Falcons: 4th and inches a different perspective

[bassfalcon]

I was thinking on the way home yesterday as I was listening to 680/790.

Obviously we had the same play called before the Saints took their TO. Why not line up in punt formation and run a fake punt?

We only needed inches and there is no way the defense would be expecting this.

They would have been setting up the return for Sproles and we could have snapped to the up man and it would be almost a guaranteed first.

Your thoughts?

[USAF HART]

Any other play other than running up the middle on the Saints in that situation probably would have given us the first down. They have literally nobody outside of our tackles. Everyone including the safeties were at least within 5-7 yards of the LOS. They have Shaun Rogers who at the very least demands a double team from the opposition at all times. They had at least 8 guys in the box against our 5 immediate blockers. Two of ours to Shaun Rogers, and the battle now because 3 on 7. Obviously you would have to have some sort of superhuman strength to hold a defensive line for the 2-3 seconds it took for Turner to get the ball, secure it, and then "hit the hole".

My play call is a little Madden-esque, if you will. However, I believe that we should have lined Turner up at FB, and Quizz at HB. Let Ryan make the judgement call. If the entire defense is sitting in between the tackles, you run a Fake FB Dive, HB Toss to Quizz. If they see Quizz on the field, the defense may wind up spreading out a bit because they may read toss. If that's the case, you take the 1-2 step drop, and hand the ball off to turner who could probably fall forward for the inches needed.

just my two cents

[juraitwaluzka]

I wouldve liked that much better than what we ended up running. Hell, turner was lined up about as deep as a punter anyway.

[bassfalcon]

I have to disagree Hart, why even take a chance when you could have caught them completely off-guard with a fake?

If you went back to a punt formation after the time out there is no way they would expect a fake in our end of the field.

Anyway, 20/20 hindsight always wins.....

[NCFalconfan]

I"m not in favor of the fake punt in that situation. While you do have the element of surprise I suppose (but you have to believe the Taints coaches are telling their players to watch for a fake). But I don't like putting the ball in the hands of people not used to handling it in a crucial situation. Say you do a direct snap to the up man in a fake punt formation, you are relying on the center to make a difficult snap and the up man catching the ball and then trying for the first down. If you go for the fake punt pass or run option, then you have your punter (a rookie no less) trying to make a pass or running for the first down.

More in favor of USAF's suggestion of spreading them out with personnel shifts and Ryan making the judgment call to sneak it or do a pitch out.

[Slamee101]

I'd have been against a fake punt as well. That said, it was not until yesterday when I was listening to 790 that I remembered after we brought the offense out the Saints called a TO after seeing what formation we were in. That, coupled with the fact thy we had run the same play on 4th and short earlier doomed the play from the start. Smith made the right decision in my eyes. After that, he has to trust his OC to draw up the best play possible and Mularkey once again screwed the pooch. Just like the game in 09 where Vilma and another Saints defender said they knew what was coming because they had seen the same play out of the same formation earlier in the game.

[NCFalconfan]

(11-16-2011 11:50 AM)Slamee101 Wrote:  I'd have been against a fake punt as well. That said, it was not until yesterday when I was listening to 790 that I remembered after we brought the offense out the Saints called a TO after seeing what formation we were in. That, coupled with the fact thy we had run the same play on 4th and short earlier doomed the play from the start. Smith made the right decision in my eyes. After that, he has to trust his OC to draw up the best play possible and Mularkey once again screwed the pooch. Just like the game in 09 where Vilma and another Saints defender said they knew what was coming because they had seen the same play out of the same formation earlier in the game.

This has been my biggest gripe against MM for years now. We don't disguise jack **** on offense and tip our hand with formation and personnel constantly.

[USAF HART]

What's even more disturbing is that we didn't even TRY a hard snap to draw them offsides. Surely they knew we were going to run it up the gut, so they had to have that initial jump off the LOS to beat the O-Line. They were already on their toes. one hard snap count could have drawn them offsides

[The Falcon Jedi]

Turner had no chance. That play was doomed from the beginning. Should have QB sneaked it or pitched it outside.

[evo]

(11-16-2011 05:59 PM)USAF HART Wrote:  What's even more disturbing is that we didn't even TRY a hard snap to draw them offsides. Surely they knew we were going to run it up the gut, so they had to have that initial jump off the LOS to beat the O-Line. They were already on their toes. one hard snap count could have drawn them offsides

My damn exact thought! we used to do that back in 08 but rarely use it ever since.

Draw some offside and pick up an easy 1st down. If they dont fall for that then do a PA where Ryan can pitch the ball to Jaquizz to run on the outside OR if Ryan sees something then have to through a quick out route to TG.