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What happened on this play with O’Connor?

TheOriginalCane said:
Good lord, you are grasping and desperate.

I never put all three into some definitive ranking system. I compared and contrasted them.

Besides, if O'Connor had played better, perhaps the Bauman and Beck mistakes don't matter anyhow. If you want to continue playing silly games.
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OJ can't take some of your ****, too?
 
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I’m sorry but I don’t wanna see this kid on the field next year unless it’s absolutely necessary..he got away with so much holding in that game and all season dude is a walking PI
 
90scane said:
Let me help you with video proof that it wasn't 100% on 87. Before I do so, you may want to take back Brown being in a 3-point stance. We haven't used 3-point stances on punt for years.

Does Brown block a faster guy out of a TWO-POINT stance? (no 3-point stances) No Aussie-style kick. Clearly, it is possible.


How about this one? Does he fail to engage with the man over him? No Aussie-style kick?


Now we get to see 54 Newton get lazy and not engage IU 6, BUT they slide protection and no Aussie-style kick.


Brown didn't even engage, but Joyce didn't kick Aussie-style and avoided the block.


From all of this, I'd put more blame on Joyce than anyone. The only Aussie-style punt was blocked. He moved more than his protection and also kicked Aussie.


Anyway, carry on with your BS narratives.
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The 3rd punt and the one that got blocked are nearly identical setup. It looks to me like it was a combination of:
  1. Snap was higher and on the block and Joyce had to bring the ball down from above his shoulders
  2. #6 got a much better jump off the ball. On the 3rd punt his back leg is still on the LOS when Joyce catches the ball, on the block his back leg is more than yard past the LOS
  3. It looks like Joyce may have gotten a bit wider than the sliding protectors on the block relative to the third punt, but it's really hard to tell with the difference in camera persepctive and there not being hash marks to anchor on the third punt. (Edit: it looks like the snap went a bit wider on the block as well, which I assume contributed to Joyce getting wider than he did on the third punt)
  4. Screenshot 2026-01-21 190644.png
  5. Screenshot 2026-01-21 190556.png
  6. I tried to screenshot at the same point of the drop. You can see #6's front foot is 9 yards from LOS on the block and just 7 on the third punt.
  7. Screenshot 2026-01-21 191810.png
  8. Bauman does a similar feet planted nudge on the third punt that he did on the block, the difference is Joyce had already punted the ball by the time #6 got passed him
  9. I don't have fancy video editing software, but I would be curious if someone could download the video and check the difference in how long the snap to punt was on the third punt versus the one that got blocked?
Super unfortunate play. I don't know if this was standard operating procedure by our protectors on punts the whole year, but it does seem a little crazy that an outside protector would keep his feet planted while just nudging a guy running past him who, you know, could block the punt.
 
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flips said:
The 3rd punt and the one that got blocked are nearly identical setup. It looks to me like it was a combination of:
  1. Snap was higher and on the block and Joyce had to bring the ball down from above his shoulders
  2. #6 got a much better jump off the ball. On the 3rd punt his back leg is still on the LOS when Joyce catches the ball, on the block his back leg is more than yard past the LOS
  3. It looks like Joyce may have gotten a bit wider than the sliding protectors on the block relative to the third punt, but it's really hard to tell with the difference in camera persepctive and there not being hash marks to anchor on the third punt.
  4. View attachment 354422
  5. View attachment 354423
  6. I tried to screenshot at the same point of the drop. You can see #6's front foot is 9 yards from LOS on the block and just 7 on the third punt.
  7. View attachment 354424
  8. Bauman does a similar feet planted nudge on the third punt that he did on the block, the difference is Joyce had already punted the ball by the time #6 got passed him
  9. I don't have fancy video editing software, but I would be curious if someone could download the video and check the difference in how long the snap to punt was on the third punt versus the one that got blocked?
Super unfortunate play. I don't know if this was standard operating procedure by our protectors on punts the whole year, but it does seem a little crazy that an outside protector would keep his feet planted while just nudging a guy running past him who, you know, could block the punt.
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I tried to find the skycam but they edited out the punts. The three protectors take inside protection over outside. With 91 trying to split 83-87, 87 can’t work outside until he feels 83 has 91 which was too late. Combined with the outside kick, any delays, Browns effort, 6 jumping the snap…

Group effort to F it up and group effort to block it. Had 91 not approached 83-87, 87 steps out to take 6 on.
 
90scane said:
I tried to find the skycam but they edited out the punts. The three protectors take inside protection over outside. With 91 trying to split 83-87, 87 can’t work outside until he feels 83 has 91 which was too late. Combined with the outside kick, any delays, Browns effort, 6 jumping the snap…

Group effort to F it up and group effort to block it. Had 91 not approached 83-87, 87 steps out to take 6 on.
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Screenshot 2026-01-21 193434.png

Thanks, but #6 is a yard closer to the protectors than #91 was. Wouldn't he be the most important guy to block? I agree with you Brown's effort wasn't great either. I assume #54 was in his spot on the third punt because Brown had just carried the ball on the play before and got tackled by 6 guys?
 
flips said:
View attachment 354426
Thanks, but #6 is a yard closer to the protectors than #91 was. Wouldn't he be the most important guy to block? I agree with you Brown's effort wasn't great either. I assume #54 was in his spot on the third punt because Brown had just carried the ball on the play before and got tackled by 6 guys?
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Kick protection is inside out. 91, while he is a yard back is technically closer to the punter had the punter not moved too far to the right.
 
@90scane
@flips

Thank you for these images and explanations. It happened so fast and was so shocking that the image in most people's minds is of #87 appearing to make zero effort to stop the Indiana player. As with most disastrous plays, the real explanation of what happened is far more complicated than what is seen.

I'm not touching O'Connor. Frankly, I was pretty happy with the pass breakup at the time. It never appeared to me he had any shot of actually intercepting that ball and taking it for a pick 6.

I never like the space our secondary gives the opposing WR. We do it all the time and it makes me nuts to see all the short completions. However, I'm just a fan and not qualified to make judgement on why our very competent DC chooses to teach/play that system. Hetherman has certainly done enough this season to run his defense however he sees fit.
 
Hoyacane1620 said:
@90scane
@flips

Thank you for these images and explanations. It happened so fast and was so shocking that the image in most people's minds is of #87 appearing to make zero effort to stop the Indiana player. As with most disastrous plays, the real explanation of what happened is far more complicated than what is seen.

I'm not touching O'Connor. Frankly, I was pretty happy with the pass breakup at the time. It never appeared to me he had any shot of actually intercepting that ball and taking it for a pick 6.

I never like the space our secondary gives the opposing WR. We do it all the time and it makes me nuts to see all the short completions. However, I'm just a fan and not qualified to make judgement on why our very competent DC chooses to teach/play that system. Hetherman has certainly done enough this season to run his defense however he sees fit.
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I'm thankful for @90scane for cuing up all the punts. Never would have thought to make the comparison had he not done that.

I'm with you on O'Connor. My reaction to the breakup was the same at the moment.

I think some of the space we gave IU's WR was by design, but in the clip in post #81 Jakobe was supposed to be in the flat to take that pass to Suratt away. Everyone yelled at him after the play. I think the all the handwringing over the soft coverage in the first half is pretty overblown. We had 2 corners Hetherman trusted, and one of them (O'Connor), as we found out in the second half, was a really bad matchup on the backshoulders. We couldn't get first downs nevermind score points, so any long TDs off of press man would have been catastrophic. Becker had just beaten Finney the standout Oregon corner for a 40 yard TD in press man the week before.

On their first scoring drive they nickel and dimed us down the field off the soft coverage outside, but it really never should have gotten to that point. Poyser missed the tackle on 1st and 20, and instead of 2nd and 10 they had a first down. We clamped down once they got in FG range and forced them to kick a FG. Their second scoring drive we missed a few chances to get off the field - 1. Scott going for the breakup and missing the tackle on the TE which would have forced them into 3rd and 6/7, 2. OJ's DPI on Suratt on 3rd down when we were pressed up, 3. Bains offsides that led to the long 3rd down run.

I thought Hetherman made a conscious decision to make them nickel and dime us down the field with the intention to tighten up in FG range. Make them be patient and hold them to FGs if they were. That's been standard operating procedure for the defense all year: Easy short yards are available outside the red zone if a team is patient, but if they are greedy and hold the ball we're gonna hit the QB and hopefully force turnovers. I think limiting explosive pass plays on defense when your offense isn't explosive at all was the best choice for this team. Assuming Mensah is on the way, next year's offense should be a lot more explosive than this year's was. If we aren't more aggressive outside with our corners next year, the concerns about soft coverage will be merited I think.

Thanks for all the work you do posting clips and articles. Really appreciate it. Sucks we didn't get #6, but here's hoping we get it next year!
 
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