Drop Kick: Fantasy, Brilliance, Something Else?

[PatsFanSince74]

This will sound strange to any of you who haven't studied the history of American Football and the NFL, but one of my favorite, imaginary scenarios has long been that the Pats would win an SB on a Drop Kick (My fantasy had Vianatieri doing it, but who knew?)... So, imagine my surprise when the Pats tried it today. Therefore, my question: what was Flutie's kick all about?

a) An arcane bet between Belichick and Saban, made over a couple of beers, during one of their off-season sceances in Baton Rouge: "OK, Nick, I'll whip your butt with a drop-kick if you ever bring an NFL team into Foxboro.. No way Bill, I'll nail Vinatieris' a**s."

b) Belichick showing the NFL that he understands and plays the game at a different level than today's coaches, channeling the ghosts of Paul Brown, Vince Lombardi and George Halas?

c) A fluke. Flutie said he'd like to try it and BB said "What the heck, you made the Hail Mary, maybe you can make this?"

d) All of the above.

e) None of the above.

 

[T-ShirtDynasty]

This will sound strange to any of you who haven't studied the history of American Football and the NFL, but one of my favorite, imaginary scenarios has long been that the Pats would win an SB on a Drop Kick (My fantasy had Vianatieri doing it, but who knew?)... So, imagine my surprise when the Pats tried it today. Therefore, my question: what was Flutie's kick all about?

a) An arcane bet between Belichick and Saban, made over a couple of beers, during one of their off-season sceances in Baton Rouge: "OK, Nick, I'll whip your butt with a drop-kick if you ever bring an NFL team into Foxboro.. No way Bill, I'll nail Vinatieris' a**s."

b) Belichick showing the NFL that he understands and plays the game at a different level than today's coaches, channeling the ghosts of Paul Brown, Vince Lombardi and George Halas?

c) A fluke. Flutie said he'd like to try it and BB said "What the heck, you made the Hail Mary, maybe you can make this?"

d) All of the above.

e) None of the above.

f) Fun. It is a game after all.

 

[Willie55]

I'll go with Christopher Price's take:

Here's Doug Flutie's take on today's drop kick:

"I think Chris Berman takes a lot of credit for this. He mentioned it on the air about a month ago that I mess around drop kicking, and Chris showed up at a practice, and he and I were just casually talking on the side. And after practice, as I came in, Coach Belichick called me into his office, and he and Chris Berman were in his office, and he looked at me and said ‘Can you drop kick?’ I said, ‘I can do it. There’s no practical application for it, but we can do it.’ So he says ‘We’re going to start working on it.’ So we messed around with it a little bit. We were hoping to do it last week and we never got the opportunity. Just out of the blue, he said to go kick it. I liked it better that way because I had no nerves about it — I just went out and did it."

 

[BelichickFan]

I think with all the old game film Belichick's been showing the media that he just liked the idea of using something that hasn't been done in 60 years but is still executable, if not adviseable, today.

 

[Bella*chick]

Yeah, it's not like they just grabbed Flutie on the sidelines and said, "Hey, dude, wanna do a drop kick?". It seems to me he was pretty good at it, and they had been practicing it, so they were prepared to do it.

I thought it was incredibly cool, and the footage from the last drop-kick was really awesome. I felt I learned a little something about football today, and you can't say that every week.

 

[JoeSixPat]

BB sending a pre-playoff message to other teams that they can NEVER know what to expect from the Patriots

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

f) Fun. It is a game after all.

Now why would BB want his team to have some fun before going into the playoffs?

 

[marty]

I'll go with Christopher Price's take:

I'd go with that plus BB's comments after the game when he said something along the lines that given how much Flutie has brought to the game over the years that it was great for him to get points passing, running and now kicking!

 

[PatsWorldChamps]

it's very clear BB did not want to win this game

 

[edzo44]

This will sound strange to any of you who haven't studied the history of American Football and the NFL, but one of my favorite, imaginary scenarios has long been that the Pats would win an SB on a Drop Kick (My fantasy had Vianatieri doing it, but who knew?)... So, imagine my surprise when the Pats tried it today. Therefore, my question: what was Flutie's kick all about?

a) An arcane bet between Belichick and Saban, made over a couple of beers, during one of their off-season sceances in Baton Rouge: "OK, Nick, I'll whip your butt with a drop-kick if you ever bring an NFL team into Foxboro.. No way Bill, I'll nail Vinatieris' a**s."

b) Belichick showing the NFL that he understands and plays the game at a different level than today's coaches, channeling the ghosts of Paul Brown, Vince Lombardi and George Halas?

c) A fluke. Flutie said he'd like to try it and BB said "What the heck, you made the Hail Mary, maybe you can make this?"

d) All of the above.

e) None of the above.

Answer e) None of the above.

This was simply Bill taking advantage of a player's unusual skill and putting it to extremely good use. Even Saban admitted he called a time out because he couldn't figure out what the hell was going on with such an unusual alignment but even HE appreciated the historical aspect of it. I think it tickled the fancy of the older football fans to see a true throwback to the time of leather helmets.

Somewhat nostalgic for me, the last time I saw a drop kick was in high school in the early 60's. The coach saw one of our ends doing drop kicks with fairly good accuracy after a few football practices and appreciated the lost art so he allowed the end to try it during a game for a point after. Ball was dead straight but a touch low, hit the crossbar and bounced backwards. We got congratulated by the other teams coach for reviving a lost skill and got a great writeup in the local paper for having the courage to try a piece of football history. This was just Bill utilizing all available talents but with an appreciation of the historical aspect as well as the abilities of the local figure doing it. First drop kick in an NFL game in 64 years, I loved it!! :rocker:

 

[maverick4]

.

haha the quote from saban about the play (off the espn article link):

"It sort of screwed me up," said Dolphins coach Nick Saban, who needed a timeout to get things straight. "I couldn't figure out what was going on. They had a quarterback in, four tight ends and a receiver and there was no kicker."

.

 

[marty]

haha the quote from saban about the play (off the espn article link):

"It sort of screwed me up," said Dolphins coach Nick Saban, who needed a timeout to get things straight. "I couldn't figure out what was going on. They had a quarterback in, four tight ends and a receiver and there was no kicker."

.

Saban's followup quote was even better, showing how much he also appreciated the play!

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Add three things in the mix with my dime store speculation.....
1) Brady shows up wearing a Natick High T-shirt form Flutie
(no QB controversy and these guys probably get along)
2) BB even allows Flutie to try that kick at all......
3) The look on Bill's face (was that a smile??) after it goes thru the uprights...

I think we just saw the next QB coach for NE after Flutie retires.........
and we could always activate him if needed.......

Just my $0.02,

 

[shmessy]

1941.

The last time the drop kick was used successfully in the NFL.

The only year Steve Belichik played in the NFL.

BB's poignant public memorial to his dad in the best venue he knows.

A life well lived and honored.

 

[ClosingTime]

This will sound strange to any of you who haven't studied the history of American Football and the NFL, but one of my favorite, imaginary scenarios has long been that the Pats would win an SB on a Drop Kick (My fantasy had Vianatieri doing it, but who knew?)... So, imagine my surprise when the Pats tried it today. .

Dude, you need to workk on your fantasies.

 

[Flying Fungi]

1941.

The last time the drop kick was used successfully in the NFL.

The only year Steve Belichik played in the NFL.

BB's poignant public memorial to his dad in the best venue he knows.

A life well lived and honored.

the last drop kick ('41) was made by a man who, after retiring and entering the coaching ranks, was responsible for the worst record in Green Bay history, and was subsequently replaced by Vince Lombardi...

 

[patological]

Damn, the worst is we'll never know if BB would have had Adam Automatic or Doug Dropamatic kick the OT FG. Maybe even the 6 in 1 vegematic, All Around Brown.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Damn, the worst is we'll never know if BB would have had Adam Automatic or Doug Dropamatic kick the OT FG. Maybe even the 6 in 1 vegematic, All Around Brown.

Demented thinking, well done.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

1941.

The last time the drop kick was used successfully in the NFL.

The only year Steve Belichik played in the NFL.

BB's poignant public memorial to his dad in the best venue he knows.

A life well lived and honored.

Yeah, I think you might be right...good catch...

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Dude, you need to workk on your fantasies.

Agreed...unfortunately I get this way at Playoff time...another confession, I've also read Bob Carroll's "The Hidden Game of Football" from cover to cover and would do my own revised edition if I didn't have to work a day job...