page_title: Super Bowl XXXIV
section_title: The final play
hierarchical_section_title: Super Bowl XXXIV / Game summary / Fourth Quarter / The final play
caption_attribution_description: English: This is the final play of the 2000 Super Bowl. Tennessee is down by a touchdown and the receiver is on the 1 yard line reaching out, reaching out, reaching out for the TD....but no. It was awesome that our seats were at that end of the field, *and* I had bought one of those cardboard cameras!
context_page_description: Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference champion Tennessee Titans to decide the National Football League champion for the 1999 season. The Rams defeated the Titans by the score of 23–16, capturing their first Super Bowl win and first NFL championship since 1951. The game, played on January 30, 2000 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, was the fourth Super Bowl to be held a week after the conference championship games.
  The Rams entered their second Super Bowl in team history with an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record. It was the franchise's first playoff appearance since 1989, when they were still in Los Angeles. The Titans, who were originally the Houston Oilers, also finished the regular season with a 13–3 record, but advanced to their first Super Bowl in team history after entering the playoffs as a wild-card team. Tennessee finished in second place in the AFC Central division behind the 14–2 Jacksonville Jaguars.
  The first two quarters of Super Bowl XXXIV were largely a defensive battle.
context_section_description: The game's final play from the Rams' 10-yard line has gone down in NFL history as simply "The Tackle". Tennessee's plan was to use tight end Frank Wycheck as a decoy. Wycheck would run straight up the field on the right side, to lure linebacker Mike Jones away from receiver Kevin Dyson. Dyson would then slant left through the middle of the field. With Jones occupying Wycheck, quarterback Steve McNair would pass the ball to Dyson, who would be open from about five yards out for the score.
  As the play began, everything appeared to go as planned. Jones ran with Wycheck up the field at the beginning of the play. However, as the pass was being delivered to Dyson, Jones, who was at the goal line, glanced over his left shoulder and noticed an open Dyson catching the ball. Jones switched directions and ran toward the Titans receiver. Dyson ran directly toward the end zone, but his legs were wrapped up by Jones with about two and a half yards left to the goal line.
  Since Dyson was being tackled by the legs, there was still the possibility he could reach towards the end zone and get the ball across the goal line. Both players went into a rolling motion as Dyson outstretched his hand with the football towards the goal line in the hopes of scoring the touchdown. Though his reach was close, and the ball mere inches away from the end zone, it was still not enough to score. As the rolling motion came to an end, with Jones now on top of Dyson's legs, his shoulder touched the ground and, therefore, the game was over. Had Dyson scored and the extra point been converted, it would have been the first Super Bowl ever to go into overtime; it wasn't until 17 years later in Super Bowl LI that the first Super Bowl to go into overtime occurred. Alternatively, had Dyson scored, the Titans could have attempted a 2-point conversion for the outright win on the final play of the game; this happened for the first time two years later in Super Bowl XXXVI.
  Considering the magnitude of the Super Bowl, and the wild game that preceded it, "The Tackle" is considered one of the greatest and most exciting game-ending plays in modern NFL history. The image of Dyson stretching the ball to the goal line with Jones wrapped around him has become a staple of NFL highlights. ESPN.com ranked "The Tackle" as the 35th greatest moment of the past 25 years in sports (as of 2007). NFL.com ranked Jones's tackle of Dyson as the fourth greatest clutch moment in Super Bowl history. Fox Sports ranked The Tackle as the Greatest Clutch Play in Super Bowl History (as of 2007). Like Dallas Cowboys cornerback Larry Brown, Jones was included on the NFL Network's "Top 10 One-Hit Wonders" list (Jones was #10, Brown was #3), although Jones also mirrored Brown in having a solid if unspectacular career outside of his Super Bowl heroics.
caption: On the final play of Super Bowl XXXIV, Rams' linebacker Mike Jones applies "The Tackle" to Titans receiver Kevin Dyson, who fell one yard short of the goal line.
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