, twisting his body as he did so the ball didn't touch the ground as he landed.
The ‘helmet catch’ changed the game and two minutes later, the underdog Giants had won.
Osi Umenyiora was part of the winning team. He tells Patrick Kiteley about that incredible play.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable victories and agonising defeats from all over the world. You’ll hear from people who have achieved sporting immortality, or those who were there as incredible sporting moments unfolded.
Recent episodes explore the forgotten football Women’s World Cup, the plasterer who fought a boxing legend, international football’s biggest ever beating and the man who swam the Amazon river. We look at the lives of some of the most famous F1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who’ve had ground-breaking impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the number 1 squash player in the world for nine years, and the first figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the FIFA computer game was created.
(Photo: David Tyree pulls off the helmet catch. Credit: Getty Images)