This could either stand for, the Hall of Hustle or the Hall of Heart. Either way, it’ll be reserved for players who never give up on plays or show sheer determination in a single, spectacular competitive effort. Whether or not these players ever make it to their respective Hall of Fame is irrelevant. They made it here and that’s great enough in itself. First up, Robert Meachem.
If you didn’t see this play live (like me) then you missed out. Since then, I’ve watched the highlight quite a few times.
If you don’t notice, Jeremy Shockey seems to give up on the play (but is completely there to celebrate). He was the intended receiver of Drew Brees and yet is left in Kareem Moore’s dust after he made the interception and rolled on the ground. In direct contrast, Robert Meachem weaved his way through 3 oncoming Redskins players, made the initial hit on Moore, stripped the ball and then took it 44-yards to the end zone. He never gave up on the play. Had that play been made in a Super Bowl, it would be a hard argument not to make it the number one play in Super Bowl history almost regardless of context.
Just for fun, here’s the fantasy line that play helped produce:
The Robert Meachem line
He gets credit for two TD’s which can be argued both for and against. The main argument against being that you can only cross the goal line once, therefore you earn one touchdown. The argument for (aside from being an awesome play) is that a defensive touchdown was scored by an offensive player AND this same offensive player crossed the goal line. It couldn’t be awarded to the actual New Orleans DEF, so Meachem gets 2 touchdowns. I’m okay with it. It was a spectacular effort and should be awarded as such.
Full highlight version here: NFL.com
Tags: drew brees, fumble, goal line, heart, hustle, interception, jeremy shockey, kareem moore, new orleans saints, play, robert meachem, touchdown, washington redskins
