Why listening to announcers can make you dumber

[Burnplant]

13:08 4th qtr. 1st and ten, Seattle at the SF 36. Read option, perfectly defensed by SF, but Russ adlibs. Watching the game silently I marveled at the quick thinking and loved the 5 yard gain. Lockett was ad lib brilliance as well, making sure he stayed behind Russell on the play. It put SF in a what do we do 2nd and 5, and Rawls scores the next play.

So I listen to broadcast later (and I might add that I see some of you parroting their comments in the Jimmy Graham thread) and the announcers paint Russ as a moron for not going over the top to a wide open Graham. One of the announcers is a former player, he has zero excuse for what he said. Barber should know this. Take your eye off the ball, Rhonde.

Seattle had 3 linemen more than 3 yards downfield, with Okung 6 yards from the LOS when Russ looked at Graham, then LATERALED to Lockett. That was a run by Lockett. If Russ throws that ball over the top, it is a penalty, linemen are too far downfield.

Please remember shit like this when listening to announcers.

Brock Huard noted the same thing this morning, politely chiding Rhonde for not recognizing the situation.

Also, even I didn't know this much detail at the time of the play, there was another big clue both in real time and on replay...prior to Rhonde noting the WIDE OPEN Graham:

Graham was wide open because the DB covering him saw and read the situation as the read option and per the linemen, knew he better bail to try and stop #3.

Even without all the day-after knowledge, seeing a DB let his guy go like that is a hell of a clue...unless that DB is Cary Williams, and then it's just any old play.

 

[mikeak]

Funny - I ignored the fact that Graham was open and didn't like the fact that Lockett was behind RW. I thought that if he fumbles the catch / gets hit it is a live ball that can be returned.

Turns out it was a good thing

 

[Recon_Hawk]

I might be remembering wrong but wasn't the illegal man downfield mentioned in the broadcast as a reason why Wilson didn't throw? Anyway, people say dumb things on live TV. We all would. That said I've long felt that fans should think for themselves and not let a guy on live TV do all the thinking or them.

I loved this play design by Bevell. It's my favorite play design of his since the QB option run right then pass over the bootleg blitzer to Harvin play in 2014. It only worked about 5 times before it was shutdown, unfortunately some of the best plays have very limited shelf life. But the lateral option to Lockett vs. SF was a pretty cool play and should be a feather in Bevell's cap for as long as it continues to work.

I complimented Bevell for that play right as it happened, and then 2 seconds later one of the announcers did the same thing. Announcers sometimes say dumb things but they can also enlighten as well, especially the better ones (Collinsworth, etc).

This was planned? I thought it was a busted read option that RW and Lockett turned into a 5 yard gain. Not busting your chops, just asking someone smarter than me.

The throw to Lockett was actually within the play design (somewhat).

Russell has two options in that play. One option is throw the screen to Lockett. The other is to run the read-option. It's up to Russell to decided on what option he wants to run based on the defense and situation. On this play Russell ran the read option, but then improvised the throw to Lockett (almost like a delayed screen pass lol)

Seattle ran this same play against Dallas. I made a post about it here that has some GIFs that shows what it looks like when they run both options.

 

[Subzero717]

Barber stinks. I just heard him say "Rawls a much smaller back than Lynch." Meyers then said they weigh the same.

 

[drdiags]

Russ said in his interview the play was totally improvised. I will have to go listen to his post-game interview again to hear how he explains Lockett being available.

Right at the end. Was part of the deception and not expected to be part of the play:

http://www.seahawks.com/video/2015/11/22/russell-wilson-vs-49ers-press-conference


It is the last question right before Wilson signs off with "Go Hawks!"

 

[Scottemojo]

Russ said in his interview the play was totally improvised. I will have to go listen to his post-game interview again to hear how he explains Lockett being available.

Right at the end. Was part of the deception and not expected to be part of the play:

http://www.seahawks.com/video/2015/11/22/russell-wilson-vs-49ers-press-conference


It is the last question right before Wilson signs off with "Go Hawks!"

Funny. When I typed the OP, I was going to add that it had to be planned, but how the hell would I know, so I didn't add that.

It makes it that much more special that it wasn't planned.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Think about it. You could have had Troy Aikman and Joe Buck calling the game.

"Over the MIDDLE...oh, wait, that was to the side...SLINGS it!!!"

 

[Scottemojo]

I might be remembering wrong but wasn't the illegal man downfield mentioned in the broadcast as a reason why Wilson didn't throw? Anyway, people say dumb things on live TV. We all would. That said I've long felt that fans should think for themselves and not let a guy on live TV do all the thinking or them.

I loved this play design by Bevell. It's my favorite play design of his since the QB option run right then pass over the bootleg blitzer to Harvin play in 2014. It only worked about 5 times before it was shutdown, unfortunately some of the best plays have very limited shelf life. But the lateral option to Lockett vs. SF was a pretty cool play and should be a feather in Bevell's cap for as long as it continues to work.

I complimented Bevell for that play right as it happened, and then 2 seconds later one of the announcers did the same thing. Announcers sometimes say dumb things but they can also enlighten as well, especially the better ones (Collinsworth, etc).

No, they never backtracked on Wilson missing Graham.
As it turns out, it wasn't designed. I too assumed it was, but no. Two adlibbers on one team. Love it.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

I had to laugh when he completed a pass, and all they could do is rag on him about not throwing it to Graham. :roll:

 

[Recon_Hawk]

Here's the GIF of the play. You can see the receivers running the screen pass if that was the call from Wilson. Baldwin deserves a lot of credit for reading the situation and sticking with the block.

FWIW, I didn't think Ronde Barber wasn't ragging on Wilson. It was the play by play commentator who said that Wilson missed the throw to an open Jimmy Graham.

Ronde was giving props to Wilson for turning a busted read-option into a positive play and was basically disagreeing with the play by play guy in the nicest way possible that Wilson missed Graham saying that Graham "wasn't the initial target" but that he "could" have thrown it.

 

[olyfan63]

With BJ Daniels at WR here instead of Lockett... (at last check, was on practice squad) It would be interesting to see the option off this "play" for the WR to step back and throw downfield to Graham on a deep cross or post route.

In 2012 IIRC we had both Tate and Rice throwing TD passes.

 

[kearly]

As it turns out, it wasn't designed. I too assumed it was, but no. Two adlibbers on one team. Love it.

Maybe Wilson just stumbled on a good play then. If the play happens the same exact way and Baldwin/Kearse throw quality blocks with a crisp throw from Wilson- it could have been a TD.

I'd like to see this same play with the OL not running downfield and then throwing to Graham a a bit of a tricky changeup. I really like it when Wilson throws out of read option keeper looks, I wish Seattle would do it more often. Its not the kind of play teams are used to seeing in the NFL, and even when it fails, it might get the defense to hesitate in novel ways during Read Option plays.