Let's bring
@Lance Roffers in here, since you feel you heard him correctly.
First, Lance says, "I don't know what happened as far as Joyce, you know, going outside of the hash..."
Except...with all due respect to
@Lance Roffers , that is not what actually happened.
Well, now, let's see...let's just go to the video...
As originally lined up, just to the right side of the MIDDLE HASH MARK:
Whoops, the ball is snapped towards the outside hash mark, and Joyce has to step in that direction to field the snap. At the point of the catch, he is now nearly halfway between the middle hash mark and the outside hash mark:
Naturally, when you have to go to your right simply to field the snap, you don't pivot to go in the opposite direction to kick, you keep going in the same direction. Please note, at this point the rusher is clearing CharMar "Marty" Brown but has not overwhelmed him, he has merely gone around him and is heading for Bauman on a nearly direct line upfield. The rusher's right leg is nearly on the outside hash mark, and Bauman's right leg is on the right hash mark. CLEARLY, from the point of the snap to the point when Joyce starts to step forward, the three-deep blockers have shifted to the right, which would be the CORRECT thing to do for a right-footed punter, particularly a right-footed AUSSIE-STYLE PUNTER who steps to the right to make his kick:
From the point where Joyce catches the ball, he steps left-right-left and then kicks. Here is his first step (left foot), when the rusher is STILL in front of Bauman, with only ONE OTHER rusher anywhere close (the middle deep blocker can easily handle him):
Here's the second step (right foot), rusher is STILL not past Bauman:
This is the smoking gun right here. This is the photo which will convict Bauman of murder. On step three (left foot) and with the right leg swinging, Bauman has hurled his man past him, possibly accelerating him into the blocking lane. The middle-deep blocker is handling his guy with ease, the guy on the opposite side from Bauman has nobody to block, and Bauman ONLY has one guy to impede, but instead, he just WAVES THE GUY PAST HIM as if blocking is merely optional.
Now, this is an important time to stop and assess what
@Lance Roffers actually said. Because Lance said, and I quote: "I don't know what happened as far as Joyce, you know, going outside of the hash..." Except the video evidence clearly shows that Joyce DID NOT, in fact, go outside the hash to make his kick. He makes his kick FROM the hash (left foot just inside the hash) because the ball was snapped to his right.
Let's also examine the CONTEXT of what
@Lance Roffers said. He speaks from his OWN EXPERIENCE to say that he does not believe Bauman expected Joyce to be outside of the hash. And that would make a lot of sense except for these things:
a) as noted above, Joyce WAS NOT outside the hash
b) as one would assume, Lance Roffers probably did not play with many Aussie-style punters, thus HIS expectation might not be the same as the expectation of Miami players, who have had an Aussie-style punter since Big Lou Hedley
c) as NOT accounted for, when the snap goes wide, then it very well MIGHT result in a punter kicking the ball from an unanticipated spot, which is exactly what happened...even if Joyce NORMALLY goes right (as evidenced by the fact that all 3 deep-blockers moved to the right), Joyce might STILL have been farther right due to the wide snap...but he is STILL NOT OUTSIDE THE HASH, he is directly behind Bauman
NOW, THIS IS THE POINT WHERE
@Lance Roffers COMMENTS WITHOUT HAVING VIEWED THE VIDEO CLOSE ENOUGH. He might say that Bauman "released" the blocker because his priority was to the inside shoulder...but Bauman doesn't have anyone to his inside shoulder, the other rusher is clearly engaged by the middle-deep blocker. If Bauman's helmet was buried in the center rusher's gut, maybe I could buy the
@Lance Roffers explanation. But that is clearly NOT what is happening. Bauman has "released" the outside rusher...in order to...DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Bauman does not engage with another rusher AT ALL. I do not think, even on his worst day, that
@Lance Roffers intends to argue that the outside-deep blocker should "release" the guy coming right at him IN ORDER TO BLOCK NOBODY. And, yes, Lance is right about the inside shoulder being the priority FOR AN AMERICAN-STYLE PUNTER. But clearly all the blockers shifted to the right BECAUSE THEY KNEW JOYCE WOULD GO RIGHT. And while those blockers might not have seen the errant snap, you can't "release" the outside rusher IN ORDER TO BLOCK NOBODY when you haven't accounted for where the snap went. Just because Bauman's "PRIORITY" is his inside shoulder doesn't mean he is allowed to "release" the responsibility for his outside shoulder in favor of BLOCKING NOBODY. That is just insane.
And here it is. The final proof. Bauman is blocking ABSOLUTELY NOBODY, he has merely turned upfield to be the third-to-last guy on coverage. Wow. What an accomplishment. Wave the outside guy past you, BLOCK NOBODY, and then run upfield as if you are going to do some damage as the 9th guy to arrive at the kick returner. ******* BRILLIANT.
****, even
@Lance Roffers acknowledges that there was no "inside shoulder" threat. So while he can speak, in a vacuum, about "inside shoulder" being the priority, I am quite certain he did not mean to imply that you can IGNORE the "outside shoulder" threat for a non-existent "inside shoulder" threat. I am sure that Lance meant to say that the inside SHOULD take priority, assuming there were two immediate threats, BUT THERE WERE NOT TWO IMMEDIATE THREATS. There was just the one threat, and the non-existent "priority" threat that never materialized.
So if you want to bring
@Lance Roffers in here to debate that, it's on you. You have clearly misunderstood what he said. Lance does not even attempt to explain what Bauman did. Lance appears to be mystified by what Bauman did, even though Lance correctly explains what the outside-deep-blocker should be doing with an American-style punter behind him.
Factors STILL unaccounted for:
1. Joyce does not take any extra steps, either for (a) an Aussie-style punter, or (b) a guy fielding an errant snap
2. Joyce does NOT go outside the hash mark
3. Joyce does not take ANY EXTRA TIME to punt the ball, and in fact manages to work in the catch of the errant snap into his overall kicking direction and steps
4. Joyce is not in an "unexpected" position and is NOT outside of the outside-deep-blocker, even in spite of the wide snap, because all of his deep blockers have moved to the right
5. The ONLY ASPECT that is unusual and WRONG in the play is Bauman choosing to "release" the outside rusher, IN ORDER TO BLOCK NOBODY, prior to running down the field as if he has done nothing wrong
That is the correct assessment of the events, as amply supported by video evidence.
Feel free to invoke the name of
@Lance Roffers once again, as if he will save you.
