James Morris/Fake Punt

[NickM]

Morris didn't have the initial ball carrier. Someone else hit the intial ball carrier prompting him to pitch the ball I think to the punter. Morris took a horrrific angle and the punter outran him easily.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

That punter is blown up 10 yards in the backfield if the blocker doesn't have the inside of kirseys shoulder pad and also his jersey with his other hand. That hold was as blatant as they come

 

[Eda]

That punter is blown up 10 yards in the backfield if the blocker doesn't have the inside of kirseys shoulder pad and also his jersey with his other hand. That hold was as blatant as they come

This. If not for that, Kirksey makes the tackle, and this thread is not.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

I think you guys need to get off Morris's back. The dude and play. He made plenty of plays in the holes. He just didn't get credit for the tackles. He did exactly what he was supposed to do, which was stop the lead guard or back at the point of attack. Kirksey and Hitchens then made the play from outside in.

The kid has now matured physically and has speed and can play. He should be a junior eligibility wise, but he couldn't take the redshirt cause we needed him. I don't know what some of you expect. It was a spread team and most of the time the middle linebacker was playing in space outside the tackles. Just because you are in the middle, doesn't mean **** against a spread team as far as tackles in a game.

 

[Eda]

You just add up all of this BS pop Warner mistakes game after game, season after season and folks wonder why we are in so many tight games and lose to inferior programs with half the talent and resources.

That is because we have a head coach who is not accountable and therefore does not demand excellence of others around him and within his program. He plays favorites and does not create real competition. You get on the field over a better player because you work hard and tow the company line even though you do not get it done on Saturdays.

You end up with a program that has not beaten BCS team in a year and has under performed in many seasons.

First of all, this entire post is a stack of BS. Especially the 2nd paragraph. Keep these lame troll attempts, which provide absolutely nothing to the conversation, out of here.

Next, your continued assertion that the outside gunner who went in motion should be an indication of a fake is completely false. They'd been motioning like that for many of their punts. Should we call a timeout or let the gunner to free all game too? Or just this time because they actually ran the fake?

If you let the motion man go free, they snap the ball directly to him on a sweep, and they have numbers on the otherside of the field and pick up the first down (and likely much more). Or you let the motion man go free and they now can throw a pass to him or the other 3 receivers on that side... And they still have numbers.

Either way, you can't let the motion man go free like that. It creates a mismatch if you do... And THAT'S why they motion him.

Also, punt safe doesn't necessarily mean no return. It takes longer to set up the return (because the blockers wait longer before turning to run) and you have less chance for a big return, but doesn't mean no return.

The option was a terrific twist to the punt fake, NIU ran it pretty well, and were helped by a questionable hold/block on Kirksey. However, we were not caught off guard. Please stop suggesting we were.

End rant.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

First of all, this entire post is a stack of BS. Especially the 2nd paragraph. Keep these lame troll attempts, which provide absolutely nothing to the conversation, out of here.

Next, your continued assertion that the outside gunner who went in motion should be an indication of a fake is completely false. They'd been motioning like that for many of their punts. Should we call a timeout or let the gunner to free all game too? Or just this time because they actually ran the fake?

If you let the motion man go free, they snap the ball directly to him on a sweep, and they have numbers on the otherside of the field and pick up the first down (and likely much more). Or you let the motion man go free and they now can throw a pass to him or the other 3 receivers on that side... And they still have numbers.

Either way, you can't let the motion man go free like that. It creates a mismatch if you do... And THAT'S why they motion him.

Also, punt safe doesn't necessarily mean no return. It takes longer to set up the return (because the blockers wait longer before turning to run) and you have less chance for a big return, but doesn't mean no return.

The option was a terrific twist to the punt fake, NIU ran it pretty well, and were helped by a questionable hold/block on Kirksey. However, we were not caught off guard. Please stop suggesting we were.

End rant.

There is a simple recipe to shut guys up like me and I would love to shut it.

It is called WIN games. Then there is no need for apologists and excuse makers.

Stop losing to MAC schools and other inferior programs and that will go a long way as well. Then you can start the backup punter at free safety or any other position for a nice story and get faked out on countless punts and I will not care.

WINNING cures a lot of issues.

 

[tm3308]

They wanted two things first of which is they wanted check that we were in man and they wanted to pull the outside containment person out of the play eliminating one more possibility for the play to be unsuccessful. We had no one then that could conceivably force the play back in to the flow containment and kiriksey was now to far downfield to react.

I would have had my gunner signal to the to the teammate on the other side and brought himself closer to the line of scrimmage on his side uncovered. I do not care at that point about man coverage on an interior lineman so there should be numbers on our side to cover the motion man. We are also not setting up a return.

Call timeout if there is confusion. Honestly this is indefensible in today's game.

When's the last time you saw a team run a guy in motion on a punt (even a fake)? Coaches can't hope to make that kind of call from the sidelines on the fly, and players are seeing something completely new. They played the only way they could, which is what made it such a great play for NIU. They came up with something that no defense could prepare for without having seen it before.

Again, this was NOTHING like the Wisconsin fake. THAT was a special teams blunder. NIU outschemed a defense that was as prepared as you could possibly expect. There's a big difference.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

When's the last time you saw a team run a guy in motion on a punt (even a fake)? Coaches can't hope to make that kind of call from the sidelines on the fly, and players are seeing something completely new. They played the only way they could, which is what made it such a great play for NIU. They came up with something that no defense could prepare for without having seen it before.

Again, this was NOTHING like the Wisconsin fake. THAT was a special teams blunder. NIU outschemed a defense that was as prepared as you could possibly expect. There's a big difference.

First my comment about Wisky 2010 is what appeared on the first punt that our guys were moving downfield with the blockers who were releasing before the ball was struck. This was concerning to me as this is the first required element to pull off a Wisky 2010. I never said what happened was like the Wisky fake from what I observed from my seat. I was worried that they might see this as well and run that fake later.

Second I never said NIU's fake was not well executed.

My point is we seem to be victimized by these things and that is what happens to losing programs.

We pay a lot of money to coaches to have our kids ready for all possibilities. This type of fake has been run before by other teams and maybe even NIU.

I was not alone in my section in recognizing both the situation of the game and reacting to the motion.

I will let it drop but we have to be better than this as a program --- attention to detail and preparation.

 

[tm3308]

First my comment about Wisky 2010 is what appeared on the first punt that our guys were moving downfield with the blockers who were releasing before the ball was struck. This was concerning to me as this is the first required element to pull off a Wisky 2010. I never said what happened was like the Wisky fake from what I observed from my seat. I was worried that they might see this as well and run that fake later.

Second I never said NIU's fake was not well executed.

My point is we seem to be victimized by these things and that is what happens to losing programs.

We pay a lot of money to coaches to have our kids ready for all possibilities. This type of fake has been run before by other teams and maybe even NIU.

I was not alone in my section in recognizing both the situation of the game and reacting to the motion.

I will let it drop but we have to be better than this as a program --- attention to detail and preparation.

As someone already said, Morris took a poor angle to the pitchman and missed the tackle. The defense wasn't caught napping. That was a straight up execution error; I know people hate hearing that because it's always KF's mantra when things go wrong (even though I don't buy that in all cases), but it's true in this case. Iowa was in position to make the stop and simply didn't do it. That's not on the coaches. The best they can do is put the players in position to make plays, and they did that successfully on that play.

 

[Foval21]

On an option the MLB is usually expected to get caught up in the blocking and not optioned at all if it works as the offense plans. If it works as the defense plans the MLB is a safety valve for the DE and OLB/CB.

Version 1) Triple Option - Hand off reads DE. If QB keeps he option pitches based off of OLB/CB depending on blocking scheme.

Version 2) Zone Read - Hand off reads the DE or OLB depending on blocking scheme (can have a pitch man but then it is basically a triple option anyway and has been covered).

Version 3) Speed Option - No hand off option right into the pitch. Typically you block the DE and option pitch off the OLB or CB.

Either way the MLB is not supposed to be in the play if the offense does their job right. Whether Morris took a bad angle or not the fact he was in the play means he did it better than the offensive blocking scheme.

 

[Foval21]

They wanted two things first of which is they wanted check that we were in man and they wanted to pull the outside containment person out of the play eliminating one more possibility for the play to be unsuccessful. We had no one then that could conceivably force the play back in to the flow containment and kiriksey was now to far downfield to react.

I would have had my gunner signal to the to the teammate on the other side and brought himself closer to the line of scrimmage on his side uncovered. I do not care at that point about man coverage on an interior lineman so there should be numbers on our side to cover the motion man. We are also not setting up a return.

Call timeout if there is confusion. Honestly this is indefensible in today's game.

The Gunner is always man upped by a corner in punt. That corner is not an outside contain he is a personal protector for the return man so he doesn't get lit up. The true outside contain in a punt is the DE or OLB depending on the Style/Scheme of punt return defense. The motion was to give more space on the option side. As had been said if you don't shift with the gunner they would audible to either a sweep or option to the other side as they would then have numbers. It would be like not shifting to an overload. Also the motion didn't mean fake as they motioned when they punted too (as was said before).

 

[DJL]

The LBs played well with the exception of Hitchens getting burnt on that wheel route (?). The real problem was the secondary and the d-line.

Yeah Hitchens got burnt, but why the hell is a LB covering the #1 receiver. Seems more like a scheme issue than a LB issue.

 

[Eda]

Yeah Hitchens got burnt, but why the hell is a LB covering the #1 receiver. Seems more like a scheme issue than a LB issue.

Depends on the down/distance, personnel, and who they had in. IIRC, Tommy Lee Lewis was shifted to the backfield on certain plays (ie the wheel route).

 

[MisterLucky]

Obviously there is NO way to stop the fake punt play. I'm amazed that teams don't do it on every punting occasion against us. It's not the element of surprise because I don't think anyone in the stadium was surprised. It's a sure fire first down play.

 

[hawkfan2679]

The LBs played well with the exception of Hitchens getting burnt on that wheel route (?). The real problem was the secondary and the d-line.

I couldn't exactly tell, but I think we were in zone on that TD pass on the wheel route from the NIU receiver. The way Hitchens wasn't paying any attention to the receiver as much as he had his eyes in the backfield led to me to believe zone...otherwise it was some of the worst man coverage EVER. The problem, as your 2nd sentence stated, was that they were able to run in effect a post/wheel combo and with a 4 man rush (I think) we weren't even to get near Lynch before or as he released the ball. Deep 3rd player has to honor the post for a few steps until he can pass off to the safety and wasn't in position to get over in time to knock the pass away. Hitchens will take the blame because it went over his head and he was the closest defender, but I'm not 100% sure it was his zone/guy.

My $0.02.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

I couldn't exactly tell, but I think we were in zone on that TD pass on the wheel route from the NIU receiver. The way Hitchens wasn't paying any attention to the receiver as much as he had his eyes in the backfield led to me to believe zone...otherwise it was some of the worst man coverage EVER. The problem, as your 2nd sentence stated, was that they were able to run in effect a post/wheel combo and with a 4 man rush (I think) we weren't even to get near Lynch before or as he released the ball. Deep 3rd player has to honor the post for a few steps until he can pass off to the safety and wasn't in position to get over in time to knock the pass away. Hitchens will take the blame because it went over his head and he was the closest defender, but I'm not 100% sure it was his zone/guy.

My $0.02.

Really like the analysis.

Watching the replay I believe Chuck Long stated something to the effect that the safety should have been there when Lomax was beaten by the double move.

All I know is Nico Law was blamed for blown coverages at Michigan last year and I saw a lot of blown coverages on Saturday as he was not in there.... Somebody keeps making mistakes and it has not been addressed

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Really like the analysis.

Watching the replay I believe Chuck Long stated something to the effect that the safety should have been there when Lomax was beaten by the double move.

All I know is Nico Law was blamed for blown coverages at Michigan last year and I saw a lot of blown coverages on Saturday as he was not in there.... Somebody keeps making mistakes and it has not been addressed

The blown coverage where Gardner threw it up in the endzone was 100% on tanner miller. Dileo and roundtree were running a double post. Miller was suppose to have the deep middle and law had the deep 3rd where the ball was caught. The problem is Dileo was running free down the middle because miller got sucked up about 10 yards off the LOS. Law was back there trying to cover 2 posts running wide open. Everyone thinks it was on Law because he was the last guy in the tv shot as the td was caught. He was late because he was in the middle trying to cover Miller's **** up too and couldn't get back quick enough.

 

[HawkeyeMcNutt]

The LBs played well with the exception of Hitchens getting burnt on that wheel route (?). The real problem was the secondary and the d-line.

I don't think the D Line was that bad. Kind of like Michigan in 2011, I think the D Line was supposed to hold the line of scrimmage, not get too far up field, and let Lynch beat us with his arm. Which he did.

 

[tm3308]

Obviously there is NO way to stop the fake punt play. I'm amazed that teams don't do it on every punting occasion against us. It's not the element of surprise because I don't think anyone in the stadium was surprised. It's a sure fire first down play.

Of course there's a way to stop it. Iowa just didn't execute it. The DE took out the "quarterback" and Morris had a shot at the pitchman and didn't get the job done. That's not a schematics error or the coaches getting caught with their pants down. That's an execution error, plain and simple.

 

[SmokeTownHawk]

Obviously there is NO way to stop the fake punt play. I'm amazed that teams don't do it on every punting occasion against us. It's not the element of surprise because I don't think anyone in the stadium was surprised. It's a sure fire first down play.

Well it's almost certain to be in every opponent's play book until Iowa can beat it and do it consistently.