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VIDEO: Former PSU star pulls off Steve Gleason punt block, TD
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It was almost too perfect.
Steve Gleason delivered arguably the greatest moment in Superdome history when he blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown on Monday Night Football in the first home game after Hurricane Katrina.
Nine years later, that play was repeated.
Gleason, an ALS survivor, took in the action on Thursday night from his wheelchair. When the Falcons dropped back for a routine punt in the first quarter, former Penn State star linebacker Michael Mauti took Saints fans back to that uplifting moment nine years earlier:
**PUNT BLOCK FOR A TD ALERT**
The Falcons just wanted to punt it.
Michael Mauti had other ideas. #ATLvsNO #TNF http://t.co/S9GWUb2StK— NFL (@NFL) October 16, 2015
They share a striking resemblance, no?
https://twitter.com/phyllismleblanc/status/654815888990867456
Fittingly, it was Mauti — the guy who tore his ACL three times — fighting his way into the end zone.
It might not have been quite as monumental as Gleason’s heroics, but Mauti’s version of the play put the Superdome crowd into a frenzy, too.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.