Giants WR Odell Beckham: David Tyree's 'helmet catch' was better
New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. said Monday that former Giants receiver David Tyree's famed "helmet catch" was better than Beckham's from Sunday night, according to the New York Daily News.
Beckham's backward-leaping, extended, one-handed touchdown catch in the second quarter of Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys was immediately lauded by social and sports media as the catch of the year and perhaps one of the best catches of all time.
Odell of a Catch, Two Years Later
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Carlos M. Saavedra for Sports Illustrated
Tyree's catch in Super Bowl XLII is one of the most famous in football history. With 1:15 remaining and the Giants trailing the New England Patriots 14-10, quarterback Eli Manning evaded a sack on 3rd-and-5 and threw deep to Tyree, who leaped backwards and pinned the ball against his helmet while falling down for a 32-yard catch.
• KING: MMQB: Beckham's the greatest catch in NFL history?
While the Giants went on to lose to the Cowboys 31-28 on Sunday, Tyree's improbable reception led to the Giants winning Super Bowl XLII and ruining the Patriots' perfect season.
“That’s the craziest catch I’ve ever seen still to this day,” Beckham said to the Daily News on Monday during his visit with Victor Cruz to Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, where he was greeted by 300 adoring fans.
Beckham downplayed his jaw-dropping 43-yard catch, noting that he was “just trying to hold on,” but was enjoying the tweets and text messages streaming through his iPhone 6.
Beckham called all the attention he's received from his catch "crazy, surreal" and "humbling," and further downplayed it by emphasizing that it came in a game the Giants lost.
New York fell to 3-8 with the defeat and is tied for last place in the NFC East.
• Beckham catch memes flood social media
After Tyree's historic Super Bowl catch, he never recorded another reception and was out of the NFL after the 2009 season. He caught just four passes for 35 yards in the 2007 regular season that preceded Super Bowl XLII.
Tyree was named the Giants' director of player development this summer.
- Ben Estes
