The Bears kickoff was atrocious. If you are going to quib it, kick a DEEP squib - one that gets to the row right before the returners (i.e. the 20 yard line).

Or, better yet, have Gould kick it super high to the 15 or so yard line where your coverage team can get downfield and tackle Norwood right when he receives the ball.

A squib to the 40 is absolutely terrible. I actually said outloud to my roomates that they should kick it deep/deep squib/pooch kick as opposed to kicking a ground ball to the 40 yard line and giving the Falcons at least a shot at a miracle.



Also, WTF at sitting in Cover 2 when a deep out is about the only route that makes sense for Atlanta to run and gives them a shot to win the game? What happened to quarters???? Throw 4 deep across the back, 4 across the middle and rush 3!!!

yesterday at the JMU @ UR game:

JMU scores + two point conversion to tie game at 31 with ~50 seconds. UR takes a sack on 3rd down, leaving them on their own ~25 and JMU calls their final timeout with 18 seconds left. for those of you who dont know, JMU has the best kick returner in FCS, Scotty McGee. He honestly is the Devin Hester of FCS.

UR punts right down the middle to Scotty, who houses it with 1 second left FTW.

Fwiw throughout the entire game they kicked away from him- minus one kickoff which he returned into their territory.

I still cannot believe they kicked the ball to him.

Carolina's Special Teams coach has yet to figure out a punt protection scheme that doesn't resemble the Mexican border. It's not so much one stupid moment as an accumulation of stupidity over time that erupts pretty much every Sunday.

lol, the first thing I noticed about that play was the corners playing flat zones. that has to be the worst defensive play call in history, right? why would you have your corners playing the flats there. Does it accomplish anything at all.

in addition, rushing anything more than 2 is ******ed imo. If Ryan takes >2.5 seconds to make his throw they lose the game anyways, so in effect there is an implied rush. just a terrible, terrible play call.

Marcus Hamilton is like the 6th corner on the depth chart and was playing due to injuries. I would be very surprised if Tillman or Vasher would've let Roddy White run free right past them.

As for the pash rush, I agree. However, if the coaching staff couldn't figure it out to put more pressure on Ryan for the first 59 minutes, do you really expect them to adjust to a 2 man rush on the final play?

The proper play in the Chicago-Atlanta game is to just tackle every WR immediately at the LOS. It takes the FG completely out of play and the 5yd penalty makes very little difference on the untimed hail mary.

holy ****, that's briliant - I've never even thought of that as a possibility. You get an A+.

D

sorry i'm not an expert on nfl rules... how exactly would this work? 5 yard penalty and the game clock is not reset to 11 seconds?

The clock runs anytime the ball is in play. The only rule is that the game (or half) can't end on a defensive penalty, in which case there is one untimed down (The clock stays at zero but there is one more play).

In the game in question, it was 1st and 10 at the ATL 44 with 6 seconds left. If Chicago just tackles the recivers at the line then ATL would have gotten the ball at the 49 after the 5 yd penalty. They wouldn't have enough time to run a play and get out of bounds and it would be a 68 yd fg, clearly beyond Elam's range. The only option for ATL would have been the hail mary.

The difference between the success rate off a 51 yd hail mary and a 56 yd attempt is minuscule enough that it wouldn't be a legitimate concern.

It matters about 2% of the time, but Giants clock management in the 4th quarter tonight was a complete disgrace.

I feel like we just found a major rules loophole. Would a coach get chewed out for doing that or would he be considered smart?

I bet there would be some discussion in the media about how it's against the spirit of the game, but I think most would regard it as savvy. The only risk you run is if the tackling is perceived by the refs as unsportsmanlike conduct, then it could turn into a 15 yard penalty.

D

which i think is what would happen, but who knows, the refs totally botched that call giving dallas an extra 5 yards.

i'd be really curious to see what would happen in that instance though.

They could use the "Palpably Unfair Act" clause:

PS. As you can see by my avatar, I'm a Cardinals fan. That said, there was nothing wrong with the final play. A Cardinal was clearly offside and there had to be a penalty for it.

yeah as a cowboys fan, we were discussing the options we saw after that play.

we thought either
a) offsides, 5 yards
b) force ari to call a TO, giving the cowboys the ball on the 40 w :18 left

or c), the fair option. Calling an Ari TO with 0:04 seconds left, which is when you snapped the spike

as soon as a play is over, if there is a player hurt the clock is stopped immediately.

what you proposed is not fair nor is it an option.

but if Ari were to call a TO on it's own with 4 seconds left that would have been perfectly fine, correct?

yeah but they didnt...

NoodleMan you're crazy. But I like it. I wonder what kind of uproar this would cause if Chicago had actually done something like this?

They could use the "Palpably Unfair Act" clause:

Quote:
A player or substitute shall not interfere with play by any act which is palpably unfair.

Penalty: For a palpably unfair act: Offender may be disqualified. The Referee, after consulting his crew, enforces any such distance penalty as they consider equitable and irrespective of any other specified code penalty. The Referee could award a score.
PS. As you can see by my avatar, I'm a Cardinals fan. That said, there was nothing wrong with the final play. A Cardinal was clearly offside and there had to be a penalty for it.

wow....I wonder if the refs would be so familiar with this obscure rule that they would be prescient enough to call it! Obviously, after one team does it they'd be on the look out for it. I think what would happen the first time, though, is an even bigger cluster**** than the end of the Dallas/Arizona game.

nice pull, though!

For all the grief NFL refs get, they are very knowledgeable about the rules. They knew the tuck rule. I'm sure they know this rule too because there's a fairly famous play where this rule was applied: a guy was running to the end zone. Absolutely no one in front of him. A guy from the opposing team left the sideline and tackled him. Automatic score for the other team.


So the question isn't if they know about the rule. The question is if they have the guts to give more than 15 yards.

It's like trying to take insurance when the dealer has a ten showing.

I like your idea, but what if one of your guys misses a tackle? How are you lining up this formation? 5 CB/LB's on each WR to tackle, 3 pass rushers and 3 deep safeties?

To the other point, NFL refs do know all the intricacies of the rulebook. In this vary game, a Falcon was called for Offensive Pass Interference and injured Charles Tillman. The Bears were not forced to use a timeout for Tillman since the injury was caused by a foul. Can't say I ever saw or was aware of that rule.

Back in the 80's there was an automatic timeout whenever a player was down hurt.

Seattle was famous for slowing down an Elway drive by having a DT or lineman ''fall'' down and delay the game allowing his team to regroup. Thats why they changed the rule.