2018 AFCCG: Unsung Heroes & Plays

tims4wins

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A couple that come to mind:

Jax 3rd and 7, the drive right after the Lewis fumble. They complete an out route, McCourty sticks the guy about a yard shy of the sticks.

Last Jax drive of the game, the play after the 30 yard completion against Gilmore, they threw a wheel route to Fournette with Marquis Flowers in coverage - he just blanketed Fournette and forced the incompletion. Would have put the ball inside the 20, if not gone for a TD.

What else you got?
 

DeadlySplitter

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On the fumble sack we all went HARRISON at on the final drive, it was also Van Noy shrugging off a block terrifically and getting there a split second before Harrison.
 

DegenerateSoxFan

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Didn't hear Cameron Fleming's name mentioned much. Or Nate Solder's. Especially when things were really on the line (bad pun intended). And that's just the way we like it.
 

biff_hardbody

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All the times Jacksonville continued to run Fournette straight into the line and the defense held him to a yard or two. It was evident the Patriots' defensive game plan was to stop the run. Even after Jacksonville was successful on what seemed like 10 straight play-actions, the defense continued to shut down the run. If Fournette breaks even one or two of those for a first down, it's a different game and the defense may have to adjust.
 

Jungleland

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Agreed on the McCourty stick on third down. It was a play they absolutely had to have, and they got it. If you believe in momentum that sequence saved the game, and even if you want to discredit that, getting the Jags off the field quickly was incredibly valuable clockwise.

But other than that, no unsung play looms as large as the flea-flicker to Dorsett. For a guy who has been frustratingly inconsistent on contested balls, he couldn't have come down with one at a better time. I remain very intrigued by his potential - Mitchell, Dorsett, and Britt is going to be a really interesting training camp battle. There's a lot of post-hype sleeper potential with all three of them, imo.
 

CantKeepmedown

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In the "be ready when your number is called" department, Dorsett came up huge. Only 12 catches all season, but a 31 yard gain that put them in position for DA's first TD

**edit.....Two previous posters beat me to it as I was trying to research when it actually happened. Had mistakenly thought it was the go ahead TD drive.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Last Jax drive of the game, the play after the 30 yard completion against Gilmore, they threw a wheel route to Fournette with Marquis Flowers in coverage - he just blanketed Fournette and forced the incompletion. Would have put the ball inside the 20, if not gone for a TD.
Fournette had a clear step on him, though — a perfectly designed play for a sure TD if Bortles' pass had a tiny bit more air under it or been a bit closer to the sideline. But yeah, huge props to the 270 lb. dude for shadowing Fournette just closely enough to force Bortles to make a perfect throw.

Not really "unsung," but the play right before the flea-flicker — the 21-yd strike to Amendola on 3rd and 18 — had to be the biggest play of the game in terms of win-expectancy swing. The play before that had been that ill-advised bomb to a double-covered Hogan in the post that could easily have been picked. I was grousing miserably at the time about how dumb it was to try a super low percentage play there rather than a safe dump-off to get at least a chunk of the 18 yards back. At 3rd and 18 deep in their own end with the D's ears pinned back, I could barely watch. I feel like the odds of a Pats win went from like 10% to more like 50% on that play.
 

mostman

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Fournette had a clear step on him, though — a perfectly designed play for a sure TD if Bortles' pass had a tiny bit more air under it or been a bit closer to the sideline. But yeah, huge props to the 270 lb. dude for shadowing Fournette just closely enough to force Bortles to make a perfect throw.

Not really "unsung," but the play right before the flea-flicker — the 21-yd strike to Amendola on 3rd and 18 — had to be the biggest play of the game in terms of win-expectancy swing. The play before that had been that ill-advised bomb to a double-covered Hogan in the post that could easily have been picked. I was grousing miserably at the time about how dumb it was to try a super low percentage play there rather than a safe dump-off to get at least a chunk of the 18 yards back. At 3rd and 18 deep in their own end with the D's ears pinned back, I could barely watch. I feel like the odds of a Pats win went from like 10% to more like 50% on that play.
If you go by the ESPN probability chart - it was JAX 93%. The 3rd and 18 dropped it to 86%. The flea-flicker to 78%.

Edit: Similar here - although hard to pull out. You need the game timestamps.
 

Jnai

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I might be 100% wrong, but Chung seemed to be playing as basically a linebacker during the second half.
 

johnmd20

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If you go by the ESPN probability chart - it was JAX 93%. The 3rd and 18 dropped it to 86%. The flea-flicker to 78%.
How many times is this ridiculous team going to take a 90% win expectancy for the other team and find a way to turn it into a 0%? It happened against the Ravens when they were down two TDs. They did it against Seattle. They did it against Atlanta. And now against Jacksonville.
 

lexrageorge

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During the Jags desperation drive at the end of the 4th quarter, there was a play where Fournette was covered by Van Noy while Fournette was running down the sideline. The ball was overthrown by Bortles and fell incomplete. Had it been thrown a bit shorter, Jax would have at least had a first down deep in the red zone.

Was wondering if the pressure caused Bortles to throw the ball earlier than he intended.
 

RedOctober3829

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Ryan Allen was an unsung hero yesterday despite everybody killing him. BB elected to punt on two 4th and short plays inside Jacksonville territory and Allen pinned them deep each time. That flipped field position.
 

Bobby Sprowl 2

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Agree on Allen. Never ceases to amaze me how a punter's one job in those situations is NOT to kick in the end zone and they do SOOO often. Clearly that is harder than it looks, and Allen did it twice at crucial moments.
 

Super Nomario

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Phillip F'ing Dorsett. What a time to show up.

I'm officially happy with the Brissett trade.
I saw this morning - he only played three snaps last night. Made 'em count though.

I might be 100% wrong, but Chung seemed to be playing as basically a linebacker during the second half.
He's been playing basically as a linebacker since they signed him back from Philly. I wrote about this in 2014 for ITP, but it's pretty common they go entire games without seeing him line up deep at all: http://insidethepylon.com/nfl/long-form-editorial/profiles/2014/11/12/prodigal-chung-returns/
 

lexrageorge

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Agree on Allen. Never ceases to amaze me how a punter's one job in those situations is NOT to kick in the end zone and they do SOOO often. Clearly that is harder than it looks, and Allen did it twice at crucial moments.
I myself will never get the Ryan Allen hate. Contrast Allen's performance with Nortman's final punt, which was basically a hang-time free line drive to Amendola, setting up the big return that resulted in a short field for the Pats.
 

edmunddantes

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Fournette had a clear step on him, though — a perfectly designed play for a sure TD if Bortles' pass had a tiny bit more air under it or been a bit closer to the sideline. But yeah, huge props to the 270 lb. dude for shadowing Fournette just closely enough to force Bortles to make a perfect throw.
I believe on that play there was Pats defender that got just enough pressure that Bortles couldn't follow through completely which altered the ball enough that Fournette couldn't catch it in stride.
 

InstaFace

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Still 100% in this game. Nut up, folks.
These morons fucked with the wrong team.
I usually don't hold anything anyone says in a game thread against them...but you motherfuckers who said this was over can burn in hell with Romo and Nantz.
You're fucking with the wrong team, Jacksonville.

Bear awake.
One guy in the gamethread kept the faith better than anyone else.
 

Dick Drago

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Fournette had a clear step on him, though — a perfectly designed play for a sure TD if Bortles' pass had a tiny bit more air under it or been a bit closer to the sideline. But yeah, huge props to the 270 lb. dude for shadowing Fournette just closely enough to force Bortles to make a perfect throw.

Not really "unsung," but the play right before the flea-flicker — the 21-yd strike to Amendola on 3rd and 18 — had to be the biggest play of the game in terms of win-expectancy swing. The play before that had been that ill-advised bomb to a double-covered Hogan in the post that could easily have been picked. I was grousing miserably at the time about how dumb it was to try a super low percentage play there rather than a safe dump-off to get at least a chunk of the 18 yards back. At 3rd and 18 deep in their own end with the D's ears pinned back, I could barely watch. I feel like the odds of a Pats win went from like 10% to more like 50% on that play.
Agreed---It reminded me of the 3rd and long against Seattle, when Edelman got creamed by Kam Chancellor, and somehow held on for the first.
 

simplyeric

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Ryan Allen was an unsung hero yesterday despite everybody killing him. BB elected to punt on two 4th and short plays inside Jacksonville territory and Allen pinned them deep each time. That flipped field position.
I noticed that during the game too. One of them, pinned deep, they almost sacked Bortles for a safety, and I think the following punt was the one that ended up at practically midfield.
That was huge.
 

ObstructedView

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Agreed about the kicking game, and I'll extend it to include Ghost. Last night Berman of all people made an insightful point about how the situational kicking by him and Allen -- along with great kick coverage on punts -- helped control the field-position battle for much of the second half.
 

tims4wins

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I'd like to see a different angle on the wheel route throw to Fournette. Are we 100% sure Flowers didn't get a hand on it?
 

SeoulSoxFan

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In one of the past Belichick Breakdown segments, BB pointed out how Allen made a smart football-decision to intentionally let a tackle go & block the next guy in the secondary for a big gain.

Yesterday, he first went into motion:



Got his first assignment (hidden behind Solder):



Then built a mini-fortress (along with Solder -- who should also get a ton of credit) to take care of the LB:



To spring Lewis & Pats onto SBLII:



Just tremendous.
 
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bakahump

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Yea I swore he knocked it away. Replay showed the ball was a yard or 2 ahead of the Reciever (Fournette).

It was good coverage and a just bad enough throw.
 

ngruz25

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Everybody on the internet thinks that Allen got away with a massive hold on the Lewis game sealing first down. At least I think they think Allen was holding.

Though that's probably fodder for the Nation's Tears thread...
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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James Harrison was another unsung hero. His late pressures on Bortles helped seal the deal.
Van Noy gets the sack on the Jags' last drive but Harrison made it happen and that was a big play.

It knocked the Jags out of field goal range. I don't know if they would have kicked. They have been pretty aggressive all year. But if they had gotten to fourth down around the 35 yard line it sure would have been an interesting decision. Probably they would have gone for it, but how nervous would we have been in a one-point game with Jacksonville with three time outs? They might even have onside kicked. Again, they probably go for it anyway, but the sack took away options for the Jags and forced a fourth and long eventually.

I'm surprised there's not much discussion on tv and stuff about Jacksonville deciding to kneel on the ball with two time outs from the 25 with almost a minute in the second quarter.
 

Byrdbrain

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Everybody on the internet thinks that Allen got away with a massive hold on the Lewis game sealing first down. At least I think they think Allen was holding.

Though that's probably fodder for the Nation's Tears thread...
There are pictures all over the place if you care to look. Someone is holding but I don't think it was Allen since whoever was holding was behind the guy and Allen seemed to be in front of his guys.
I think it was probably Mason and it took place just before the 3rd pic in SSFs screenshots up above.

It could have been called but there were probably 100 holds during the game on both sides that could have been called.
 

Captaincoop

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They also probably could have called the penalty when the Jacksonville o lineman was repeatedly shoving a Patriot pass rusher in the back with two hands to keep him on the ground, right in front of an official, in a huge spot in the 4th quarter. Oh, well.
 

jsinger121

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The final TD by Amendola was the same play they ran in Super Bowl 49 that Edelman scored for the TD. Cooks was likely the primary receiver but couldn't get the separation from Ramsey that Brady was looking for so he went to Danny in the back of the endzone.
 

Hoodie Sleeves

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He's been playing basically as a linebacker since they signed him back from Philly. I wrote about this in 2014 for ITP, but it's pretty common they go entire games without seeing him line up deep at all: http://insidethepylon.com/nfl/long-form-editorial/profiles/2014/11/12/prodigal-chung-returns/
This is one of those things that keeps me convinced that the talent level of NFL coaching and scouting is significantly lower than most people think it is - its just so hard to quantitatively analyse this stuff that guys get away with all sorts of ridiculously poor decisions.

The Patriots pretty quickly figured out in Chung's first year or two that he was good at covering TEs and RBs in the short space, good against the Run, good in man as long as he didn't have to run too long with someone, and terrible covering the deep zone. IE - he was the perfect heavy nickel safety.

And then Philly signed him and tried to make him play deep zone almost all the time. It's like they had no idea what his skillset was. Of course he failed at it.

NE put him back to doing what he was good at - and suprise, he's still good at it.
 

dynomite

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I’ll add:

- Eric Rowe for his coverage on 2nd and 11 with 5:30 left, the Jags at their 9 and the score 20-17. Allen Hurns goes up and runs an out route at the 25, and has a step on Rowe when Bortles makes a decent throw. Rowe reads it perfectly, closes with a burst and knocks the ball away (nearly coming up with a pick in the process). Nice play to keep the Jags pinned and set up that big Amendola punt return and go ahead TD.

How many times is this ridiculous team going to take a 90% win expectancy for the other team and find a way to turn it into a 0%? It happened against the Ravens when they were down two TDs. They did it against Seattle. They did it against Atlanta. And now against Jacksonville.
It’s just staggering and unthinkable — and to reiterate the obvious it’s the playoffs, so by definition we’re staging these comebacks against the best teams in the league.

(Also, don’t forget the Snow Bowl, when the Raiders were up 13-3 early in the 4th quarter and had a 1st and 10 at their own 30.)
 

Super Nomario

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This is one of those things that keeps me convinced that the talent level of NFL coaching and scouting is significantly lower than most people think it is - its just so hard to quantitatively analyse this stuff that guys get away with all sorts of ridiculously poor decisions.

The Patriots pretty quickly figured out in Chung's first year or two that he was good at covering TEs and RBs in the short space, good against the Run, good in man as long as he didn't have to run too long with someone, and terrible covering the deep zone. IE - he was the perfect heavy nickel safety.

And then Philly signed him and tried to make him play deep zone almost all the time. It's like they had no idea what his skillset was. Of course he failed at it.

NE put him back to doing what he was good at - and suprise, he's still good at it.
The Pats used him deep zones a lot in his first go-around - he's the deep Cover 2 man late to get over to break up the Manningham pass in the second Giants Super Bowls - so they didn't use him optimally either until he returned. The key, I think, is McCourty (and now Harmon), who can patrol the deep middle by himself and keep Chung in the box. It's great to say "Chung should only play in the box" but then your other safety is Brandon Meriweather or Steve Gregory and you can't play him in deep CF either. It was the same issue in PHI. Sometimes you know how to use a guy optimally but you might not have the right pieces to use him that way.
 

j44thor

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Trey Flowers pass breakup on 3rd and short early in the 3rd Q was a big play. Looked like an easy conversion on the out route if Trey doesn't get his mitts on the ball. It lead to the 54 yd FG by Lambo but game could end up quite differently if JAX converts that 1st, eats more time off the clock and takes a 21-10 lead instead of 17-10.
 

Bergs

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Trey Flowers pass breakup on 3rd and short early in the 3rd Q was a big play. Looked like an easy conversion on the out route if Trey doesn't get his mitts on the ball. It lead to the 54 yd FG by Lambo but game could end up quite differently if JAX converts that 1st, eats more time off the clock and takes a 21-10 lead instead of 17-10.
He didn't miss a pick (possibly for 6) by much there, either.
 

steveluck7

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I'm going with Brady's sneak. It was a great call (probably by him) that Jax couldn't have been expecting because of 1.) the injury and 2.) they had 2 yards to go, it wasn't an "and inches" scenario. It set them up with a fresh set of downs inside the 5 and opened up the playbook for Josh
 

NortheasternPJ

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I'm going with Brady's sneak. It was a great call (probably by him) that Jax couldn't have been expecting because of 1.) the injury and 2.) they had 2 yards to go, it wasn't an "and inches" scenario. It set them up with a fresh set of downs inside the 5 and opened up the playbook for Josh
It'd had to be by Brady on 2nd down. He could have driven a car through the hole they left open on that play. Thank god he's not Big Ben and saw it and just did it.
 

normstalls

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Delay of Game (coming out of a time out no less) late in the first half on Bortles/Jax was huge. If they get that play off on time (which would have put them in FG range), Pats are most likely looking at a 17-3 or 21-3 half time deficit.
 

TFisNEXT

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I vote for the McCourty stick on 3rd and 7. Not a flashy play 'nor one that is being heralded much at all in the post game media storm, but it was one they had to have. Time begins to really squeeze them if they let JAX chew another 2 minutes...and who knows if they get even more first downs after that.

Whoever called him a pro's pro upthread has it right.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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So, just before the first Amendola TD, Amendola had another catch on 2d and 10. It was kind of a twisting catch on a ball that didn't seem well thrown. They didn't really show too many replays because they went fairly quickly and scored on the next play, but it almost looked as though the pass was intended for Cooks and Danny just kind of took it -- which was probably a good thing. Cooks was covered. Not sure if there's video or even how to post it, but just wondering if anyone else noticed that.