Party Starter vs. Flying Touchdown: Best Plays of 2009

The guy gets the pass, breaks the first would-be tackle and gets whiplashed past two other would-be tacklers in the process. He then takes off down the left sideline, running with the ball tucked away in his left arm.

At the five yard line he meets the fourth would-be tackler who attempts to shove him out of bounds around his hip. Sensing that he isn’t going to be able to keep his balance and stay inbounds on his feet, he leaps for it — jumping off the right foot, which is unnatural for a righty — with his right heel just barely touching the five yard line.

He shifts the ball over to his right hand as he takes off, now reaching the ball towards the pylon as far as his waist, shoulders, and arms will allow. At one point in the replay, you can see that his left leg is oriented nearly straight up-and-down and his torso is perpendicular to his left leg as he reaches toward the pylon.

It’s at that point that it appears that gravity will bring his left leg down to the turf. But then something happens. And I don’t even know if I’m a good enough writer to explain this. It’s as if his body begins to revolve, with the legs leading the way, up and about an oblique axis even as gravity is pulling the rest of his body downward to the ground.

The man obviously has excellent flexibility and body control. His left leg really should touch the ground at about the 2 yard line with the ball at about the 1 yard line, but it doesn’t. Rather, it nicely collapses upward into his body about an inch off the ground and he keeps sailing for another two yards.

Give him six.

I could (still) watch that play over and over.