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Third down punt

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If you punt on third down you get the benefit of the roll and no return. It is easier to flip the field than punting on fourth down. If it is third and forever, you might draw or screen to break a long gainer against an all out rush or lengthen the punt by a short gain if the play is snuffed out. You can throw deep with the assumption a that an intercepted long ball is as good as a punt. The quick kick assumes that the punt will get past the safety and roll free with no return. If the game situation stresses field position, this is the best way to flip the field. This is like giving up the safety and punting from the 20 instead of the end line.
 
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I was watching a horrible Syracuse / West Virginia game today. Cuse only had 86 yards of offense in the middle of the fourth quarter but they were only behind by a field goal. They were backed inside of the 10 yard line with 3rd and long and I thought to my self - punt the ball and switch field position. Perhaps West Virginia will fumble (again) or at least have to punt a returnable ball. Instead, they ran a play and ended up with a safety. First weekend of college football and already one third down punt opportunity wasted.
 
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In a game were the first third down conversion was half way through the third quarter, your only only points were scored on an 18 yard drive, your down by a field goal and you opponent has fumbled four times already I would rather have a huge punt than a dangerous attempt at third down. In retrospect, the saftey sealed the game.

It's only logical. I agree it shows no confidence in your offense but frankly, I don't think Syracuse earned any confidence.
 
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smithlabs said:
I was watching a horrible Syracuse / West Virginia game today.
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I watched part of that game. I didn't come to the same conclusion as you did, but I see your point. You're down by 6 points, you can't move the ball - punt it. Who knows what can happen with a punt? And what's the worst that can happen? You lose the game? It seems like your offense is already doing that on its own.

I think, though, that it's a good way for your fans to boo you out of town. You know, the "We could have won that game, if it wasn't for that play" types. You get on their bad side for that call, and begining the next week, you can't do anything right. Halfway through the season, the boos are louder than the cheers for you. By the end of the season, you're so unpopular that your job is hanging by a thread, and you just need one little "Troy Smith" situation and you find yourself hoping you get hired at a Division II school.

On the flip side, you punt the ball, the other team screws up and touches the ball downfield, your team jumps on it, you get a couple of good plays and score the winning touchdown, and you're the hero - for one week. Sure, for another season, the true fans might say, "That was a good call." But it won't be the springboard that will get you the 5-year extension or the multi-million dollar contract at a top-level school.
 
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smithlabs said:
Running a play "outside the box" puts the defense on its heels (notice how I used both it"s" correctly in this post).
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hate to bust your balls, but there should be an apostrophe between the 't' and the 's' in on its heels... it is a pronoun, which takes the place of the noun defense... if you were to say the 'heels of the defense' you would write defense's heels... in this case, due to it being possessive of heels, you would use an apostrophe... it's heels is the appropriate use of the word... to put it another way, the apostrophe is indicitive of possession... for instance you would write smithlab's car... if you wrote smithlabs car there would be no possession indicated... and you would be stuck trying to figure out if it was a certain type of car, or if all (plural) smithlabs drove the same kind of car...


sorry, i couldn't resist... :p

Woody punted on third down several times during the Snow Bowl of 1950...
 
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lvbuckeye said:
hate to bust your balls, but there should be an apostrophe between the 't' and the 's' in on its heels... it is a pronoun, which takes the place of the noun defense... if you were to say the 'heels of the defense' you would write defense's heels... in this case, due to it being possessive of heels, you would use an apostrophe... it's heels is the appropriate use of the word... to put it another way, the apostrophe is indicitive of possession... for instance you would write smithlab's car... if you wrote smithlabs car there would be no possession indicated... and you would be stuck trying to figure out if it was a certain type of car, or if all (plural) smithlabs drove the same kind of car...


sorry, i couldn't resist... :p

Woody punted on third down several times during the Snow Bowl of 1950...
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Er, no... "it's" is "it is," so "its" is to "defense's" as "it's" is to "defense is."

Anyway, I recommend that teams feel free to punt to us anytime they like. In fact, I dare 'em. :biggrin:
 
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Deety said:
Er, no... "it's" is "it is," so "its" is to "defense's" as "it's" is to "defense is."

Anyway, I recommend that teams feel free to punt to us anytime they like. In fact, I dare 'em. :biggrin:
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What she said. It's correct to have no apostrophe when "its" is used as a possessive form of the pronoun.
 
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badge24pz.jpg
 
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