So our punter kicks it to the left side of the field..

Assume that was on purpose? I mean our punter is pretty good and placing the ball. How is it the rest of the team is running to the right side of the field? Don't they listen to the play call or do we not huddle before the punt.. Seems odd to me that no one on our team knew he was punting to the left side of the field but the punter.. Break down in communications it seems.

That play was just embarrassing.

IIRC the player they ran to fake them out by waving his hand as if it was a fair catch drawing them to his side of the field
I also seem to remember seeing Pete yell/argue with the line judge about something involving that play but the dude just ignored him..

Awesome point.

Exittium":2f16tdzs said:

IIRC the player they ran to fake them out by waving his hand as if it was a fair catch drawing them to his side of the field
I also seem to remember seeing Pete yell/argue with the line judge about something involving that play but the dude just ignored him..

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Austin wasn't waving his hands for a fair catch, he was holding up his hands faking like he was about to field the punt. The rest of his teammates pretended to set up blocks on that side of the field. Give them credit, it was a great ST play on their part. I'm actually surprised that it hasn't been run before. Never seen anything like it.

Ryan has an extreme tendency to kick the ball middle left on his pooch punts, which is why the Rams had preset that play and it was so beautifully coached. (I assume Ryan does this because he kicks it different when not trying to boom it?). In any event, the Rams are able to set that play up specifically because they know Ryan doesn't do short punts to the right and probably only practiced the fake with the one guy on the right. Apparently, and I can't really blame them too much, the Hawks players on the field weren't aware/considering this tendency when chasing to the right.

Of course the camera man avoids Austin during the whole play so we couldn't see if tried to call fair catch or not. Need to see the All 22 to see what happened.

I understand what the Rams were trying to do. I don't understand how where the ball was going to be placed (far left side of field) was not communicated in a play call or something to the other players. Or do they just go out and wing it?

Or maybe they thought he muffed the punt and hit it to the right. It's probably hard to tell where the ball going when you're running down field. If so i wonder why other teams don't do that play more often. Seems obviously a good trick.

I don't know how the Seahawks call it in the huddle or if they wing it, but again Ryan always kicks to his middle leftish when trying to place it inside the 20.

If fair catch was actually signaled then it doesn't matter who caught the ball it's still dead unless it hits the ground right?

Yes, the play is dead if any Ram calls for a fair catch the moment one of them catches it. The ruling on the field was nobody made a fair catch signal.

Hats off to the Rams for the creativity, no doubt.

But that's what I'm curious about; what made the entire coverage team run away from the ball? They're normally very very good a tracking the ball. Or do they not look at the ball, but watch the returner instead and assume that he's tracking the ball?

BlueOne":3qj4k48d said:

Yes, the play is dead if any Ram calls for a fair catch the moment one of them catches it. The ruling on the field was nobody made a fair catch signal.

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Although I think thats what Pete was trying to argue with the line judge about .. Idk

True so our guys should be coached to go for the middle left of field and touch it down. From now i am sure they will be coached this way i sure. Good trick so wonder why others haven't done it. We had a really good punt coverage team last year.

I am thinking the reason we were so good last year at punt coverage was we were not tracking the ball and going balls out to the return man. Rams may have saw that and exploited it.. who knows.

Exittium":2q08gi6b said:

BlueOne":2q08gi6b said:

Yes, the play is dead if any Ram calls for a fair catch the moment one of them catches it. The ruling on the field was nobody made a fair catch signal.

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Although I think thats what Pete was trying to argue with the line judge about .. Idk

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They showed the replay on TV, Austin didn't call for a fair catch at all before he fell down. It was just great trickery by the Rams, they deserve credit for that one.

HawkFan72":2nq90gxi said:

Of course the camera man avoids Austin during the whole play so we couldn't see if tried to call fair catch or not. Need to see the All 22 to see what happened.

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They showed everything Austin did on a replay, he never called fair catch, he just faked that he was going to catch it.

kobebryant":pqw3nmwn said:

Hats off to the Rams for the creativity, no doubt.

But that's what I'm curious about; what made the entire coverage team run away from the ball? They're normally very very good a tracking the ball. Or do they not look at the ball, but watch the returner instead and assume that he's tracking the ball?

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How can they watch the ball? It's probably 50 feet in the air. They have to look at the blockers and who's fielding the ball.

kobebryant":zjb85qoz said:

Hats off to the Rams for the creativity, no doubt.

But that's what I'm curious about; what made the entire coverage team run away from the ball? They're normally very very good a tracking the ball. Or do they not look at the ball, but watch the returner instead and assume that he's tracking the ball?

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All of the Rams blockers pretended to be setting up a block on the right and they had their regular returner over there pretending to be looking up prepared to catch a ball. The coverage team assumed the ball must be going to the right because of how the Rams set up their blocks/returner.

Vpk0718":cnlkbjv5 said:

HawkFan72":cnlkbjv5 said:

Of course the camera man avoids Austin during the whole play so we couldn't see if tried to call fair catch or not. Need to see the All 22 to see what happened.

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They showed everything Austin did on a replay, he never called fair catch, he just faked that he was going to catch it.

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Thanks, I didn't see it. I didn't think he actually called fair catch, but I was thinking he maybe did something with his arms to fake them out.