Immaculate Reception...
Former Oakland Raiders linebacker Phil Villapiano, on “The Immaculate Reception”: On this particular play I was covering Franco [Harris] man-to-man. Had I been back there in a prevent defense, that play probably never would have happened. It was Franco’s rookie year, and I’ll say it to this day: Franco was jogging down the field! I said to myself, “Oh, Franco is just running downfield to make himself look good on film.”
But God, when that ball ricocheted and [Harris] caught it, he put on the jets and he was gone. That whole play was a tremendous credit to Terry Bradshaw, that he was able to scramble around and get the ball downfield. And it was a tremendous effort by Franco, picking the ball up and running with it.
What did you see? Did Fuqua or Tatum touch the ball first?
PV: That ball was definitely hit by Fuqua first. I saw it exactly as it happened. After Bradshaw threw the ball I left Franco and started running towards the play. Then I saw the hit and the bounce of the ball. After Harris caught it, I went after him to make the tackle but Pittsburgh’s tight end John McMakin dove right into the back of my legs. It wasn’t a vicious clip, but it was just enough to get me stumbling. By that time Franco was gone.
There’s no question the ball hit Fuqua first. Jack Tatum never thought twice about hitting anything but Fuqua on that play. He just whammed him, and I remember the way Fuqua’s body went into a whiplash. Tatum hit him so hard that Fuqua’s shoulder just snapped into the ball. That’s why it flew off directly to my right. All Tatum had to do was intercept it or knock it down and we would’ve won the game, but that wasn’t Tatum’s style. He always went for the knockout hit.