The turning point of the game was when Barber muffed the flea-flicker

[AMERICAS_FAN]

On that last drive, do you remeber the play on 2nd and long when the Cowbos called a flea flicker? Barber was handed the ball, dropped it and fell on it. That took us to third and long which we then ran the ball and ended up with a FG on 4th down. That muffed flea flicker is what dashed any chances of getting to 3rd and short and poterntially scoring a TD on that drive (instead of a field goal) to put the game away.

I don't think the play calling was conservative on offense because a flea-flicker has "liberal play calling" written all over it. So I won't bash the coaches for calling a conservative game; I'll bash them for being too liberal. I mean, a flea-flicker called in the rain? That means 5 diffrent people have to succesively toch the ball - WHILE IT'S RAINING - to make tha play work;first the Center must snap to the QB, the QB then must hand off to the RB, the RB must then pitch back to the QB, the QB must then trow the ball to a Receiver, and finally the Receiver must catch the pass - and I'll repeat it again: WHILE IT'S RAINING!!!

Please! What kind of play calling was that? Call it leberal or conservative - I don't care. I call it questionnable for sure, and agree with Troy Aikman who said "I don't know that this is the point in the game where you want to get cute"! Yup, it was as cute as questionnable.

**

 

[AbeBeta]

and if it worked you'd say it was a genius call. let it go.

 

[dallasblue05]

On that last drive, do you remeber the play on 2nd and long when the Cowbos called a flea flicker? Barber was handed the ball, dropped it and fell on it. That took us to third and long which we then ran the ball and ended up with a FG on 4th down. That muffed flea flicker is what dashed any chances of getting to 3rd and short and poterntially scoring a TD on that drive (instead of a field goal) to put the game away.

I don't think the play calling was conservative on offense because a flea-flicker has "liberal play calling" written all over it. So I won't bash the coaches for calling a conservative game; I'll bash them for being too liberal. I mean, a flea-flicker called in the rain? That means 5 diffrent people have to succesively toch the ball - WHILE IT'S RAINING - to make tha play work;first the Center must snap to the QB, the QB then must hand off to the RB, the RB must then pitch back to the QB, the QB must then trow the ball to a Receiver, and finally the Receiver must catch the pass - and I'll repeat it again: WHILE IT'S RAINING!!!

Please! What kind of play calling was that? Call it leberal or conservative - I don't care. I call it questionnable for sure, and agree with Troy Aikman who said "I don't know that this is the point in the game where you want to get cute"! Yup, it was as cute as questionnable.

**

Its hard to say what's conservative when you give up sacks like we did. Some of those plays could have been drawn up to go deep, but the protection wasnt there. Or if the protection was there, maybe the deep guys were covered and DB had to go elsewhere. Its really hard to judge wether or not they called aggressive plays. The plays that did work were not very aggressive, but in such a defenseive game like that, how aggressive do you want to be? I blame the players on the field for poorly executing in key situations. The coaches did their job, but players let them down!

 

[Hoov]

i agree, bad call in the rain, and with the way things were going. we were doing better job of running the ball. i would have liked to see more playcalling along the lines of short passes to a fb after te and wr cleared the side of the field mixed in with runs. run for 5 yards, throw for 4 run again. just push downfield a few yards at a time.

instead we were running ok, then we try to pass for 10 and bledsoe get sacked or incomplete or we get penalty.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

and if it worked you'd say it was a genius call. let it go.

No, I would call it lucky had we gotten away with that because I'm being objective about the play calling. I know enough about the game to know that trick plays should never be used in critical moments like that. And why "let it go"? I'm not complainging about the loss - it is what it is - so there's nothing to let go. I'm merely reflecting on the play calling.

**

 

[trickblue]

Troy said it didn't matter as there was absolutely no one open downfield...

Seattle was probably expecting the call at some point...

 

[AbeBeta]

No, I would call it lucky had we gotten away with that because I'm being objective about the play calling. I know enough about the game to know that trick plays should never be used in critical moments like that. And why "let it go"? I'm not complainging about the loss - it is what it is - so there's nothing to let go. I'm merely reflecting on the play calling.

**

How can you call it objective to focus on a single play as the reason for our loss?

 

[Hostile]

and if it worked you'd say it was a genius call. let it go.

I wouldn't.

Trick plays are fine and all that, but with a rookie, in the rain, in the 4th quarter of a tight game is a bad time to go sandlot football.

If he had made that same call in the 2nd quarter and it worked perhaps I'd call him "genius." The timing and the situation make that a questionable call every tiem regardless of success or failure.

 

[Aikmaniac]

Bledsoe was toast anyway...that LB came through untouched and watched the whole thing unfold. Barber actually made a smart play and kept the yardage loss to a minimum.

Crazy call though. It's up there with the reverses to Keyshawn.

 

[NorTex]

On that last drive, do you remeber the play on 2nd and long when the Cowbos called a flea flicker? Barber was handed the ball, dropped it and fell on it. That took us to third and long which we then ran the ball and ended up with a FG on 4th down. That muffed flea flicker is what dashed any chances of getting to 3rd and short and poterntially scoring a TD on that drive (instead of a field goal) to put the game away.

That fumble happened when we were on the Seattle 46 yard line. It was the perfect time to run that play. We did that before and scored a TD.

We did not kick a field goal on that drive, but on the next, after we got an INT.

 

[Hoov]

I wouldn't.

Trick plays are fine and all that, but with a rookie, in the rain, in the 4th quarter of a tight game is a bad time to go sandlot football.

If he had made that same call in the 2nd quarter and it worked perhaps I'd call him "genius." The timing and the situation make that a questionable call every tiem regardless of success or failure.

yes, trick plays are effective when you have the defense on their heels, not when you are struggling or pressing to get things going.

 

[JohnsKey19]

Troy said it didn't matter as there was absolutely no one open downfield...

Seattle was probably expecting the call at some point...

Yeah. Brad Shamm on the radio said the same thing. Seattle had it all covered up.

 

[Hostile]

yes, trick plays are effective when you have the defense on their heels, not when you are struggling or pressing to get things going.

Exactly. In the Eagles game with an offense firing on all cylinders, sure, do it in that situation.

Bad timing to call that. In the rain, the last trick play I call is a flea flicker. RBs who practice that flip back to the QB are not practicing it in the rain and that does make a difference.

 

[AbeBeta]

I think some of you are missing the long view here - play calling isn't just about one game -- trick plays like reverses and flea flickers, even if they sometimes don't work, force future opponents to look for them and prepare for them. Down the line, a safety who has been made aware of the possibilty of a flea flicker might hesitate on a run play, or a corner who is looking for the reverse might bite on a fake reverse and let his guy get behind him.

 

[Portland Fanatic]

Troy said it didn't matter as there was absolutely no one open downfield...

Seattle was probably expecting the call at some point...

Actually guys...I know Troy said that...it was NOT TRUE...Keyshawn was WIDE open at the 15 yard line with noone within 15 yards of him (I was at the game!)....this is the truth...I swear!!! No joke...I was really surprised to hear Troy say that when I saw with my own eyes how open he was...anyways...

Here's the issue with the play itself....I hated the call because of the rain and a rookie doing it...to many hands. The most important point...the LB had a bead on Bledsoe untouched. I don't think there was anyway Drew could have gotten that pass off. He would have taken a sack...this part I noticed on TIVO last night...cause at the game I was watching Keys as soon as I saw Barber turn around to throw it back, did not know he fumbled...was looking for the ball in the air to Keys.

Take that for what's it's worth.........

 

[Glenn Carano]

I wouldn't.

Trick plays are fine and all that, but with a rookie, in the rain, in the 4th quarter of a tight game is a bad time to go sandlot football.

If he had made that same call in the 2nd quarter and it worked perhaps I'd call him "genius." The timing and the situation make that a questionable call every tiem regardless of success or failure.

Come on guys! Rain, mud, snow etc. never stopped us from running all those trick plays growing up. We ran the flea flicker, we ran the double reverse, we ran the Statue of Liberty and we ran the hide the ball under the back our teammates shirt on a kickoff all the time in adverse conditions.
Not an excuse.

Any other ones I'm forgetting?

 

[Hostile]

Come on guys! Rain, mud, snow etc. never stopped us from running all those trick plays growing up. We ran the flea flicker, we ran the double reverse, we ran the Statue of Liberty and we ran the hide the ball under the back our teammates shirt on a kickoff all the time in adverse conditions.
Not an excuse.

Any other ones I'm forgetting?

Got us to the NFL didn't it?

:wink2:

Yeah, you're forgetting the pass route that had you use a parked Chevy as a screen.

 

[Chuck 54]

On that last drive, do you remeber the play on 2nd and long when the Cowbos called a flea flicker? Barber was handed the ball, dropped it and fell on it. That took us to third and long which we then ran the ball and ended up with a FG on 4th down. That muffed flea flicker is what dashed any chances of getting to 3rd and short and poterntially scoring a TD on that drive (instead of a field goal) to put the game away.

I don't think the play calling was conservative on offense because a flea-flicker has "liberal play calling" written all over it. So I won't bash the coaches for calling a conservative game; I'll bash them for being too liberal. I mean, a flea-flicker called in the rain? That means 5 diffrent people have to succesively toch the ball - WHILE IT'S RAINING - to make tha play work;first the Center must snap to the QB, the QB then must hand off to the RB, the RB must then pitch back to the QB, the QB must then trow the ball to a Receiver, and finally the Receiver must catch the pass - and I'll repeat it again: WHILE IT'S RAINING!!!

Please! What kind of play calling was that? Call it leberal or conservative - I don't care. I call it questionnable for sure, and agree with Troy Aikman who said "I don't know that this is the point in the game where you want to get cute"! Yup, it was as cute as questionnable.

**

It was a blessing the toss back was muffed...there were two guys pouring through the line untouched already in the backfield...Bledsoe would have been buried before he could even grip the ball...that play had no chance whatsoever...the way it turned out was the best possible outcome.

 

[Alexander]

Troy said it didn't matter as there was absolutely no one open downfield...

Seattle was probably expecting the call at some point...

You have to agree with him.

Coach Parcells is a great coach, but he is certainly predictable at times. Especially with the gimmicks. I think we have at least one per game. And it is usually around the third quarter that you start asking yourself "Where is the gimmick"?

 

[Doomsday101]

You have to agree with him.

Coach Parcells is a great coach, but he is certainly predictable at times. Especially with the gimmicks. I think we have at least one per game. And it is usually around the third quarter that you start asking yourself "Where is the gimmick"?

Well we had a halfback pass in the 1st half of the game but Barber was smart enough not to throw it because the man was covered. Under Landry Dallas would run a gimmick plays as well. I don't think this 1 play had much to do with the loss