Which "Catch" is your favorite?

I like all of them as stand alone plays. I don't agree that one was any better than the others as a play. The one that meant the most was probably the easiest to execute. If that play were to happen today there'd be armchair analysts here b***hing about how Joe overthrew Dwight.

Originally posted by JoeisGod:
(In my opinion) There is no Catch 2 or Catch 3. There is only The Catch. Why? Because it only gets the title "The Catch x" if the team wins the Lombardi in the same season. Montana (God incarnate) hits Clark and goes on to win the Trophy. Young hits Owens and the the team loses a close one in Atlanta. Smith hits Davis and loses a close one the next week. Those last two were great plays, but were not legendary.

I can see the rationale behind everything you said except your last comment.

Maybe those 2 plays aren't on the same level as the "The Catch", but they are definitely legendary in their own right.

Either one of those 2 could be the flagship plays for a different franchise. The end of that 4th quarter in the 49ers/Saints game is arguably one of the greatest segments of football in NFL history.

The CATCH will always be #1 in my book , #2 was great in its own right ,#3 well it was part of one of the greatest football games I've ever seen ( top five ) The emotion of the whole season came down to that game and that play . Let's make it happen again this upcoming season. NINERS

Originally posted by montana9er:
The CATCH will always be #1 in my book , #2 was great in its own right ,#3 well it was part of one of the greatest football games I've ever seen ( top five ) The emotion of the whole season came down to that game and that play . Let's make it happen again this upcoming season. NINERS

x2

The Catch III

the first one of course because that was the beginning

Originally posted by cciowa:
the first one of course because that was the beginning

This.

The problem is I did not get to witness it live. I watched Brett Favre beat us over and over as a child and when Young threw that dart over the middle to Owens (who had a horrid day so far) make the catch I had so much emotion as a 12 year old could have. The last one was meaningful for me due to Alex Smith leading the team for what all he has went through down the field TWICE in the final moments of the game.

Originally posted by NC49erfan82:
This.

The problem is I did not get to witness it live. I watched Brett Favre beat us over and over as a child and when Young threw that dart over the middle to Owens (who had a horrid day so far) make the catch I had so much emotion as a 12 year old could have. The last one was meaningful for me due to Alex Smith leading the team for what all he has went through down the field TWICE in the final moments of the game.

i was snow bound in fort dodge iowa watching the game with friends. after the previous four or five years of futility, it was an amazing feeling. i watched the super bowl in a trailor home with friends and some slutty girls

3

Was too young to witness the other 2

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:

Originally posted by JoeisGod:
(In my opinion) There is no Catch 2 or Catch 3. There is only The Catch. Why? Because it only gets the title "The Catch x" if the team wins the Lombardi in the same season. Montana (God incarnate) hits Clark and goes on to win the Trophy. Young hits Owens and the the team loses a close one in Atlanta. Smith hits Davis and loses a close one the next week. Those last two were great plays, but were not legendary.

I can see the rationale behind everything you said except your last comment.

Maybe those 2 plays aren't on the same level as the "The Catch", but they are definitely legendary in their own right.

Either one of those 2 could be the flagship plays for a different franchise. The end of that 4th quarter in the 49ers/Saints game is arguably one of the greatest segments of football in NFL history.

Eh. I am just a grumpy old man who thinks "great" is overused to the point where what it describes is not so great. We tend to use great when we mean good and good when we mean mediocre. It's sort of like grade inflation in our language. Legendary is reserved to championships. Montana to Rice with time running out against the New York Giants (1988) season was great. Steve Young's run against the Vikings (same year) was great. Montana to Taylor in that year's Superbowl? Legendary.

The older I get, the less semantics and extreme comparisons even mean. If someone speaks highly or poorly of something, that is all I need to know. For instance, where does Barry Sanders rank amongst all RBs in history? Don't care... he was great... that's all I need to apply.

For the millionth time there is only ONE "catch". I really wish NFL films never gave names to plays and teams.

The Catch I - dethroning the Cowboys and turning around the franchise after decades of mediocrity.

the others should have other names. not "THE CATCH" only 1 catch
they should be "THE GRAB" or "THE SNATCH" (no pun intended) or something

Holy crap - just realized all three happened on "3rd and 3"!