Superbowl Replay + SoundFX (Merged)

[RavenScallywag]

And Ray wasn't a bitch for not being able to contain his saltiness while shoving him?

Shoving him? lol, he's just pushing him out of his face without saying a word.

As for Joe's comments, it didn't matter because we covered the kick, but if he HAD done that, it really goes down looking bad for him. Most likely, they award Ginn the TD anyway, and now it looks like Joe will win by hook or crook. Right now, he can probably shrug it off and say he was just caught up in the moment and wouldn't have done it. See the link I posted earlier, this happened in a College Bowl game several years ago.

[Matchstick]

So, how scary was Flacco's "Tackle Ginn from the sidelines if he breaks it" comment?

I've actually wondered about that in the past, and I believe that for a "palpably unfair act," which this would be, the referee has the discretion to award an untimed down (so, FG attempt) or outright award the touchdown if he so chooses.

Can you IMAGINE? And Flacco looked deadly serious.

Just for the heck of it, I took a look at the play. Flacco is standing behind a coach at our 42-yard line. He's got his hands in his collar, so does not appear to be ready to pounce should Ginn start sprinting by him. But, wow, would that ever be the most memorable (and stupid) play in Super Bowl history.

[RavenScallywag]

I gave Jimmy Smith a lot of props for his improved play in the postseason, but man he almost cost us on the return, he got juked out of his shoes by Ginn. Credit to Chris Johnson for getting a hand on Ginn and Josh Bynes for getting Ginn to go down.

[RavenScallywag]

Here's why I wouldn't squib it anyway...

Remember Koch's shank? Ginn caught it and ran in stride, across the field, for a 30+ yard return. If not for Koch smacking him out of bounds, might've been a TD.

You squib that thing and Ginn gets a shot to return it? He's moving with a good head of steam, while your coverage guys aren't anywhere near as close to him.

The drama for me was Chris Johnson got a hand on Ginn to slow him down. He then jukes Jimmy Smith totally out of his shoes and looks like he might find a seam, but luckily Josh Bynes is there to wrap up and ends up yanking the ball free anyway (it flew out of bounds...or something flew out of bounds, couldn't tell what it was). If Jimmy doesn't get juked, he wraps up Ginn for a 15-20 yard return.

[PurpleApocalypse37]

Is that true?

On the play, I think there was some suspense there, which was unnecessary. They should not have kicked it deep IMO. Field position was not an issue, unless they could fair catch it (I am not sure on that), so why not squib it? Why put the ball in the hands of their return guy with a head of steam? Dangerous.

How much has Koch practiced squib punts?

[Haloti92]

If we were going to squib it, we would have used Tucker and a holder. After a safety you can a) punt it, b) drop kick it, c) place kick it (without tee).

[Haloti92]

Here's why I wouldn't squib it anyway...

Remember Koch's shank? Ginn caught it and ran in stride, across the field, for a 30+ yard return. If not for Koch smacking him out of bounds, might've been a TD.

You squib that thing and Ginn gets a shot to return it? He's moving with a good head of steam, while your coverage guys aren't anywhere near as close to him.

The drama for me was Chris Johnson got a hand on Ginn to slow him down. He then jukes Jimmy Smith totally out of his shoes and looks like he might find a seam, but luckily Josh Bynes is there to wrap up and ends up yanking the ball free anyway (it flew out of bounds...or something flew out of bounds, couldn't tell what it was). If Jimmy doesn't get juked, he wraps up Ginn for a 15-20 yard return.

I think they are talking about scittering it along the ground not shanking or kicking it short or line drive.

But I agree a line drive or poorly placed punt is more likely to hurt us. But I also think that you can't really compare the coverage of a standard punt where the team is trying to minimize the return (i.e. having everyone sprint downfield) with the coverage of an "only a TD matters" punt where we jog up, do not care about a 50 yard return after the clock hits 0:00, and keep back many deep safety valves. Obviously the latter can lead to a TD, but the odds are way less than a standard, non-prevent coverage (Music City Miracle aside).

[akashicrecorder]

Is that true?

Yep. Palpably unfair act = automatic TD. Came up during last year's SB I think when the Giants had an extra defender on to stop the Pats and people were wondering if they'd done it on purpose, since five-yard penalty and elapsed clock >>> big play.

[RavensQB]

Who cares...... We won

[admartian]

Yes, you can attempt a free FG attempt (with no defensive rush or line) after a fair catch there (can put the holder at the fair catch spot, no need for snap backwards). So we couldn't kick it too short.

No, you cannot fair catch a kick if it hits the ground (a squib), but we were kicking from the 20, so a line drive squibber that gets 'blocked' by an up man, could feasibly be recovered by them in FG range or, at minimum, in Hail Mary range, so that too is a bit risky.

All things considered I think we chose the least risky way to deal with that kick. Koch would have really had to shank it for them to attempt a free FG attempt or an easy Hail Mary. Punters take their snap like 15 yards or more behind the line, and the distance of punts are measured from the line of scrimmage. So your typical 35 yard punt (shank) has traveled 50 yards. With Koch punting from the 20, even a short one from him was going to be too far for a free FG attempt, and very likely too far for a real Hail Mary attempt (considering any return could only last 3 seconds at most).

Sorry I didn't get what you meant there - did you mean they can take a FG at the punt of the Squib bounce or at the point of recovery? And they don't have to snap it backwards?

If we were going to squib it, we would have used Tucker and a holder. After a safety you can a) punt it, b) drop kick it, c) place kick it (without tee).

A drop kick would be entertaining. Would love to see that from an NFL kicker/punter. Not too sure if this is something regularly practiced. Might have to specially hire a rugby player (a back) for that.


Though in any case; NFL footballs are considerably pointier (for throwing) and thus the return bounce will not always have the desired height for a decent drop kick to travel very far.



RE: Flacco's tackling suggestion - even though I wouldn't agree with it; I love the tenacity and will to win. Also, slowly but surely, we're becoming more of a fanbase as a whole that takes the win ("It ain't always pretty but it's us" mentality) no matter what.

Which I think the NFL crowd/bandwagoners/fairweathers don't always appreciate due to things like "ooh the passing game loks pretty" or "let it always be a shootout/blowout" crowd and/or the fantasy football stats geeks. (Not stats-lovers/geeks in general just the Fantasy football frat-guy mentality).


I've learned to appreciate the value of a 'W' with the numerous teams I support. You take it as a fan - there's no style points in it; and whether you win ugly/controversially - you can argue till yer blue in the face it still won't change anything.

[RavenScallywag]

The only thing I disagree with about Flacco's comment...It makes us look like we'll take it by hook or by crook. I'll take it by hook, but we don't want to be known as a team that would stoop to cheating to win.

[Mista T]

On the play, I think there was some suspense there, which was unnecessary. They should not have kicked it deep IMO. Field position was not an issue, unless they could fair catch it (I am not sure on that), so why not squib it? Why put the ball in the hands of their return guy with a head of steam? Dangerous.

Field position was not an issue, but 0:04 on the clock was. Squib kicks can go anywhere, including out of bounds without changing the clock. Or If SF had returned a squib kick reception to the sideline in three seconds, an Akers FG would have been in the offing. This option was rendered moot by kicking the ball deep, out of FG range.

The deep punt was the only play that made sense to me.

With Koch punting from the 20, even a short one from him was going to be too far for a free FG attempt, and very likely too far for a real Hail Mary attempt (considering any return could only last 3 seconds at most).

Yes.