Great way to get destroyed on the next punt too. If I'm opposing ST coordinator, fair catch be damned.
The Saints today had Hill back for a kick and he extended his arms out for the unofficial signal he was going to take a knee then took it out of the end zone to around the 40.
My thought on that is that it's just going to get the kick return blockers asses kicked on every return for the rest of the season.
I was busy yesterday so wanted to understand how this happened. There was no trickery involved like the studio heads said—rather it was just plain lack of football IQ by the Arkansas players. Unless I missed it on the replay as an official I did not see anything that looked like even a wimpy fair catch signal. Had their been anything that could have been construed as such, that run is coming back and UNT gets penalized for either an illegal or invalid fair catch signal. The play was live and the Arkansas player made no contact with the UNT punt returner, and even had the Arky player made contact the UNT returner was free to run until down by contact.
Having said all that I will tell you it is easy to make a mistake in real time when you see the unexpected. Just yesterday we had a team be 4th and a bus ride and dropped into punt formation. None of us expected the “punter” to throw and complete a long pass and even though there probably were illegal lineman downfield past the extended neutral zone. We cannot throw a flag because we thought we saw something wrong but could not name the player number(s).
Just when you think you have seen everything, you haven’t.
Think you can make a good argument that the returner "gave himself up" by just standing for a couple seconds...play could have been blown dead.
I was busy yesterday so wanted to understand how this happened. There was no trickery involved like the studio heads said—rather it was just plain lack of football IQ by the Arkansas players. Unless I missed it on the replay as an official I did not see anything that looked like even a wimpy fair catch signal. Had their been anything that could have been construed as such, that run is coming back and UNT gets penalized for either an illegal or invalid fair catch signal. The play was live and the Arkansas player made no contact with the UNT punt returner, and even had the Arky player made contact the UNT returner was free to run until down by contact.
Having said all that I will tell you it is easy to make a mistake in real time when you see the unexpected. Just yesterday we had a team be 4th and a bus ride and dropped into punt formation. None of us expected the “punter” to throw and complete a long pass and even though there probably were illegal lineman downfield past the extended neutral zone. We cannot throw a flag because we thought we saw something wrong but could not name the player number(s).
Just when you think you have seen everything, you haven’t.
Think you can make a good argument that the returner "gave himself up" by just standing for a couple seconds...play could have been blown dead.
I read an article that said the refs were told ahead of time so they did not blow the whistle on instinct
I was busy yesterday so wanted to understand how this happened. There was no trickery involved like the studio heads said—rather it was just plain lack of football IQ by the Arkansas players. Unless I missed it on the replay as an official I did not see anything that looked like even a wimpy fair catch signal. Had their been anything that could have been construed as such, that run is coming back and UNT gets penalized for either an illegal or invalid fair catch signal. The play was live and the Arkansas player made no contact with the UNT punt returner, and even had the Arky player made contact the UNT returner was free to run until down by contact.
Having said all that I will tell you it is easy to make a mistake in real time when you see the unexpected. Just yesterday we had a team be 4th and a bus ride and dropped into punt formation. None of us expected the “punter” to throw and complete a long pass and even though there probably were illegal lineman downfield past the extended neutral zone. We cannot throw a flag because we thought we saw something wrong but could not name the player number(s).
Just when you think you have seen everything, you haven’t.
Think you can make a good argument that the returner "gave himself up" by just standing for a couple seconds...play could have been blown dead.
I read an article that said the refs were told ahead of time so they did not blow the whistle on instinct
In the pregame briefs to both head coaches we ask if there are any unusual formations or plays we should look for. If indeed UNT had told the officials ahead of time about the punt return plan then there you have it.
Fan since 1974 living in Phelps seeing the upper bowl of Tulane Stadium
