Best fake punt ever?

SexyMit · 08-10-09, 02:42 PM

VegasDave · 08-10-09, 02:43 PM

He said he's been wanting to run that forever. I'd have saved it for the regular season!

Rich Boy · 08-10-09, 02:55 PM

This is genius.

Nobody EVER tackles the punter, they just run by. So by holding on to it, you can just wait until all the players run past you, then you have a free lane to run.

Plus the fake threw everyone off.

Seems pretty stupid to let that one out in a preseason game.

JoshW · 08-10-09, 02:56 PM

I watched it three times from the first angle and couldn't figure it out. Only when they showed the camera angle from behind, did I finally get it.

Agree Dave, likely should have saved it. Maybe it will make special teams on other teams prepare for it each weak, and if they never run again will have made them waste time.

Willie Bee · 08-10-09, 03:00 PM

Bud Adams probably called it.

Great fake though.

Jimmy0607 · 08-10-09, 07:00 PM

I guess they jsut wanted to try it out , Imagine if they do that in a regular season game and it doesnt go well , at least now they know that they can pull it off

InTheHole · 08-10-09, 07:18 PM

The General · 08-10-09, 07:21 PM

Bet your arse they have another play using the same type execution.

rm18 · 08-10-09, 07:29 PM

That guy is the backup he is not going to make the team

rezkoness69 · 08-10-09, 08:09 PM

Originally posted by rm18

That guy is the backup he is not going to make the team

Atleast he can say he scored a touchdown in the NFL. I don't think many other punters in history can say that, atleast in recent times when each team has had a designated punter.

pico · 08-10-09, 08:12 PM

nice.

Shortstop · 08-11-09, 12:47 AM

Great play. I agree though, why would you expose it during a meaningless preseason game?

Then again, maybe it is a decoy for something else down the road...

VegasDave · 08-11-09, 01:57 PM

Actually, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that this wouldn't be used in a regular season game.

First punt of the preseason, there is absolutely NO ONE looking or thinking fake punt. There just isn't any reason for it at all, it is a meaningless game, etc.

If you look at this fake again, look at how completely vulnerable the punter is while he is faking the punt; and it would be 100% legal to tackle the hell out of him in this stance. If a defender that took a little longer getting to the kicker was watching the ball and saw him hanging on to it, he could absolutely destroy the guy.

Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I think it makes a lot more sense as a fun entertaining play for the fans then it does in a real game, where you are essentially gift-wrapping a season ending injury to your punter. It also creates the tiny little bit of doubt for defenses all season long that may buy the punter an extra half second of time somewhere down the line.

Reload · 08-11-09, 05:33 PM

It was a heck of a call in a preseason game. Might be the season for trick plays. I sense a lot of the "statue of liberty" being practiced as we speak. Wonder how much Wildcat offense will be back also.

ryanspeer2001 · 08-11-09, 05:35 PM

I thought the play was incredibly fun to watch but from a coaching perspective it was a bad decision even in a pre-season game. If one defender would have sniffed it out the punter would have gotten destroyed.

head_strong · 08-11-09, 05:41 PM

I liked the call, but why not save it for the regular season? Just seems like bad timing to use a trick play when you could have saved it for a crucial time in a regular season game when it counted.

ryanspeer2001 · 08-11-09, 05:42 PM

Originally posted by head_strong

I liked the call, but why not save it for the regular season? Just seems like bad timing to use a trick play when you could have saved it for a crucial time in a regular season game when it counted.

This also.

I guess the hope / idea was that this will be forgotten until later in the season. But we will see.

VegasDave · 08-11-09, 05:49 PM

Originally posted by Reload

It was a heck of a call in a preseason game. Might be the season for trick plays. I sense a lot of the "statue of liberty" being practiced as we speak. Wonder how much Wildcat offense will be back also.

The big problem that NFL analysts don't seem to understand about the Wildcat is that the whole point to it and reason why it works is the element of surprise.

I keep hearing people say "Pat White will be great in the Wildcat!" or "Sign Mike Vick and run the wildcat with him!"

No, it doesn't work like that. As soon as Pat White or Mike Vick took the field, defenses would account for it. The key is to run it with your every down starters; some teams can do this (Dolphins obviously; I think the Raiders and Cowboys would be two good candidates considering the Wildcat was pretty much mastered by Arkansas with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in the backfield), and some can't. Teams that don't get it and try to use "Wildcat specialists" (Cleveland did this with Josh Cribbs last year) are going to find out in a hurry that it won't work.

rm18 · 08-14-09, 05:52 AM

Originally posted by VegasDave

The big problem that NFL analysts don't seem to understand about the Wildcat is that the whole point to it and reason why it works is the element of surprise.

I keep hearing people say "Pat White will be great in the Wildcat!" or "Sign Mike Vick and run the wildcat with him!"

No, it doesn't work like that. As soon as Pat White or Mike Vick took the field, defenses would account for it. The key is to run it with your every down starters; some teams can do this (Dolphins obviously; I think the Raiders and Cowboys would be two good candidates considering the Wildcat was pretty much mastered by Arkansas with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in the backfield), and some can't. Teams that don't get it and try to use "Wildcat specialists" (Cleveland did this with Josh Cribbs last year) are going to find out in a hurry that it won't work.

There is truth to this but at the some time the other reason the wildcat works is their is an extra blocker the QB is the wasted, plus Vick and White throw the ball at so much higher of a level you cannot play the same type of defense you can against Ronnie Brown.

VegasDave · 08-14-09, 09:52 AM

Originally posted by rm18

There is truth to this but at the some time the other reason the wildcat works is their is an extra blocker the QB is the wasted, plus Vick and White throw the ball at so much higher of a level you cannot play the same type of defense you can against Ronnie Brown.

Yeah don't get me wrong, I'm not saying White and Vick don't have big play potential, especially in unique and creative formations.

I just meant that the idea of having a "trick play specialists" defeats the purpose of the trick play, because your element of surprise goes out the window. You'd try to downplay that by running some normal plays while he was in, too; but it wouldn't fool anyone. They'd always assume you were just setting up the big play.

fsugolf · 08-14-09, 09:54 AM

Jeff Fisher metagaming the entire NFL on the first punt of the year!

great fake though

brooks85 · 08-14-09, 10:12 AM

thats my boy AJ from OSU. He used to be a RB in highschool but at OSU he had beanie in front of him. But, its unfortunate for him to be behind Bironas but I think another team will pick him up.

rm18 · 08-14-09, 05:12 PM

I guess Vick also might play some receiver and they might have him and McNabb on the field at once, same thing with Pat White.