And even looked up a little bit to try and get the lay of the land … I’m saying, ‘How did all that happen in just those few seconds?’ It didn’t make any sense.
“But when I see the film, and I see it in real time, it just blows my mind how quick that is … And I have no idea how I reacted so quickly, and got it and kept in stride. “You know what, when I watch the film I can’t remember anything of the play past just leaving the backfield,” Harris told host Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo. Harris said his assignment was to block but he wound up going out for a pass when the fourth-down play broke down with 22 seconds left in the game.
In a live interview Tuesday on “Mad Dog Unleashed” on SiriusXM radio, Harris recalled December 23, 1972, when he caught a deflected pass just before it hit the ground and ran for a playoff game-winning touchdown to lead his Pittsburgh Steelers over the Oakland Raiders.
Fifty years after the “Immaculate Reception” and just hours before his death, Franco Harris said it “blows my mind” how he pulled off arguably the most memorable play in NFL history.
