NFL Week 3 thread

They figured out Trent Richardson was a fraud pretty quick.

 

It's simple logic. There is a possibility, however remote, that Manziel might become a capable quarterback. McCown is a known commodity. He's a career backup. He's 5-11 waiting to happen. When you play him, you're waiting around for another QB in another draft. Worst case scenario if you play Manziel and he stinks, you go 3-13 and get a higher draft choice you can use to go QB shopping.

 

... with a new coach.

 

That is my first thought as well, but it sounds like an assumption that the team will be awful. I think that is likely, but it is probably too early to make that assumption. If you go on the premise that the Browns think they can compete this year, then I understand putting their starter back in. That said, the leash should be very, very short.

I'm not saying I'd go that route. I think McCown has proven he isn't an NFL starter, so they should give Manziel the opportunity. I'm just saying I understand the decision to go back to their starter now that he is healthy.

 

How I envision this week in Cleveland.

 

Giants take a two-score lead into the final quarter. What could go wrong?

 

Why do teams kick onside kicks over toward the sideline, where they automatically lose the ball?

 

It wound up not mattering, but Coughlin pulled a Jim Schwartz and challenged a Skins TD. Curiously, the booth never stopped play for a review even though it looked like the runner's shin was down at the 1.

 

Probably that if they don't recover the onside kick, they don't leave themselves open to having it returned for a touchdown. Out-of-bounds is the best-case scenario outside of actually recovering the ball yourselves.

 

The diagonal angle gives their kicking team a better chance at the ball since it takes more time for the ball to travel the hypotenuse of 10 yards x roughly 25 yards (26.29 yards).

 

In the particular case of the Skins-Giants game tonight, if they didn't recover the onside kickoff they were screwed anyway.

I'd kick a real hot-potato spinner right into the center of the field and flood the receiving zone with 10 players.

Yeah, if the receiving team picks it up and throws a rugby lateral to some scatback 20 yards out toward the sideline, he's probably gone, but if the game is still close enough for an onside kick to matter, no receiving team is going to be throwing 20-yard laterals.

 

There is a rule that the kicking team has to have a certain number of people on either side of the ball. The ball also has to (or should) hit the ground so the receiving team can't call a fair catch.
I'd guess the best way to satisfy the alignment requirement; ensure you kick it 10 yards; get it to hit the turf first; and get your guys into a position for a recovery is to kick it on an angle. They can run in a straight line instead of having to funnel into the middle of the field. Going toward the middle they'd still have to fight through blocks, yet run twice as far. Plus the receiving team usually has sone one in that area who can easily fall on it.

The only other effective way I've seen to recover an onside kick is the dribble that the kicker recovers himself. That's more of a surprise tactic, though. When the receiving team is expecting the onside kick, there's no chance that works.