The Scott O'Brien - Ryan Allen Brainfart

[shmessy]

OK, this needs to be said.

A FREAKING PUNTER does just ONE THING!

He doesn't have to learn a playbook.

He has ALOT of time on his hands.

How in the WORLD does not a Special Teams Coach make it MUSCLE MEMORY for the punter not to know that, in a fumble/bad snap situation near the goal line, that the AUTOMATIC REFLEX is to kick it straight out of the end zone.

That is remedial Football 101.

Yes, it is on Ryan Allen to know that, not only in his brain, but in every reflex muscle of his body.

And it is on the Special Teams Coach to make sure that the punter (who doesn't have to learn the playbook and has a lot of time on his hands) to make sure that it is muscle memory for that punter.

To a Head Coach like Bill Belichick who continually repeats the phrase "SITUATIONS.....SITUATIONS......SITUATIONS" to his team, what happened last night with Scott O'Brien and Ryan Allen is unforgiveable.

 

[manxman2601]

OK, this needs to be said.

A FREAKING PUNTER does just ONE THING!

He doesn't have to learn a playbook.

He has ALOT of time on his hands.

How in the WORLD does not a Special Teams Coach make it MUSCLE MEMORY for the punter not to know that, in a fumble/bad snap situation near the goal line, that the AUTOMATIC REFLEX is to kick it straight out of the end zone.

That is remedial Football 101.

Yes, it is on Ryan Allen to know that, not only in his brain, but in every reflex muscle of his body.

And it is on the Special Teams Coach to make sure that the punter (who doesn't have to learn the playbook and has a lot of time on his hands) to make sure that it is muscle memory for that punter.

To a head Coach like Bill Belichick who continually repeats the phrase "SITUATIONS.....SITUATIONS......SITUATIONS" to his team, what happened last night with Scott O'Brien and Ryan Allen is unforgiveable.

Or a rookie made a rookie mistake.. Unforgiveable is a tad on the strong side.

 

[50-yard-line]

Only one caveat...the line of scrimmage was out near mid-field. If Allen picks it up and throw an incomplete pass, the ball turns over nowhere near the goal line. But yeah, I was yelling for him to kick it right through the end zone.

Lol, Dierdorf wanted him to fall on it on the two...

 

[shmessy]

Only one caveat...the line of scrimmage was out near mid-field. If Allen picks it up and throw an incomplete pass, the ball turns over nowhere near the goal line. But yeah, I was yelling for him to kick it right through the end zone.

Lol, Dierdorf wanted him to fall on it on the two...

Evidently, Dierdorf wanted the Colts to get 7 instead of 2.

 

[Uncle Rico]

Only one caveat...the line of scrimmage was out near mid-field. If Allen picks it up and throw an incomplete pass, the ball turns over nowhere near the goal line. But yeah, I was yelling for him to kick it right through the end zone.

Lol, Dierdorf wanted him to fall on it on the two...

That s a good point, and I wonder if Allen was coached to think that way before the play. Still, by the time he got to the ball, taking the 2 was the way to go. We're lucky the Colts didn't get 7 there (though any play that leads to Brady serving as holder on kicks isn't completely lucky.)

 

[shmessy]

Or a rookie made a rookie mistake.. Unforgiveable is a tad on the strong side.

No.

The punter has to know how to do THREE things.

1) Kick the ball high and in the direction that the team wants
2) On FG holds, catch the ball and turn it laces out for the kicker
3) When the ball is fumbled/badsnapped near your goalline, you kick it through the End Zone

All three must be practiced and memorized and rehearsed throughout TC, PS and regular season practices.

He literally has nothing else to do. It's not an Ochocinco/Donald Hayes situation where the player has to try to memorize a 97 play route tree.

 

[Big-T]

Well, if Danny Aiken didn't try taking out the International Space Station and snapped the ball properly in the first place then not only would this situation not have come up, Allen wouldn't have got injured!

 

[zipster9]

Well, if Danny Aiken didn't try taking out the International Space Station and snapped the ball properly in the first place then not only would this situation come up, Allen wouldn't have got injured!

Absolutely. Long snappers' job is even simpler than the punter. Hike the ball and block. That's it.

All fault is Aiken. Makes you long for Lonnie Paxton.

 

[manxman2601]

No.

The punter has to know how to do THREE things.

1) Kick the ball high and in the direction that the team wants
2) On FG holds, catch the ball and turn it laces out for the kicker
3) When the ball is fumbled/badsnapped near your goalline, you kick it through the End Zone

All three must be practiced and memorized and rehearsed throughout TC, PS and regular season practices.

He literally has nothing else to do. It's not an Ochocinco/Donald Hayes situation where the player has to try to memorize a 97 play route tree.

I'm sure Allen knows this, I'm sure they've practiced it and I'm sure the minute that snap flew miles over the rookies head in his first playoff game, the first thing he thought was "oh crap" and then his brain turned to mush. And I'm sure he'll never do it again.

The unforgiving nature of the armchair sports fan...geez.

 

[Anteros]

Only one caveat...the line of scrimmage was out near mid-field. If Allen picks it up and throw an incomplete pass, the ball turns over nowhere near the goal line. But yeah, I was yelling for him to kick it right through the end zone.

Lol, Dierdorf wanted him to fall on it on the two...

Of all the dumb things that man has said that had to be the dumbest.

 

[shmessy]

Absolutely. Long snappers' job is even simpler than the punter. Hike the ball and block. That's it.

All fault is Aiken. Makes you long for Lonnie Paxton.

Of course, I fault Aiken too. But it was a wet night and that was a physical mistake.

Allen had 4 seconds of running and seeing the situation in front of (and he checked) in back of him.

That was a mental "situational football" error from a player who is not encumbered with having to memorize too many situations (unlike a WR/QB/RB/CB/TE/, etc.)

 

[RayClay]

I agree. there had to be a correct response to that situation and, even though it would have saved 2 points and put it near the 50, having a punter handling and passing couldn't have been it.

What if he picked it up earlier? boot it out of bounds?

 

[shmessy]

I'm sure Allen knows this, I'm sure they've practiced it and I'm sure the minute that snap flew miles over the rookies head in his first playoff game, the first thing he thought was "oh crap" and then his brain turned to mush. And I'm sure he'll never do it again.

The unforgiving nature of the armchair sports fan...geez.

Calling it like it is.

To me, the fault is actually more on Scott O'brien because it did not look like the rookie was ever remotely prepared for that possible situation.

 

[shmessy]

I agree. there had to be a correct response to that situation and, even though it would have saved 2 points and put it near the 50, having a punter handling and passing couldn't have been it.

What if he picked it up earlier? boot it out of bounds?

I still wouldn't do that. Booting it out of bounds (after somehow quickly turning around in the wet weather with Colts bearing down on him) would probably give Luck the ball somewhere well within Patriots terrory. At best it would have been 3 points instead of 2.

The safety should be the automatic reflex reaction by the punter.

 

[shmessy]

Not to mention, we would have still had our punter for the next game or two...............

 

[manxman2601]

Calling it like it is.

To me, the fault is actually more on Scott O'brien because it did not look like the rookie was ever remotely prepared for that possible situation.

It's the "unforgiveable" I have a problem with. That means sacking or cutting. If they learn from it, I don't see what the problem is. And the one thing I'm confident about is that they will learn from it.

 

[patfanken]

Calling it like it is.

To me, the fault is actually more on Scott O'brien because it did not look like the rookie was ever remotely prepared for that possible situation.

We don't know that Shmess. But you are right. The fault is on Allen, but I think the lesson was learned and won't happen again. You can't throw the baby out with the bathwater, or something like that.

Allen's done a great job for us this season, despite looking like Opie's older brother on the bench. He gets some points for gutting through the initial KO after the S, and hopefully he'll be alright.

Meanwhile - 2 questions - First, was it really a Saftey, since it was the a Colt player who actually hit the ball from the field of play back into the endzone? Secondly, is Metzko currently available to be picked up, or is he still under contract to Cinci?

Don't be so harsh man. Kickers are limited to 2 strike generally, and both Ryan and Aiken each have one as of last night.

 

[letekro]

OK, this needs to be said.

A FREAKING PUNTER does just ONE THING!

He doesn't have to learn a playbook.

He has ALOT of time on his hands.

How in the WORLD does not a Special Teams Coach make it MUSCLE MEMORY for the punter not to know that, in a fumble/bad snap situation near the goal line, that the AUTOMATIC REFLEX is to kick it straight out of the end zone.

That is remedial Football 101.

Yes, it is on Ryan Allen to know that, not only in his brain, but in every reflex muscle of his body.

And it is on the Special Teams Coach to make sure that the punter (who doesn't have to learn the playbook and has a lot of time on his hands) to make sure that it is muscle memory for that punter.

To a Head Coach like Bill Belichick who continually repeats the phrase "SITUATIONS.....SITUATIONS......SITUATIONS" to his team, what happened last night with Scott O'Brien and Ryan Allen is unforgiveable.

My thought at the time was that he was running fast, the ball was moving, the ground and ball was wet and he still had 15 yards to get it out the back of the end zone, maybe he thought there was a chance of whiffing on the kick?

 

[patchick]

Shmessy, if you really think there are only "3 things" a punter ever has to do, which of them would have applied if Allen had reached the ball at, say, his own 18?

You can't count on racing toward a wet ball rolling on the ground, with defenders on your tail, and managing to kick it 30 yards out of the back of the endzone. That's a recipe for a loose ball lying in your own endzone with the opponents in the best position to recover it. Even just falling on the ball at the 18 gives the bad guys possession in the redzone. The best outcome at that point is an incomplete pass and turnover on downs, no?

That's presumably what Allen was trying, ineptly, to achieve. He wasn't in the endzone, so his kick-it-out-of-the-endzone script didn't kick in (though from home it was clear that was the right play). He misjudged how much time he'd have to try for a pass, and yeah, he panicked and bumbled it. But he was put in a very, very bad situation because of a hideous snap. This is on Aiken.

 

[shmessy]

It's the "unforgiveable" I have a problem with. That means sacking or cutting. If they learn from it, I don't see what the problem is. And the one thing I'm confident about is that they will learn from it.

Gotcha. In no way would I recommend sacking Allen - - he has done a GREAT job this year.

Scott O'Brien? He should have drilled this into Ryan Allen's head and every sinew of his body to automatically kick the damn thing out of the end zone.

OK, I would use a different word then. How's "unacceptable"?