50 Greatest Trick Plays

Trick plays don’t always work.

But when they do, they’re a thing of beauty.

Although they’re far more common in backyards and video games than they are on professional or college gridirons, trick plays are easily one of the most invigorating play categories in all of sports. They serve as football’s equivalent to inside-the-park home runs. They grab your attention from beginning until thrilling end — and leave you amped with adrenaline throughout.

They’re also what make football the ultimate team sport. Good trick plays seldom happen due to the skill of just one player. Whether they come due to a play action, a reverse, a lateral, or a hidden ball trick, trick plays almost always take a village. The amount of teamwork required on a trick play is unparalleled in just about any other sport imaginable.

They’re even more memorable than your run-of-the-mill go-ahead scoring play when they come at a key time. Nothing feels more rewarding than not only scoring, but completely fooling your opponent with a play they don’t even see coming. Hence the “trick” part of “trick play,” right?

In the same vein, there’s no worse feeling than being on the receiving end of a trick play. Just ask Jets fans what they think of Dan Marino’s “Fake Spike,” which still cuts deep almost a quarter-century after it happened. Bills fans would likely say the same about the “Music City Miracle,” which was their most recent playoff memory for almost 20 years.

Any successful trick play is going to garner an insane amounts of retweets, likes, and shares. But not all trick plays are created equal: Some are legendary, others are just cheap thrills. So to separate the great from the good, here are the definitive 50 greatest trick plays in college and pro football history.

Back when Rivers was a freshman in college.

The 43-year-old Flutie converted the NFL’s first successful drop kick since 1941 in his final regular-season appearance in 2005. The Patriots had already clinched a playoff spot at this point, so Bill Belichick wanted to plan a fun going-away party for the Boston sports legend.

Not sure if this was planned. But not sure that it matters, either.

Warrick Dunn made the heads-up move and Shaun King was attentive enough to catch the lateral and get the first down.

(Also, what happened to Shaun King? Guy goes 14-7 over his first two NFL seasons, then basically disappears after that.)

According to Complex Sports Bureau, this is the first time since the Bernie Kosar era that the Browns are on a list for doing something good. 

And no, Complex Sports Bureau isn’t a real thing.

Tebow may have “struggled” in the NFL (he won a playoff game with a lackluster Broncos roster in his only season as a starter... but I digress), but there’s no doubting Tebow’s status as perhaps the greatest college football player of all time. 

And this was Tebow’s signature play as a Gator. 

Boise State had no business being on the same field as Oklahoma. They were just lucky to be there.

Oklahoma entered this game as 6.5-point favorites — a line that was probably a bit generous to Boise State, a program that had never played in a game like the Fiesta Bowl before. They had only been in Division I-A for 11 years at that point; Oklahoma had nearly that amount of national championships.

But on this hook and ladder in the final seconds of the game, Boise bought it to a one-point game.

And then, down one in the final seconds, they went for two. Boise literally bet the house on this play.

And they came away with a second house.

This was perhaps the most dramatic play in college football history. Quarterback Jared Zabransky sold this perfectly, and running back Ian Johnson made it to the end zone untouched. And to top it all off, Johnson proposed to his girlfriend afterward. Unsurprisingly, she said yes.