THE NIGHT BEFORE facing the Seattle Seahawks to culminate the 2005 season in Super Bowl XL, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ coaching staff finalized plans for what would prove to be the most memorable play of the game.
“We can’t leave anything in the bag,” coach Bill Cowher told offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and the other coaches inside the Crowne Plaza hotel in greater Detroit. “We have to go after these guys.”
And when the moment presented itself, that’s exactly what the Steelers did. After getting the ball on a reverse, wide receiver Antwaan Randle El launched the ball for a 43-yard touchdown pass to fellow receiver Hines Ward, the final points in a 21-10 victory that secured the franchise’s fifth Super Bowl victory.
Over the years, many teams have schemed up a bit of trickery in their pursuit of the Lombardi Trophy. The Seahawks and the New England Patriots could add to the list of famous trick plays when they square off Feb. 8 in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California. In fact, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel is quite familiar with surprising plays in the big game as the former linebacker — who lined up as a tight end — caught touchdown passes in two different Super Bowls with New England. That ties him for seventh on the list — and the only linebacker — for career receiving TDs in the Super Bowl.
“I was scared to death,” Vrabel told the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette in 2005 after his catch against Carolina in Super Bowl XXXVIII. “The thing for me going in there and playing offense was that you were only going to get two or three snaps a game if you were lucky. So the only live reps I see were during the game. You don’t go live goal line during the week during the season.”
Will he attempt one as coach on the biggest stage in sports? The unpredictability is what makes the plays special.
“When you do those, you never know for sure how they’re going to work,” Whisenhunt told ESPN. “But it worked, and it was unbelievable.”
DURING THE 2005 season, Whisenhunt maximized Randle El’s versatility. The receiver was a three-sport standout during his college days at Indiana, where he was the Big Ten’s MVP as a quarterback.
In the two weeks leading into Super Bowl XL, Pittsburgh knew it wanted to run that trick play. And the Steelers wanted to protect it at all costs. So they made sure they repped the play in Pittsburgh and never inside the Superdome, where they practiced all week.
“We were scared to run it there because we didn’t know for sure if anybody would be spying on our practice,” Whisenhunt said.
The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t have the same approach ahead of Super Bowl LVI. Leading up to the showdown against the Los Angeles Rams on Feb. 13, 2022, the team — at UCLA’s Drake Stadium — practiced the play in which quarterback Joe Burrow pitched the ball to Joe Mixon, who then found Tee Higgins open in the end zone.
In the game, the play worked perfectly. Even though the Bengals lost to the Rams, it was a memorable moment for the players involved.
“We came back to the sideline and [Mixon] was like, ‘Yeah, I got me a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl,'” Higgins told ESPN in a promotional interview for Bounty ahead of Sunday’s game. “It was fun, man.”
Two years ago, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings threw a touchdown pass to running back Christian McCaffrey. As a standout at Tennessee’s Blackman High, Jennings was recruited by a few schools as a dual-threat quarterback.
Jennings, who eventually converted to wide receiver at the University of Tennessee, leaned on that background in Super Bowl LVIII. He was initially looking for tight end Brayden Willis, who was covered on a route down the middle of the field. So Jennings went through his progression and threw the ball across the width of the field to McCaffrey, who exploited a misaligned Kansas City Chiefs defense for a 21-yard touchdown.
It went for naught in a 25-22 overtime loss, but Jennings still reflected on that in the aftermath.
“To make that play, I just think about my quarterback coach from high school,” Jennings said after the game. “I know he’s so proud right now. Man, I thought we were going to win it.”
Daniel Childs, the coach Jennings referenced at Blackman, has taken pride in everything Jennings has done over the years. And that throw, in that moment, was a testament to his star pupil’s journey.
“It’s amazing because all the hard work that he put in, it’s made him a better player that has a unique skill set,” Childs said.
IF THE SEAHAWKS or Patriots do add to the list of trick plays in Super Bowl history, it will be atypical given their respective tendencies this season. While other teams have thrown to offensive linemen, dialed up hook-and-laterals or executed a variation of more familiar trick plays, Seattle and New England have been pretty traditional.
Between both teams, Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp is the only non-quarterback to attempt a pass this season. Kupp’s lone attempt resulted in an interception against Houston. The Patriots tried a fake punt in Week 16, but linebacker Marte Mapu was sacked.
Still, Vrabel understands how valuable the element of surprise can be on trick plays. His catch against the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII was the first by a defensive player since William “Refrigerator” Perry’s score against New England in Super Bowl XX.
Vrabes anytime TD in the Super Bowl was a lock 🔒
Full XXXIX recap: https://t.co/dUYtpy2Pd5 pic.twitter.com/CLggpHSSVB
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 6, 2025
And if someone is able to pull it off in Santa Clara, it will be something to talk about for years to come.
Last year, the Steelers had a 20-year reunion to commemorate the team that beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL. And as Whisenhunt and the players reminisced about that win in Detroit, they couldn’t help but bring up the pass from Randle El to Ward.
“To talk about that play with the guys was unbelievable,” Whisenhunt said. “It was interesting to hear what they thought about it. The fact that it worked and really helped us win that game was just the cherry on top.”
ESPN reporter Nick Wagoner contributed to this report.
