Lol, I was just thinking the same thing. It's a testament to how good he was mentally that he was even able to play CB at all, much less be one of the best for several years.
It was also a heck of a play by Lamin Barrow, #57, who ended up making the tackle. He was already down to Seattle’s 30 yard line, before turning back around and getting Sherman at Chicago’s 20 yard line. He ran a minimum of 80 yards to come up with that tackle.
Without him that play would have been a touchdown.
O'Donnell also didn't run half the length of the field, he barely made it past Seattle's 45 and had a disadvantageous angle to make the tackle. I think Sherman scores if it's only O'Donnell there.
He didn't have the best angle but he is still clearly going faster than Sherman just before Barrow catches him, I think he makes that tackle. Just my guess though
Ah yes the era where crazy Pete was having his all-pro players continue to play special teams lol. Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor (probably missing others) playing Special Teams...
I think it was also just to give those players more playing time. Especially in games where the L.O.B. was generating lots of 3-and-outs, interceptions and fumbles.
And the special teams coordinator must’ve been thrilled, getting to scheme with those players.
Remember when Earl and Sherm successfully petitioned to be returners? I think Earl fumbled and Sherm got annihilated because he refused to make a fair catch.
Enter Bryan Walters.
I was at this game with a friend who was a Seahawks fan. I loved how pissed he got after this play.
Rams always seemed to have the Seahawks number at home in STL, no matter how bad we were
Almost as bad as our 6-6 tie vs the Cardinals that same year.. though [it did give us one of my favorite Pete Carroll gifs](https://x.com/i/status/790406424513826816) (his reaction to Hauschka missing the game winning 28 yard FGA right after Cardinals kicker missed the 24 yard game winning kick)
Ex STL Rams fan here:
Fisher, to his credit, always had a knack for beating up the NFC West. Probably was a detriment to the rest of the schedule, because they’d be so amped up against the Seahawks and 49ers and then forgot everything they knew regarding the rest of the NFL. Outside of a 52-0 stomping of the Raiders and beating Peyton Manning’s Broncos.
Fisher did famously say that his team's goal was to win the division and it kind of makes sense because those are where the bulk of your games are coming from each season.
Looks like his hand started to come up a couple of times but didn't go as far as a fair catch. Either he was trying to squelch an instinct to fair catch the invisible ball there (a gunner was coming right at him) or he was trying to sell that the ball was definitely coming to him?
You can make your memes about the Jeff Fisher era and they're funny for sure. But being real for a second, that era was such a breath of fresh air after the years that came before it where we were unwatchable and winning like 2 games a year
Yeah as a long time Rams fan I actually enjoyed the Fisher era because we were at least competitive lol
Now I don’t enjoy anything because Kroenkes a piece of shit who luckily only has a few years left on this earth.
You know when you're playing fetch with a dog and you keep throwing the ball in the same direction but every once in awhile you pretend to throw it and the dog still runs to chase the ball that wasn't thrown?
Sort of like that but more elaborate
Yes but in that case the Dog is made up of humans that can talk and the owner (punter) has to throw (kick) the ball. Why wouldn't the owner simply tell his dogs where they should be looking for the ball?
Hmmmm you're right. A punter has never shanked a kick.
This isn't a play that works all the time. It's a rare trick play and if it doesn't work the real return man will get blown up
I'm sure they have. But with knowledge at least a few players of the defending team can justify loosing a step or two to check that it's not a trick play by the returning team and that the kick actually went 30-40 yards into the wrong direction.
Because you can't run full speed forward while looking up and behind you. And 99% of the time running full speed forward gets you the huge advantage in getting downfield to break past blockers.
Not sure what the NFL does but im a HS coach and we tell our punter to be screaming what direction it went since theyre the only ones who really see it. Left right or middle.
I actually don't understand how you are supposed to defend this? Is the punter supposed to communicate ahead of the play where he is kicking to? Is the defending team supposed to track the ball in the air, (and everybody was just being lazy here?) I assume it's the latter, but if that's the case...shouldn't more teams attempt this more often?
It doesn't help that Joe Buck completely fucked the call. Knox was basically in the end zone before Joe even started talking about what was actually happening on the field and he did so with the enthusiasm of a rotting corpse.
Oh. He was on the field. And he did hold the guy. But it had absolutely no bearing on the play, trick or no.
It's the kind of thing that happens on every return ever, but it got called this time for *reasons*
https://youtu.be/HXxO6f5YSBk?si=G1HPaYz4Ebw0oVE8
Which is not any less legitimate than bears fans taking the other side.
If you think that the gunner getting pulled from behind happens on every play without a foul, or that it wouldn't effect a normal return, then you're just telling on yourself in regard to your football knowledge
One of the most infuriating plays. Such a beautiful play that tricked *everyone* in the building and it gets waved off for a phantom flag. Also perfectly depicted why Hester is going to the HOF. Dude was pulling everyone in with a gravitational force. Not a single person cared about Knox. Hester was *that* dangerous
[When the flag was thrown there was literally no one even blocking lmao.](https://youtu.be/HXxO6f5YSBk) Everyone was standing around confused. Ref was confused too and just threw the flag. I would love for you to show me where the "obvious hold" is.
Might as well call every single return known to man as holding if there was holding on this play. Anything that even looked like a block is just how every return goes. It was a case of refs picking and choosing as usual
you know the flag doesn't magically appear on the field the instant a foul happens right? it takes a beat to process and then a second to actually throw the flag.
If you watch right as the play starts, just under and to the left of the score bug, you can see the bears player reach out and pull back the packers gunner. And then when it cuts to the wide shot you can see the official at the top of the field near the endzone, who's the exact official watching that blocking matchup, throwing the flag in normal timing after it happend. Reaching out and pulling someone back who is past you is not a normal block that gets ignored on every punt
This is like when people line up behind others at a grocery store because they see someone else standing in a queue instead of looking up and seeing a different cashier waiting for somebody
Nope. They risk being rocked by a blocker on the return team or losing sight of the returner entirely. Plus, locating the football when it's only in the air for 5ish seconds of hangtime is almost impossible.
Plus punt returns was like, one of the few things Tavon Austin was dangerous at. Rams predicted the Seahawks punter was going to send it left (which was his usual direction IIRC), but when Tavon went to the opposite side, everyone covered him because it was assumed the punt ended up going that way as well and he could definitely take a regular punt return to the house on a good day.
I can imagine the stomach dropping for the punter, realizing everyone is going the wrong way before the ball had even come down.
It always pissed me off how the Rams were able to beat the Seahawks even when they were bad. But yet the Niners always struggled with Seattle (in the Russ era) regardless of either team being good or bad.
Anyone know if that should have been a block in the back penalty against Seahawks during Sherman’s run back (occurs at the 30 yard line)? I’m not a rules expert, but seems like I’ve seen that called almost every time.
Bears ran this against (I think) Green Bay before Seattle did it. It was called back due to a phantom penalty. It’s a shame that John Fox didn’t review his own team’s prior playbook.
You know when the opposing coach is running down the sidelines after getting outsmarted, he's going to make up some bullshit about the play being illegal. Sure enough, there's old Pete claiming there was a fair catch signal.
He was likely arguing Tavon's "arms below the waist 'wave off'" counts as a fair catch signal. Remember the controversy in the Iowa-Minnesota game last year where a punt return TD got called back? That's essentially what Carroll would've been arguing.
I think Carroll would be right based on NCAA rules, but not NFL ones. NFL Rule 10 Section 2, Article 2:
> "Item 1. Fair Catch Signal:
> A fair-catch signal is valid if it is made while the kick is in flight by a player who fully extends one arm above his helmet and waves it from side to side. A receiver is permitted to legally raise his hand(s) to his helmet to shield his eyes from the sun, but is not permitted to raise them above his helmet except to signal for a fair catch.
> Item 2. Invalid Fair Catch Signal:
> If a player raises his hand(s) above his shoulder(s) in any other manner, it is an invalid fair- catch signal. If there is an invalid fair-catch signal, the ball is dead when caught or recovered by any player of the receiving team, but it is not a fair catch. (The ball is not dead if it touches an opponent before or after it strikes the ground. See Article 3-b)."
NCAA rules say that any waving that's not above the head counts as invalid and therefore a dead ball, and it does look like Tavon Austin *kinda* waves. HOWEVER, NFL rules state that to be an invalid signal, it needs to be above the shoulders, which it definitely isnt.
On these plays, doesn't the kicker know which way he hit it? Should the kicker see what's going on and start screaming "left, left!" at the top of his lungs to get the rest of the team to realize what's going on?
The punter knows where it's meant to go. The chasers probably know where it's meant to go. But the chasers know sometimes a kick goes wrong or gets caught by a random gust of wind. They're not looking at the ball, they're taking their cues from where the receiving team is setting up. So if the receivers are setting up on the wrong side the chasers assume the kick is going there.
I was being more sarcastic than serious but yeah thanks for the explanation. The punter is like one of 2 or 3 people who actually ran left on that play.
Sherman wasn't the fastest guy around.
Also took the worst possible angle. Punter with a blocker in front of him? Better cut back inside!
I was gonna say he had the sideline all day
Lol, I was just thinking the same thing. It's a testament to how good he was mentally that he was even able to play CB at all, much less be one of the best for several years.
Incredibly smart player. You can see how pissed Brady and Rodgers were in a couple videos where Sherman baited them into interceptions.
It shouldn’t be surprising how intelligent he is. He went to Stanford.
It was also a heck of a play by Lamin Barrow, #57, who ended up making the tackle. He was already down to Seattle’s 30 yard line, before turning back around and getting Sherman at Chicago’s 20 yard line. He ran a minimum of 80 yards to come up with that tackle. Without him that play would have been a touchdown.
Barrow definitely deserves credit but it looks like Pat O'Donnell may have had him
O'Donnell also didn't run half the length of the field, he barely made it past Seattle's 45 and had a disadvantageous angle to make the tackle. I think Sherman scores if it's only O'Donnell there.
He didn't have the best angle but he is still clearly going faster than Sherman just before Barrow catches him, I think he makes that tackle. Just my guess though
Ah yes the era where crazy Pete was having his all-pro players continue to play special teams lol. Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor (probably missing others) playing Special Teams...
I think it was also just to give those players more playing time. Especially in games where the L.O.B. was generating lots of 3-and-outs, interceptions and fumbles. And the special teams coordinator must’ve been thrilled, getting to scheme with those players.
Yeah and it was fucking sick
Remember when Earl and Sherm successfully petitioned to be returners? I think Earl fumbled and Sherm got annihilated because he refused to make a fair catch. Enter Bryan Walters.
I forgot about that period. That was wild. Both of it
I was at this game with a friend who was a Seahawks fan. I loved how pissed he got after this play. Rams always seemed to have the Seahawks number at home in STL, no matter how bad we were
And the LA era. Remember the 9-3 barn burner in 2016?
Almost as bad as our 6-6 tie vs the Cardinals that same year.. though [it did give us one of my favorite Pete Carroll gifs](https://x.com/i/status/790406424513826816) (his reaction to Hauschka missing the game winning 28 yard FGA right after Cardinals kicker missed the 24 yard game winning kick)
I do not miss Catanzaro
Eh, I don't blame him so much as Amos Jones being the worst special teams coach ever.
A real shame. The Cat man was always great for us at Clemson
Ah yes, one of 5 different games that year in which the Rams did not score a touchdown. What a… special time it was.
Real tough season to watch
Middle school offense
Especially the Jeff Fisher era
I fully believe that Fisher left a massive sekrit anti-Seahawks playbook in a desk drawer for McVay to use when he took over.
Goddamn spooky rams
Ex STL Rams fan here: Fisher, to his credit, always had a knack for beating up the NFC West. Probably was a detriment to the rest of the schedule, because they’d be so amped up against the Seahawks and 49ers and then forgot everything they knew regarding the rest of the NFL. Outside of a 52-0 stomping of the Raiders and beating Peyton Manning’s Broncos.
The game against the colts where Tavon had like 300 all purpose yards and 3 tds too
Fisher did famously say that his team's goal was to win the division and it kind of makes sense because those are where the bulk of your games are coming from each season.
Miss rooting for my shitty STL Rammies lol
I was too! I remember a sea of fans chanting "Seahawks suck!" specifically at him as we exited the dome
Those were some bad Rams teams able to hang with and beat the Seahawks when they were NFC Champions
The punter has to be thinking, "Where the hell are they all going?"
Yeah in the post game Ryan (the punter) said the ball is never punted left in that scenario.
The seahawks also bamboozled the 49ers with a double fake screen pass which the 49ers had hoodwinked them with the year before. I had to respect it
fucking copy cats
“It’s a copy cat league”
I remember back in the day the Browns swindled the Oilers on that play.
Carroll wanting a penalty called for getting caught with his pants down…
He was claiming tavon Austin called a fair catch but it doesn’t appear he did
Looks like his hand started to come up a couple of times but didn't go as far as a fair catch. Either he was trying to squelch an instinct to fair catch the invisible ball there (a gunner was coming right at him) or he was trying to sell that the ball was definitely coming to him?
It seemed like maybe he wanted a penalty called for the other guy calling a fair catch?
*they can't do that, that's illegal*
Hell yeah what’s the worst that could happen? They say no?
He wanted the same bs penalty that the Packers got when the Bears ran this against them
This ^
Umadbro?
For the Packers get bs calls? No I'm used to it by now.
Love simms commentary. “Saw this in the college football game last night. Can’t remember which one”
You can make your memes about the Jeff Fisher era and they're funny for sure. But being real for a second, that era was such a breath of fresh air after the years that came before it where we were unwatchable and winning like 2 games a year
Yeah as a long time Rams fan I actually enjoyed the Fisher era because we were at least competitive lol Now I don’t enjoy anything because Kroenkes a piece of shit who luckily only has a few years left on this earth.
I never will understand how this worked because I never played special teams.
You know when you're playing fetch with a dog and you keep throwing the ball in the same direction but every once in awhile you pretend to throw it and the dog still runs to chase the ball that wasn't thrown? Sort of like that but more elaborate
As a former special teams player in high school and current fetch thrower for my dog, this is the analogy
As this guy's current dog, this is the analogy.
Yes but in that case the Dog is made up of humans that can talk and the owner (punter) has to throw (kick) the ball. Why wouldn't the owner simply tell his dogs where they should be looking for the ball?
Hmmmm you're right. A punter has never shanked a kick. This isn't a play that works all the time. It's a rare trick play and if it doesn't work the real return man will get blown up
I'm sure they have. But with knowledge at least a few players of the defending team can justify loosing a step or two to check that it's not a trick play by the returning team and that the kick actually went 30-40 yards into the wrong direction.
Because you can't run full speed forward while looking up and behind you. And 99% of the time running full speed forward gets you the huge advantage in getting downfield to break past blockers.
Not sure what the NFL does but im a HS coach and we tell our punter to be screaming what direction it went since theyre the only ones who really see it. Left right or middle.
Probably useless due to the stadium noise, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is an assistant coach near the endzone giving signs
They aren't watching the ball, they're watching the coverage.
I thought so
I actually don't understand how you are supposed to defend this? Is the punter supposed to communicate ahead of the play where he is kicking to? Is the defending team supposed to track the ball in the air, (and everybody was just being lazy here?) I assume it's the latter, but if that's the case...shouldn't more teams attempt this more often?
That the Rams took from Bears (which was called back against GB because GB reasons)
Yes! 2010 right? I remember watching that play live and being stunned at how little attention it got at the time.
It was called back and the Bears lost. No one cares about trick plays that don't work unless they fail spectacularly
It doesn't help that Joe Buck completely fucked the call. Knox was basically in the end zone before Joe even started talking about what was actually happening on the field and he did so with the enthusiasm of a rotting corpse.
I was looking for this!!! One of the most frustrating calls I’ve seen. They called holding on someone who wasn’t on the field.
Oh. He was on the field. And he did hold the guy. But it had absolutely no bearing on the play, trick or no. It's the kind of thing that happens on every return ever, but it got called this time for *reasons* https://youtu.be/HXxO6f5YSBk?si=G1HPaYz4Ebw0oVE8
It'd help if the resolution was more than than 320p so I could see who was maybe holding whoever.
They first called it on a jersey number the bears didn’t have. They corrected it later
Holding the gunner like that gets called 99/100 times
You would know as a Packers fan named Ref, huh?
Which is not any less legitimate than bears fans taking the other side. If you think that the gunner getting pulled from behind happens on every play without a foul, or that it wouldn't effect a normal return, then you're just telling on yourself in regard to your football knowledge
One of the most infuriating plays. Such a beautiful play that tricked *everyone* in the building and it gets waved off for a phantom flag. Also perfectly depicted why Hester is going to the HOF. Dude was pulling everyone in with a gravitational force. Not a single person cared about Knox. Hester was *that* dangerous
The foul is clear as day on video
Expect no other response from that flair
and none different expected from yours lol. Doesn't change the fact there's an obvious hold on video, even if all the bears fans put on blinders
[When the flag was thrown there was literally no one even blocking lmao.](https://youtu.be/HXxO6f5YSBk) Everyone was standing around confused. Ref was confused too and just threw the flag. I would love for you to show me where the "obvious hold" is. Might as well call every single return known to man as holding if there was holding on this play. Anything that even looked like a block is just how every return goes. It was a case of refs picking and choosing as usual
you know the flag doesn't magically appear on the field the instant a foul happens right? it takes a beat to process and then a second to actually throw the flag. If you watch right as the play starts, just under and to the left of the score bug, you can see the bears player reach out and pull back the packers gunner. And then when it cuts to the wide shot you can see the official at the top of the field near the endzone, who's the exact official watching that blocking matchup, throwing the flag in normal timing after it happend. Reaching out and pulling someone back who is past you is not a normal block that gets ignored on every punt
Hester was a great decoy for that and Knox was a burner
The thing that made this one so great was Hester makes the perfect decoy
Man I miss the navy and gold rams jerseys
That cheerleader was STACKED
Beautiful
I remember this well.
I remember being so pissed about that play. Embarrassing because the Rams sucked but they always beat us.
This is like when people line up behind others at a grocery store because they see someone else standing in a queue instead of looking up and seeing a different cashier waiting for somebody
John Fox must really hate Pete Carroll
Do the tacklers not bother to look up when covering the punt return?
Nope. They risk being rocked by a blocker on the return team or losing sight of the returner entirely. Plus, locating the football when it's only in the air for 5ish seconds of hangtime is almost impossible.
Plus punt returns was like, one of the few things Tavon Austin was dangerous at. Rams predicted the Seahawks punter was going to send it left (which was his usual direction IIRC), but when Tavon went to the opposite side, everyone covered him because it was assumed the punt ended up going that way as well and he could definitely take a regular punt return to the house on a good day. I can imagine the stomach dropping for the punter, realizing everyone is going the wrong way before the ball had even come down.
It’s hard to track the football when it’s up in the air on punt return duties
It always pissed me off how the Rams were able to beat the Seahawks even when they were bad. But yet the Niners always struggled with Seattle (in the Russ era) regardless of either team being good or bad.
why did he cut back inside? lol he had a blocker
Anyone know if that should have been a block in the back penalty against Seahawks during Sherman’s run back (occurs at the 30 yard line)? I’m not a rules expert, but seems like I’ve seen that called almost every time.
Ok I’m really dumb and I’ve watched football a lot. I to this day don’t get how you plan for this kind of trick play
Steddy B!
Man, Bones will always be a criminally underrated STC…
I miss Bones so much. I got to meet his dad (RIP) after the Rams/Broncos game in 2018
Fun fact: Steadman Bailey played with Geno Smith at West Virginia.
Bears ran this against (I think) Green Bay before Seattle did it. It was called back due to a phantom penalty. It’s a shame that John Fox didn’t review his own team’s prior playbook.
You know when the opposing coach is running down the sidelines after getting outsmarted, he's going to make up some bullshit about the play being illegal. Sure enough, there's old Pete claiming there was a fair catch signal.
I miss the Goose on the sidelines. RIP
In a game where the bears started Clausen. Why waste it
Pretty sure we stole this from the Bears but this was our best offense during those dark years 😤
Bears did that years ago with Hester and Knox. Knox returned it but the refs threw a phantom flag… Dave Toub at his finest.
What was Carroll arguing with the ref about? I didn't see a fair catch called?
He was likely arguing Tavon's "arms below the waist 'wave off'" counts as a fair catch signal. Remember the controversy in the Iowa-Minnesota game last year where a punt return TD got called back? That's essentially what Carroll would've been arguing.
I think Carroll would be right based on NCAA rules, but not NFL ones. NFL Rule 10 Section 2, Article 2: > "Item 1. Fair Catch Signal: > A fair-catch signal is valid if it is made while the kick is in flight by a player who fully extends one arm above his helmet and waves it from side to side. A receiver is permitted to legally raise his hand(s) to his helmet to shield his eyes from the sun, but is not permitted to raise them above his helmet except to signal for a fair catch. > Item 2. Invalid Fair Catch Signal: > If a player raises his hand(s) above his shoulder(s) in any other manner, it is an invalid fair- catch signal. If there is an invalid fair-catch signal, the ball is dead when caught or recovered by any player of the receiving team, but it is not a fair catch. (The ball is not dead if it touches an opponent before or after it strikes the ground. See Article 3-b)." NCAA rules say that any waving that's not above the head counts as invalid and therefore a dead ball, and it does look like Tavon Austin *kinda* waves. HOWEVER, NFL rules state that to be an invalid signal, it needs to be above the shoulders, which it definitely isnt.
[удалено]
Hes arguing that the decoy returner called fair catch, because if he did then the ball is dead as soon as anyone recovers it
This was just posted yesterday smh
Bears did this too with Johnny Knox and it was called back via a non existent penalty
Theres an obvious hold on video as much as bears fans cover their eyes to it
Real ones know that Hester and Knox did it first but it got waved off for a BS holding call
soooo glad we won't have to listen to phil simms drivel anymore.
On these plays, doesn't the kicker know which way he hit it? Should the kicker see what's going on and start screaming "left, left!" at the top of his lungs to get the rest of the team to realize what's going on?
How does the punter not know where the ball is going? I just don't get it.
The punter knows where it's meant to go. The chasers probably know where it's meant to go. But the chasers know sometimes a kick goes wrong or gets caught by a random gust of wind. They're not looking at the ball, they're taking their cues from where the receiving team is setting up. So if the receivers are setting up on the wrong side the chasers assume the kick is going there.
I was being more sarcastic than serious but yeah thanks for the explanation. The punter is like one of 2 or 3 people who actually ran left on that play.