After he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, former Broncos safety Steve Atwater was asked about the most famous play of his career: a massive hit on ex-Chiefs running back Christian Okoye on “Monday Night Football” during the 1990 NFL season.
“That story may have to come up a little more now,” Atwater said on Feb. 1. “It was again I think inspired by [former teammate] Dennis Smith. He was my guy, my strong safety. In meetings we’d just look at film and talk about how we were going to attack him. Fortunately, I had the opportunity and it turned out well.
“I’ve been in other games with some guys who probably weren’t as big as Christian Okoye was, but I’d go up and hit them and they got me — they get the best of me. Definitely, the timing was right and I was fortunate I came out on the good side of that.”
Okoye was listed as 253 pounds during his playing days, 33 pounds more than Atwater’s listed weight. That didn’t stop the safety from delivering a massive hit on the running back that would have gone viral in today’s social media age. It was one of the most memorable hits in NFL history.
