Odell Beckham Jr.'s amazing catch recalls Tony Champion's famed 1989 Grey Cup grab (videos)
There were plenty of spectacular plays in the CFL's East and West division finals Sunday, but it was a play from Sunday night's NFL game that particularly recalled a great Grey Cup moment. With the New York Giants leading the Dallas Cowboys 7-3 in the second quarter, Giants' rookie receiver Odell Beckham Jr. went and made what Yahoo's Jay Busbee argues is "the greatest catch in NFL history":
That's an incredibly impressive catch from Beckham, and just one of many. He was known for making spectacular grabs throughout his college career at LSU (where he's been cited as one of the best players of the Les Miles era), which led to him being taken 12th overall in this year's NFL draft. He's impressed in the pros so far as well, posting 41 receptions for 609 yards in seven games this season, and this catch particularly stands out. It brings up memories of what former Hamilton Tiger-Cats' receiverTony Championdid in the waning moments of the famed 1989 Grey Cup, a catch TSN labelled the third-greatest Grey Cup moment ever in this 2010 Top 10:
How do the two catches compare? Well, they each have their merits. Beckham's is more spectacularly athletic, and he made it with just one hand and cornerback Brandon Carr right on top of him (the Cowboys defenders' comments on this are fascinating; Carr also got called for pass interference on the play), but Champion showed off a tremendous ability to get away from his defender and fantastic athleticism of his own as he spins around and falls backwards to grab the pass from Mike Kerrigan. He also did this in a championship game rather than a regular season game, he did it to tie the score with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter (sadly for Hamilton, that still left too much time for "Robokicker"), and he did it with broken ribs. Both of these plays deserve to be in the pantheon of great football moments, and both will be remembered for a long time. We'll see if Hamilton or Calgary can provide anything as brilliant in this year's Grey Cup Sunday.
