In American football, the Holy Roller was a controversial game-winning play by the Oakland Raiders against the San Diego Chargers on September 10, 1978, at San Diego Stadium in San Diego, California. It was officially ruled as a forward fumble by Raiders quarterbackKen Stabler that was recovered by his teammate, tight endDave Casper, in the end zone for a touchdown, ultimately giving Oakland the 21–20 win. However, there have been differing interpretations of how this play should have actually been ruled, and it has remained a controversial play for fans of both teams involved. The NFL amended its rules after the 1978 season in order to prevent a recurrence of the play. Chargers fans refer to the play as the Immaculate Deception. Had the Chargers won this game, and had all other games that season remained with the same outcome, they would have made the playoffstaking the fifth seed over the Houston Oilers, by virtue of a tiebreaker. Both the Chargers and Oilers would have finished with a 10-6 record, but the Chargers' final game of the season was a victory over the Oilers, so the Chargers would have won the tiebreaker on a head-to-head matchup and clinched the fifth seed in the postseason. The final Houston-San Diego game therefore would have had direct playoff consequence, with the winner advancing to the playoffs and the loser being eliminated.
The play
With 10 seconds left in the game, the Raiders had possession of the ball at the Chargers' 14-yard line, trailing 20–14. Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler took the snap and found himself about to be sacked by Chargers linebacker Woodrow Lowe on the 24-yard line. The ball came out of Stabler's hands and moved forward towards the Chargers' goal line. Raiders running back Pete Banaszak appeared to try to recover the ball on the 12-yard line, but did not keep his footing, and pitched the ball with both hands even closer to the end zone. Raiders tight end Dave Casper was the next player to reach the ball but he also seemingly could not get a handle on it. He batted and kicked the ball into the end zone, where he fell on it for the game-tying touchdown as time ran out. With the ensuing extra point by placekicker Errol Mann, the Raiders won 21–20. According to the NFL rulebook, "If a runner intentionally fumbles forward, it is a forward pass." Also during the play, the game officials ruled that Banaszak and Casper's actions were legal because it was impossible to determine if they intentionally batted the ball forward, which would have been ruled a penalty. The National Football League also supported referee Jerry Markbreit's call that Stabler fumbled the ball instead of throwing it forward. For years, Stabler publicly stated that it was a fumble. However, in a 2008 interview on NFL Films, he was asked if he could convince the camera crew that he did not flip the ball forward. Stabler responded, "No, I can't convince you of that, because I did. I mean, what else was I going to do with it? Throw it out there, shake the dice." Banaszak and Casper also admitted that they deliberately batted the ball towards the end zone.
Reaction
Chargers fans responded with T-shirts depicting a blindfolded referee signaling a touchdown along with the words Immaculate Deception. The nickname was a play off the Immaculate Reception, a play that went against the Raiders in the 1972 playoffs against Pittsburgh. In response to the Holy Roller, the league passed new rules in the off-season, restricting fumble advances by the offense. If a player fumbles after the two-minute warning in a half/overtime, or on fourth down at any time during the game, only the fumbling player can recover and advance the ball. If that player's teammate recovers the ball during those situations, it is placed back at the spot of the fumble, unless it was a recovery for a loss, in which case the ball is dead and placed at the point of recovery. The Holy Roller play was directly referenced on December 14, 2014 in response to a critical play in the Green Bay Packers' loss to the Buffalo Bills. When Aaron Rodgers had the ball knocked out of his hand by Mario Williams, it rolled backwards into the end zone and came to a complete stop; Packer RB Eddie Lacy picked up the ball and tried to run with it, but the referee approached quickly, waving his hands to declare the play dead, and after talking to the back judge, signaled a safety for Buffalo. The NFL Director of Officiating said that since the Holy Roller rules were in place, the only person who could have picked up the fumble and advanced it for Green Bay was the original fumbler and the safety call was correct.
