The Football Thread

[nuraman00]

I‘d tell you, but I’d have to kill you.

Can you be a spy for Halloween next year?

 

[MHSL82]

Is that the official name of the position? Or just his role?

Is there a spy on every single down?

No, I don’t know the position, it changes. The safety can drop down, but usually not because they’re deeper. The defensive end can, but they are often the one trying to sack the quarterback. And there are other positions that are technical that I don’t know very well. I have heard of all of them of course, I just can’t answer questions without looking it up and I don’t want to. But there is no position called the spy position.

Some quarterbacks are not very mobile, and so there would only be a spy when it is clear that they are so close to the end zone (or first down) that the quarterback may keep it.

For example, Peyton Manning almost never ran the ball. One of his famous plays is where he did run in for the touchdown, and he was running so slowly, but nobody was defending him because he never runs. You wouldn’t waste a spy on that. You would want an extra defender against the receivers or tight ends in that situation.

Again, the spy will still defend whoever is in his vicinity for a ball being thrown, or if the player with the ball is still running toward him. But they’re not gonna pay attention to somebody who they don’t believe is going to run and basically never for the whole game for those players. But for players like Colin Kaepernick used to, Mahomes on many plays, Lamar Jackson, and every play, etc., they would.

 

[nuraman00]

What does play action mean? What other categories of plays are there other than play action?

 

[MHSL82]

What does play action mean? What other categories of plays are there other than play action?

Play action is when the quarterback fakes a handoff to the running back but instead drops back to throw the ball. He technically could also run himself. One might ask, then isn’t every play play action? No because the quarterback doesn’t always take the hand off. Play maybe called play action in the huddle but when the quarterback decides to back up, he doesn’t fake it, and the defense mind is not play action because there was no fake. Even though the defense on every play have to guard for all possibilities. Heck, there are QBs who have punted the ball before, especially on third down and long.

Incidentally, I was having a conversation with somebody and I said he and the woman corrected “or she.” And I was thinking in the NFL, there are only hes. There hasn’t been any women or players who identify as anything else. I said, I believe that if you’re capable, you should be able to play regardless of gender, but until there is a woman in the NFL, saying he is ok. Of course, if we were talking about football in general, where people could play at recess, then one could use either.

 

[nuraman00]

Thanks.

Yes, if it's the NFL, it's he.

If it's a lower level, or recreational with friends, then any gender.

That is pretty cool that a QB has punted. What advantage did that give the team that was punting?

 

[MHSL82]

Thanks.

Yes, if it's the NFL, it's he.

If it's a lower level, or recreational with friends, then any gender.

That is pretty cool that a QB has punted. What advantage did that give the team that was punting?

Typically, the quarterback will only punt if the team does not feel that they will get a first down and they don’t want someone to return the punt. So it has to be a surprise. Now, if a quarterback has done it in the past, maybe the team knows as a possibility in certain situations, but it still doesn’t happen very often. I imagine there are times where the other team knows that, but they can’t dedicate a player to be so far away from the play in order to catch the punt because there’s always a chance or presumption that the quarterback will instead look for someone who is open. Sometimes this has happened on fourth down where the quarterback will take a risk if they think what will get them a first down is open, but if they don’t, they’ll just punt it.

The funny thing is when someone is 90 yards from the end zone and the quarterback throws a deeper pass on fourth down, it is better to not intercept the ball unless you know you can return it to the end zone or beyond the 10 yard line. I’ve seen plays where a defender will tackle his own teammate to stop the interception from occurring because if it’s on fourth down and the player doesn’t have a chance to return it, it is stupid to catch the ball because you’re down there and have further to go to the end zone.

 

[nuraman00]

Maybe. A part of me thinks if you have the lead, it's still better to intercept the ball, have possession, and control the clock.

So when the QB punts the ball, then does the team that punted the ball usually end up retrieving it?

Sort of like the same end result that the team that does an onside kick, hopes for? To end up retrieving the ball?

 

[MHSL82]

Maybe. A part of me thinks if you have the lead, it's still better to intercept the ball, have possession, and control the clock.

So when the QB punts the ball, then does the team that punted the ball usually end up retrieving it?

Sort of like the same end result that the team that does an onside kick, hopes for? To end up retrieving the ball?

Only on fourth down where is clear that the other team cannot complete the ball, because if you don’t catch the ball, you get the ball where the play started. So if team A has the ball, the 10 yard line has to go 90 yards to score a touchdown, if they throw an interception and you catch it at the 50 yard line, you have to go 50 yards to score. If they’re on the 10 yard line and they throw and you don’t interceptions the ball, you get the ball the 10 yard line. You could still score or run the clock out or whatever you want to do. And you would never take it from farther away just because you think you could then take more time off because you could always not convert a first down and get the ball back anyway.

Have you seen the times where a player is running towards the end zone and they go down on purpose because they want to keep the ball. If they score, doesn’t give them a better chance of winning, but it does make you have to kick the ball to the other team after scoring and that makes your team have to defend and that can cause injuries. If you can just go down and then run the clock out, that’s the safest thing for your team. There’s also times where scoring a touchdown could get you a lead, but then the other team has the ball where they could tie it. But holding onto the ball to the end and kicking a field goal or still scoring the touchdown, but with no clock left, the game is over. Sometimes you’ll get an announcer saying that the team who scored left too much clock for the opposing quarterback. Mahomes scored with 13 seconds.

 

[nuraman00]

Yes I remember the 13 second drive. The Bengals did nothing wrong.

You should be able to prevent a touchdown in 13 seconds.

 

[nuraman00]

Are Lamar Jackson and Nikola Jokic and Shoehei Ohtani the same player, for their sports?

Best player at their sport for the past several years.