NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - For better or worse, one moment, one act can define us. A blocked punt came to define Steve Gleason’s career with the New Orleans Saints. That single play is now immortalized as a statue at the Superdome.
“I remember being at his locker that night, he’s still sitting down there in his uniform over an hour after the game describing what happened. It was just so powerful, and he was just so emotional. I mean, he knew he had done something special in the moment. Sometimes it takes time to give us that perspective, but he knew right away he had done something magical. A few years later there’s a statue outside the Superdome that will always be there for years and years to come long after we’re all gone commemorating that moment for eternity,” said Jeff Duncan, sports columnist for NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune and co-writer of “A Life Impossible,” a memoir of Steve Gleason’s life and career.
As it is in football, timing is crucial in life. For so many people in Southeast Louisiana, the Monday Night Football game on Sept. 25, 2006, took place during one of the toughest periods of their lives. A year after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, thousands were living in FEMA trailers. Some were coping with the loss of loved ones.
“My family, my grandpa, my parents, my brother all lost homes. We lost our family business just like most of the people we knew. And I think a lot of people were doubting New Orleans whether we were going to come back,” said Michel Varisco Gleason, wife of Steve Gleason.
At that point, the Saints hadn’t played a game in the Superdome since the storm. There was talk of the team possibly moving to Texas. The Monday night game was to be their homecoming.
“There was so much loss that we all shared. I think we were all looking for an emotional moment to let loose,” said Mark Romig, host of the Mark Romig Show on the Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network.
“The anticipation building up to the game was unlike really any game that I’ve ever been a part of in my career,” said Jeff Duncan.
On a recent appearance on the Mark Romig Show, Steve Gleason talked about what he called the emotional weight of the week leading up to that Monday Night Football game.
“The Friday before the game we practiced inside the Superdome for the first time since the renovation. The paint was still drying at the end of practice. Coach Payton turned out the lights and played a video of people throughout the city welcoming us home. Several of us cried. Coach told us those are the people we are playing for. We can’t let them down,” said Steve Gleason during an appearance on the Mark Romig Show podcast.
Back then, Brian Jeansonne was barely 30 and untouched by ALS, the fatal nervous system disease that eventually robbed him and Steve Gleason of their speech and control of their bodies.
“We had lost everything that we owned except our car. As a pastor, our church was spending time helping neighbors with the practical work of recovery. After katrina new orleans, was still trying to find its footing. The Superdome had been badly damaged and seeing the Saints play there again felt like seeing a piece of our city come back to life,” said Brian Jeansonne.
Along with the legion of Saints fans, Jeansonne was glued to the TV that night 20 years ago. Less than two minutes into the game against the Atlanta Falcons, their long-standing divisional rivals, Steve Gleason blocked a punt that was recovered for a touchdown.
“My responsibility was pretty simple: get to the punter’s foot. When the ball was snapped, their protection slid away from me and the big gap opened. When I saw that opening, I knew I had a chance. Then suddenly it felt like the world slowed down and everything became clear. I blocked the punt with my left hand as I was getting up, I saw Curtis ( recovered the ball in the end zone. this was the moment, our moment,” said Gleason.
“It’s just so unusual. That’s an unusual play, a very rare play in a football game. You might see one punt block every two years. For it to happen a minute and a half into the game I think contributed to the power of that moment, because I don’t think people were expecting it at all. They were still running of the high of the pre-game music acts,” Jeff Duncan said.
After the blocked punt, Mark Romig said the Superdome erupted with cheers.
“It was just one amazing sound that didn’t stop. It just meant so much. I get emotional just thinking about it,” said Mark Romig.
“It’s a feeling I think i’ve never had before. As Steve says it’s pure joy,” Michel Varisco Gleason said.
That kind of joy was in short supply before the game, which the Saints won 23-3. It became known as the “Rebirth Game.” Drew Brees referenced it when he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame this summer.
“There are few events in your life when you remember exactly where you were when it occurred. For Saints fans, it is the Steve Gleason blocked punt on Monday Night Football, the reopening of the dome September 25, 2006, and when the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV,” said Drew Brees.
Steve Gleason retired before that 2010 championship. A short time later, he was diagnosed with ALS. If that Monday night defined him as a player, Gleason says ALS redefined his understanding of what it is to be human.
“When I told the world I had ALS in 2011, ‘no white flags’ was a message of bravado and resistance. Today, ‘no white flags means’ never surrendering our ability to accept the circumstance of our lives. I stay curious. I love. I create. I remain open to delight. I refuse to stop living this life before my body dies,” said Steve Gleason.
Gleason’s play that night helped inspire a region in recovery. Brian Jeansonne says Gleason continues to inspire and impact people like him through a shared journey with ALS.
“In 2023, I asked Steve whether he thought that his reach in the ALS community would’ve been the same if he had not blocked the punt. He told me, ‘if I don’t block the punt I would be dead by now.’ That play gave Steve a platform and he used it to help people with ALS. Because of Team Gleason, I have technology that lets me communicate and write with my eyes. Our friendship has changed my life in another way too. I have a friend I don’t have to explain anything to. Steve understands so much about my life and can stand in solidarity with me. Well, we can’t really stand, but we can sit together,” Brian Jeansonne said.
One man who made one unforgettable play.
“I understood that the night was bigger than football. But none of us could’ve understood what those few seconds would come to mean 20 years later. And strangely enough, those few seconds radically change the course of my life too,” Gleason said.
Two decades later, it seems more than a city was reborn that night.
_See a spelling or grammar error in our story?_ [_Click Here_](mailto:WVUE-digitalcontent@gray.tv) _to report it. Please include the headline._
_Subscribe to the Fox 8_ [_YouTube channel_](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ijTadOgOLbGWGC1rRy9lA?sub_confirmation=1)_._
_Copyright 2026 WVUE. All rights reserved._