Pick Play

I was listening to the radio this morning and there was an interview with the head ref from the championship game. He was asked about pick play in general (not specifically the play at the end of the game). I thought his response was interesting and kind of crappy.

Now, let me say first that I don't think the play at the end was a pick play so much as it was a screen play. The non-receiving WR didn't pick the defender covering the receiving receiver. Instead, hne immediately started blocking the defender covering him. If I'm not mistaken, that's a penalty (it is, at least, at either the NFL or college level as I remember the penalty being called recently). That also said, Bama shouldn't have let Clemson get that close.

But back to what the referee said. He said that for a pick play, he looks for a case where the receiver engages the defender but the defender doesn't engage back (like put his arms up). What the crap kind of rule is that?

Reminds me of this scene from Karate Kid III. You don't have to, you can just stand there and let him kick your ass.

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Honestly, whether looking at it live, or after replay -- it looked pretty convincingly that the outside DB not only initiated the contact with the outside WR, but chucked him at the line of scrimmage to throw off the WR's timing of a possible slant route. The DB appeared to move into the receiver to jam him, then grabs onto his shoulders and throws him down. The interaction between them creating a natural rub.

It would have been different if the WR in question goes to engage the inside CB (the one covering the eventual target). But in this case, it looked like a very niftily designed and executed legal rub.

Oddly enough, I was telling my wife before they even broke the huddle: Saban needs to call time out and tell his guys to tackle every WR on the field. Since DPI in the end zone would still result in marking the ball at the 2 where it was. But then just burn time off the clock.

What that outside DB did (tackle the outside WR) was smart and probably would have drawn a flag if Watson targeted him.

Interesting. I only watched the play live and then once on replay but my memory was that the WR is the one who initiated contact. I say this largely because it reminded me of the Gronk play with the Seahawks.

Regardless of the actual play though, I found the explanation disheartening. It's as if the defender is just supposed to give up on the play and *hope* the refs throw a flag because if they put up any sort of fight, then it is allowed.

In the NFL you can engage within 1 yard of the LOS because it could be run blocking. After that, if the WR didn't really run a route, and he hinders the DB covering another WR, then it's a pick play.

New Orleans got away with two of them and it cost us the game. Referees admitted that they should have been called.

Dunno if that helps any, or maybe I have no idea what the question was.

That was running into the guy not covering you. I'm talking about starting to block before the ball is thrown. Pretty sure I've seen that penalty on screen plays Basically the other wide receivers are not supposed to stop blocking until the receiver has the ball. It's basically pass interference (contact while the ball is in the air) but I'm pretty sure it had a different name.

We, as Seahawk fans, should know the rule. Lord knows we see the darn bubble screen enough!

IIRC Watson is running to his right and it has the look of a QB run play. Once he gets beyond the tackle box he's considered a runner and WR can block I believe.

May be wrong.

He does scramble to the right, but the WR also runs right into the defender to block him.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/football/artic ... renfrow-td

Still getting a little far afield of my original question. So based on what the Ref said, in order to draw a penalty, should the DB have just stood there with his hands down? Seems like a bad system where if you continue playing you don't get a flag but if you just stand there and get rammed into, then you do.

Looking at the play again, is this basically what the Seahawks tried to do at the end of the Super Bowl? Except that instead of the WR running toward the sideline the Seahawks WR ran inside? The similarity being that the blocking WR drives the DB back into the way of the other DB.

I like the Clemson play much better. Aside from the fact that it actually worked, it seems less risky than throwing into a crowd.