To think, this is the second greatest pass (and lucky/talented catch by his receiver) of Eli's Super Bowl career.

Hey BBV, you probably don't know me since I'm mostly a baseball guy and a Chiefs fan and I rarely make it around these parts, but I've been making these infographic play diagrams for a couple years now. I started with famous baseball play diagrams rather than football plays because A) fewer moving parts and B) a lot fewer moving parts.

Over the summer I tried figuring out how to diagram my favorite famous NFL plays and the above is my first crack at it. It obviously depicts the Mario Manningham sideline catch from Superbowl XLVI. My process is essentially finding the beginning and ending points of the play, using video to establish both as well as the movements in between. The hard part, as you might expect, is determining the path of the players once off-camera.

HERE's the video of the Manningham Catch.

And here's a pretty good description of how it happened:

The Giants had the ball, first-and-10 from their 12-yard line with 3:46 left in the game. The Patriots led 17-15.

On the first play of what would be the game-winning drive, Giants quarterback Eli Manning completed a 38-yard pass down the left sideline to Mario Manningham with New England’s Sterling Moore and Patrick Chung defending. As he came down with the ball, Manningham was forced out of bounds. It was a bang-bang play, and the biggest question was whether Manningham was able to keep both feet in bounds while maintaining possession as he was going to the ground and falling out of bounds.

It was an obvious play for New England coach Bill Belichick to challenge. Heck, I would have challenged it, too.

There are a couple of key elements to discuss. Manningham instantly got control of the ball, with his right foot touching down first, followed by his left foot that was also in bounds. Additionally, he was able to maintain control of the ball throughout the entire process of the catch while going to the ground. It was an incredible catch that, in my opinion, rivals David Tyree’s catch in Super Bowl XLII. Referee John Parry, with input from replay official Larry Nemmers, correctly confirmed that Manningham got both feet down in bounds and that the call was correct.

Let me know what you think. I know NY/NJ fans can be harsh but KC fans can be as well so I'm used to it. I do sell these as posters for fun, but I figured since we're both coming off home-opening losses today might be a good reminder how good you really have it.

Hope you like it. Oh yeah -- I'm working on the helmet catch. One at time!

-jbopp