Workshopping Improvements on the Bumblepunt Play

[slam]

I'm still obsessed with the play that I'm going to call the Bumblepunt, even though there were many great name suggestions. Not because it totally failed, but because it was so close to being a great play. I really love trick plays, whether they work or no, since they're so creative and hinge on the most minute of details to work or not. I'm happy the Bumblepunt failed of course, but I am saddened that it will discourage future trick plays.

I've been thinking of ways to fix the play into one that might actually work, and so far I've come up with six! I think my favorite one might be the crazy thought I put at the end of the Pooch Punt option. It's so out of the box the defense might be confused into doing the wrong thing to the offense's benefit.

These are all predicated on the notion that A) the Offensive line can line up at the LOS legally unlike the Colts and B) the players know to let the clock run out if the right look isn't there on the other side, again, unlike the Colts.

Some of these make assumptions about NFL rules that may be wrong.

 

[brownj12]

I think you are under estimating how hard it is to snap the ball on an angle like that legally. the ball must be pperpendicular to the LoS and the snap must be one continuous and fluid motion. with no line there , a bad snap with the player in motion is as good as a turnover, probably being run back for 6 the other way.

On the Jet sweep, and Wildcat option, you need to keep in mind how fast the defense is going to be on those guys. There is no line there, there are no blockers. In the NFL these guys know how to react to the snap, and they are fast. the Jet sweep, end around, wild cat, etc work because the line is both blocking the closest defenders, and masking what is happening behind them.

The Pooch punt I think offers a similar issue, the "Punter" has one or two guys teeing off on him, I don't see any way Bolden is not right on top of that punter before he can get the kick off.

The only way any of these work is if the defense is asleep. Special teams players are typically very strong open field tacklers, I can see this working at lower levels, where you set up your player 1 on 1 or 1 on 2 and hope they beat the defense, but in the NFL, I just don't see it happening.

 

[slam]

Man, I thought this was going to get more traction, even if it was just more people showing up to call me a moron!

This Texas Tech swinging gate play suggests to me that the snapper can have a lot of accuracy with the sideways shovel pass of the ball. He slings the ball 15 yards sideways and three yards backwards to the target. I don't think it's inconceivable that it could work.

The goal of any trick play is to catch the defense unaware. The Patriots were very well schooled in defending the swinging gate play, but that doesn't mean all teams are that smart if they are unprepared for it. The Wildcat kicked the hell out of the Patriots in its debut game, same as how the ineligible play worked against the Ravens last AFC Championship game. Once the defense gets to prepare against the look, it would lose effectiveness but you only are looking to have a trick play work once. In this case, even getting the defense to use a time out would be a "win".

A link off of that link above goes to this article by a Philadelphia Eagles reporter who quizzed six Eagles defenders to identify the eligible receivers on a swinging gate formation. Only 1 in 6 got it correct, and that was the player who had played for Chip Kelly in Oregon where they did the swinging gate play a lot. There can be a lot of confusion had against a defense unprepared for the look. For instance, I know that Rob Ninkovich knows how to play the edge against a Wildcat look by now, but does Brandon Bolden? Does he charge the QB or go sideways to contain the motion man, leaving the middle undermanned? Does he even notice someone going in motion? Does the opposing coach call a timeout if he sees this developing?

If you had tried to describe the Rams' Jedi mind trick punt return play against the Seahawks to someone before it happened, you probably couldn't convince anyone that it would work. And somehow it did. Anyway, none of these plays will probably ever see the light of day, and probably for good reason. I'm just interested in kicking around the idea.