superbowl

It was the 4th quarter of the superbowl. The lowly seattle seahawks had reached this sacred game through a mix of luck and a bit of skill. They were facing the brilliant indianopolis colts. The score thus far was 31-17 in favor of the Colts, though the seahawks had possession. After several running plays for shaun alexander, matt hasselback threw two long passes to bobby engram. Darrel Jackson finished the job with a six yard reception for a touchdown.1

after a long colts drive that ended in a field goal, Matt hasselback began to go on a rampage. He chuckd two passes that sailed thirty yards downfield each, both of which were caught. One by Darrel Jackson and the other by Joe Jurevecius. Then a shaun Alexander run that went 13 yards scored the inevitable touchdown. 2

Though it seemed he would be brought down immediately by the run blitz, alexander ran backwards a yard and leftwards, around the blitz, and up the sideline for a touchdown.3

The score was now 34-31 colts with just 5 minutes left to play. It was their intention to do running plays until the clock ran out, until their half back broke a 67 yard run to the 21 yard line. After being stopped on three straight plays, they were once again forced to kick a field goal. Now, with only 41 seconds left, the seahawks would have another chance.4

The kickoff was a high, deep one that was caught by Josh Scobey at his own two. He returned the ball to the 17 before being brought down. 5

The seahawks began with a deep pass play, but Hasselback passed it too deep and Bobby Engram could not catch up to it. Then, another throw was dropped by Jerramy Stevens. On third down, Matt Hasselback waited too long. He dropped back all the way to the six, then waited about 3 seconds. He never saw the blitz coming. They cam from around the side and brought him down mercilessly. With the clock still running, only 23 seconds left to play, and the seahawks faced with a fourth-and-21, it seemed that the game was all but over.6

Then, in the huddle, Hasselback called a play that Mike Holmgren had drawn up earlier. It was crazy, he knew, but it just might work in this situation. He was sure everyone thought he was insane, but he had made his decision.7

Joe Jurevecius, Bobby Engram, Darrel Jackson, D.J Hackett, and Shaun Alexander all lined up in receiver positions. After the snap, Hasselback dropped back a couple of yards to pass. Shaun Alexander ran into a defender on his route and turned around, running to the other side of the field to try to get open on the other side. Or so it seemed. On his way to the right side of the field he passed behind Matt Hasselback just as he was lifting his arm to pass. No one saw the ball leave Hasselback's hand. 8

Shaun Alexander began to run up the sideline. He had gone 10 yards before anyone realized what had just happened.9

Before the pass, Hasselback had dropped the ball behind his head to Shaun Alexander on his wind-up. Alexander then concealed the ball and began running up the sideline as if he was a receiver.10

Two defenders were coming at him from upfield, while about 6 more came at him from behind. The defenders behind him caught up to him just as the ones in front of him did. He hesitated, then did a spin move to the left around the two defenders in front of him. In that instant, the six defenders behind him had surrounded him. He slowed, did a spin left around two defenders, then hurdled out of the way of a shoestring tackle. He saw a hole in the defenders and broke free. He began to sprint at full speed. He was at the fifty yard line. He was widening the gap between him and the defenders. By the time he was at the 20 he was 15 yards ahead of the next defender. He began high stepping in celebration. Just as he got to the five yard line, he tripped over his untied shoelaces and fell over, dropping the ball in the process.11