please dissect my thoughts so I can be a better person

[NDfanSteve]

- BK is not the miracle worker I wanted him to be.
- on the other hand, under Weis, I can see us being 0-2 right now. I don't believe they would have fought back this week, ending up a blowout, and I can easily see them folding against Purdue.
- not even going to bring up the FG decision at the end of the half. I have nothing new to bring to the table
- I don't believe I have ever rooted for us to injure a player like I was with DR. Please tell me I'm not a bad person.
- WTF, I could probably intercept a pass from Montana.
- Crist still puts too much air under his passes and clearly can't handle the concept of throwing a pick even if it is meaningless, which brings me to....
- I have never seen a qb throw away a hail mary pass.
- A lot of people have been down on BK with his decision making during the game, myself included. But, with the loss on the board, and nothing we can do about it, I see some positives. The boys don't seem to quit. The running game is much improved. The tackling, while still nonexistent at times, seems to be an improvement over last year. I truly despise losing but somehow, someway, I feel better about this loss than under Weis, and trust me, I'm not on anyone's bandwagon.
- I truly see us moving in the right direction. Maybe not this year as we all hoped as we drank the kool-aid, and perhaps not next year, but I see improvements on the team I haven't seen in years, and that helps me sleep at night.
- 1 non-ND issue that really pisses me off. Penn State loses to the Tide convincingly and moves up a spot in the AP poll. I hate Penn State

 

[GoingGreen]

Penn State went from #18 to #22. But, your right, they shouldn't be ranked. And they won't be at the end of the reason.

 

[no.1IrishFan]

- BK is not the miracle worker I wanted him to be.
- on the other hand, under Weis, I can see us being 0-2 right now. I don't believe they would have fought back this week, ending up a blowout, and I can easily see them folding against Purdue.
- not even going to bring up the FG decision at the end of the half. I have nothing new to bring to the table
- I don't believe I have ever rooted for us to injure a player like I was with DR. Please tell me I'm not a bad person.
- WTF, I could probably intercept a pass from Montana.
- Crist still puts too much air under his passes and clearly can't handle the concept of throwing a pick even if it is meaningless, which brings me to....
- I have never seen a qb throw away a hail mary pass.
- A lot of people have been down on BK with his decision making during the game, myself included. But, with the loss on the board, and nothing we can do about it, I see some positives. The boys don't seem to quit. The running game is much improved. The tackling, while still nonexistent at times, seems to be an improvement over last year. I truly despise losing but somehow, someway, I feel better about this loss than under Weis, and trust me, I'm not on anyone's bandwagon.
- I truly see us moving in the right direction. Maybe not this year as we all hoped as we drank the kool-aid, and perhaps not next year, but I see improvements on the team I haven't seen in years, and that helps me sleep at night.
- 1 non-ND issue that really pisses me off. Penn State loses to the Tide convincingly and moves up a spot in the AP poll. I hate Penn State

1. It's your fault for expecting him to be a miracle worker in the first place, he's just a coach, and a pretty good one imo.

2. Take it easy on the kid, when's the last time you tried to run a complicated offense that is still pretty new to you, in front of 82,000 people. No pressure right?

3. Everything else though seems about right.

 

[IrishLax]

I don't know who questioned BK's decision making during the game. I saw problems in execution by the offense and by the defense on a couple big plays... but never once did I think it was a schematic issue. In fact, I thought Diaco did a freaking great job with the DL adjustments at halftime. The decision not to kick before the half? It's a gamble I don't like with Nate Montana at the helm but would like a lot if Dayne had been in.

 

[NDfanSteve]

Pehaps I was looking for Montana to do more than he could have. I'll back away from my comments on him. You're right

 

[NDfanSteve]

I was impressed with us shutting them down in second half, with the exception of the last drive, but still a good improvement in adjustments.

 

[IrishGiant]

i agree about the tackling, much better than last year.

 

[Irish4Life09]

As far as the call at the end of the half.
I put all of my faith in KElly.
If you look at the situation,youre down 14 and your star quarterback is out of the game, and youre not even sure if he can come back, and even if he does,who knows how he's gonna do.
If you kick the field goal and make it you're still down by 2 possessions at 11 points, which with the way montana and rees played there was no way u come back from.
If you miss the field goal it gives even more momentum to the skunkbears.
IF you get the touchdown it gives you a ton of momentum,and then if u have to deal with montana or rees in the 2nd half at least there is a possibility of a gain of confidence.

This was the absolute RIGHT call for Kelly. The only problem was the execution.
Now yes, it did eventually come back to hurt us, but we have no idea if Ruffer wouldve made a 44 yarder with no time left and all that pressure. He couldve missed it and then you all wouldve jumped on his back for missing a tough field goal.

Give Kelly a break. He is 2 games into his tenure.He's decisively beaten a pretty decent Purdue team, and almost beat a pretty good skunkbear team.
There is no one in the Irish fanbase that can say that there hasnt already been a drastic improvement in this team already. just give it a little time.

 

[NDinL.A.]

Change is a process...not an instant. You don't just suddenly change 5 years of bad habits, lack of discipline, and losing ways in 15 practices in the spring and a month of practices in August. Especially when you are changing both offensive and defensive systems. It just doesn't work that way. So for you to be expecting him to be a miracle worker, well, he still may very well be that (I think he could be), but it takes time. And bringing ND up from the dead, whether it takes one game or 5 seasons, will be a miracle considering how far we've fallen since Lou Holtz.

See, I'm actually extremely excited for the season and the Kelly era. I don't look at wins and losses as much as I look at HOW we're playing. And we're playing TOUGH (everyone blocking, including receivers finally, guys hitting on d, etc), and we're playing HARD (we could have easily folded yesterday, but we fought and fought and fought back, and we actually won a 2nd half for a change), and we're playing DISCIPLINED (6 penalties in 2 games, guys in the right spots for the most part). We lost our QB for a half and played a kid who couldn't even start at a JC, and yet we still barely lost to a team that has been 3 years in the same system.

So to me, it's all good right now. Things are looking up. I had us at 8-4 this season, with one loss being at MSU this weekend. If we beat MSU, then we're right where many of us predicted before the season started. And if we lose but still make great progress and play football the right way, then I'll be pissed of course but I'll know we're in good hands. Look at Lou's first year at ND...look at Saban's first year at Alabama. They turned out OK didn't they?

 

[Irish4Life09]

Change is a process...not an instant. You don't just suddenly change 5 years of bad habits, lack of discipline, and losing ways in 15 practices in the spring and a month of practices in August. Especially when you are changing both offensive and defensive systems. It just doesn't work that way. So for you to be expecting him to be a miracle worker, well, he still may very well be that (I think he could be), but it takes time. And bringing ND up from the dead, whether it takes one game or 5 seasons, will be a miracle considering how far we've fallen since Lou Holtz.

See, I'm actually extremely excited for the season and the Kelly era. I don't look at wins and losses as much as I look at HOW we're playing. And we're playing TOUGH (everyone blocking, including receivers finally, guys hitting on d, etc), and we're playing HARD (we could have easily folded yesterday, but we fought and fought and fought back, and we actually won a 2nd half for a change), and we're playing DISCIPLINED (6 penalties in 2 games, guys in the right spots for the most part). We lost our QB for a half and played a kid who couldn't even start at a JC, and yet we still barely lost to a team that has been 3 years in the same system.

So to me, it's all good right now. Things are looking up. I had us at 8-4 this season, with one loss being at MSU this weekend. If we beat MSU, then we're right where many of us predicted before the season started. And if we lose but still make great progress and play football the right way, then I'll be pissed of course but I'll know we're in good hands. Look at Lou's first year at ND...look at Saban's first year at Alabama. They turned out OK didn't they?

I couldn't have said it any better.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

So much progress across the board.

I wanted to win this game, badly. But, after Crist was out for a quarter and a half, I was expecting to lose by 14-21. We battled, played some pretty darn good defense all in all...they were on the field a lot...

I broke things after the loss last year. This year, I was just sad.

I'm still very encouraged.

 

[phork]

He is not a miracle worker, but he is the pre-eminent college football coach. This team was in disarray and certainly lacking in areas. We have 6 penalties in 2 games. We used to have 6 in the first half of every game.

The defense is flying around and killing people. While it gave up a lot of yards, it didn't give the corresponding points. You tell me Robinson does 500 yards offense, I tell you we lost by a lot.

Second guessing Kelly's FG choice at the end of the half? Yah thats great, would have been nice to know that we could have won the game at that point if he kicks it. Starting QB out, Offense, stalled. Down by 2 TDs. UM Gets the ball after the half.. Gotta do something. The key here is that UM got the ball back in the 2nd half, then your 3 points equates to a possible 28-10 lead and a FG at the end does us no good. While your shooting out possibilities how about a FG block and run back for a TD? Or just a flat out block. Frankly I go for it, send Rudolph somewhere and throw it 3 feet over his head, no one but him is going to get it.

 

[irishfan]

Only complaints I really have about BK were the time when Crist was out of the game.

1) Why call a flea-flicker in Rees' 2nd play? Keep it as basic as possible for the freshman's first possession.

2) You're under center trying to pound the ball, they put 8 guys in the box....just throw it deep to Floyd, make them respect the pass a little bit more.

3) Also, I wanted to see some Wildcat with Crist hurt. Our QBs weren't giving us anything, just take them out of the equation and try and pound it with AA, Wood, or Rudolph.

4) Needed more rollouts and screens. Clearly Rees and Montana couldn't deal with reading the entire field. (granted Montana improved by the end of the 2nd quarter.)

5) When we were under center, and in dire need of a strong run game, I would've liked to see some more imagination. Send Floyd or Riddick in motion every play and fake the end around after handing it off to AA. Do something to distract the D a little more and keep them on their toes.

Besides that, I thought BK and the coaches were good all around. The D let up 2 long drives and 2 big plays besides that. Not bad considering how much they were on the field.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Only complaints I really have about BK were the time when Crist was out of the game.

1) Why call a flea-flicker in Rees' 2nd play? Keep it as basic as possible for the freshman's first possession.

On the other hand, that's expected. There was every reason to believe that he'd run the ball there. If it opens up a throwing lane for a young QB, he's a genius.

But, point taken...it didn't.

 

[DillonHall]

Why do I keep hearing things like "If we had Weis, we wouldn't have come back." If I remember correctly (and I am), our team last year never quit and battled back in all the games in which we fell behind (Michigan, USC, Pitt, Navy come to mind). Yeah, we lost this one too but the team didn't quit under Weis. Get your facts straight!

 

[IrishLax]

Why do I keep hearing things like "If we had Weis, we wouldn't have come back." If I remember correctly (and I am), our team last year never quit and battled back in all the games in which we fell behind (Michigan, USC, Pitt, Navy come to mind). Yeah, we lost this one too but the team didn't quit under Weis. Get your facts straight!

We're basically talking about the same thing in two threads now so I'll consolidate it over here.

There is a big difference between a generic comeback and what happened yesterday. For instance, Florida was down double digits against USF and had to comeback to win something like 38-14.

With Weis, we were "coming back" in games we never should have been down in and failing to close out games we should have run away with. Yes, maybe the team didn't "quit" but for the most part we were consistently had issues closing out games for lack of focus or whatever and/or found ourselves in a hole that we dug out of not because of effort/adjustments but because our team was simply more talented than it had been showing.

'08 was worse than '09 but going over '09...

Nevada: Great blowout win.
Michigan: Hard fought game where the refs really screwed us. No "let down" there.
MSU: A game with a lot of fluke plays that we got very lucky to win. No quit but definitely poor execution.
Purdue: This game is a great example of quit. If we had killer instinct, better conditioning, better focus... whatever you want to call it there is NO WAY a 17-7 halftime score turns into us needing a last second play to win. -1 for Weis.
Washington: An epic fail that the game even got into OT but overall a moot game since we won.
USC: Great effort by our team. +1 for Weis.
BC: Moot game. Was a pretty even game throughout.
Washington St.: Moot game like Nevada.
Navy: A game where because of a lack of focus we trailed 14-0 at halftime... and eventually lost because we gave up a safety in the 4th quarter. Let me reiterate that in bold: we lost to Navy because we gave up a safety in the 4th quarter. If that isn't an example of a lack of effort/focus I don't know what is. -1 for Weis
Pitt: We get stomped all game and then fight back. +1 for Weis.
UConn: Basically the definition of quit/not playing all 4 quarters/whatever you call it when a team refuses live up to its potential late in a game. -1 for Weis.
Stanford: Potentially even worse than UConn. This is a game we dominated, had a 4th quarter lead and a chance to add to it, and then just gift wrapped it and handed it to the Cardinal. -1 for Weis.

By my count that is 4 games where Notre Dame really showed sub-par focus/effort and 2 games where they showed superior focus/effort in the second half. And 3 of those 4 games where they showed sub-par focus/effort were in the last four games of the season. That is why he got fired. If you think a BK team would lay a stinker against UConn or Navy with that much offensive talent you're crazy.

 

[Kak7304]

Only complaints I really have about BK were the time when Crist was out of the game.

1) Why call a flea-flicker in Rees' 2nd play? Keep it as basic as possible for the freshman's first possession.

2) You're under center trying to pound the ball, they put 8 guys in the box....just throw it deep to Floyd, make them respect the pass a little bit more.

3) Also, I wanted to see some Wildcat with Crist hurt. Our QBs weren't giving us anything, just take them out of the equation and try and pound it with AA, Wood, or Rudolph.

4) Needed more rollouts and screens. Clearly Rees and Montana couldn't deal with reading the entire field. (granted Montana improved by the end of the 2nd quarter.)

5) When we were under center, and in dire need of a strong run game, I would've liked to see some more imagination. Send Floyd or Riddick in motion every play and fake the end around after handing it off to AA. Do something to distract the D a little more and keep them on their toes.

Besides that, I thought BK and the coaches were good all around. The D let up 2 long drives and 2 big plays besides that. Not bad considering how much they were on the field.

This was from the ISD twitter feed:
"BK said flea flicker eliminated reads, but Rees still made wrong one."

Most trick plays are all-or-nothing where you either hit the person that got behind the coverage as a result of the trickery or safely throw it away. The flea flicker was BK keeping things as basic as possible for Rees. There was one option and only one option on that play and Rees just threw to the wrong guy. If he throws the correct route, if open, and gets a long gain or even a TD, that would do have gone a long way to calm his nerves and give him some confidence. TJ was sent deep but was well covered, so Rees should have safely thrown it away.

 

[IrishinSyria]

Why do I keep hearing things like "If we had Weis, we wouldn't have come back." If I remember correctly (and I am), our team last year never quit and battled back in all the games in which we fell behind (Michigan, USC, Pitt, Navy come to mind). Yeah, we lost this one too but the team didn't quit under Weis. Get your facts straight!

I agree 100% (on a side note, I once stayed in Dillon Hall during lacrosse camp. I don't know how you deal with those rooms).

Last year's team was flawed for sure, but it definitely did not quit. People have been taking a lot of cheap shots at Weis teams lately, but as far as I'm concerned I see 2 differences between this years team and last years:

The play of the lines and (I hesitate to say this) tackling by the secondary/Carlo.

The lines were predictable no matter who was the coach. It takes a long time to build effective college linemen, and Ty really left the cupboard bare. Sam Young wasn't a "bust" because he was poorly coached, he was a bust because he HAD to play his Freshman year. You develop linemen in the weight-room, the practice field, and the training table. When you have to prepare them for games, and you don't have enough quality linemen to challenge each other in practice, development will be slow. Somebody smarter than me wrote a long post about this but his basic point was this: this year, if things went as expected, would be the first where we could expect to see our lines performing as a well-trained unit. This is happening and having a big impact. That is good, but it would have happened with or without Kelly.

So far, its tough to say much else about the D. The Michigan game was not the same type of football they'll be asked to play for the rest of the year. But they do look good, and they haven't missed too many tackles. Carlo is beast.

The offense is a wash at best so far...

Don't take me wrong. I am EXCITED for this year and I think Kelly has a great future at ND. I watched the Bear's game today, I had nowhere near the same emotional response to it as I did to the ND game. I'm completely on board.

But, I still think Weis does not get enough credit. This is not a program in tatters as it was under Willingham. He turned around the ship, left it fully stocked and ready to go. I think Weis could have taken it where we wanted it to go. I completely understand why many people disagree. Let's hope that Kelly is the man to take us back to the promised land.

 

[IrishinSyria]

This was from the ISD twitter feed:
"BK said flea flicker eliminated reads, but Rees still made wrong one."

That makes much more sense. Rees has got to realize that even a long interception isn't such a terrible thing, throw the ball up and let your receiver make a play (or throw it out of bounds).

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that was Riddick running the crossing route, and he's got to make sure that's an incomplete pass. I'm going to assume that a)he's still focused on adjusting to his new position and that b) he never really expected Rees to throw it to him.

 

[DillonHall]

We're basically talking about the same thing in two threads now so I'll consolidate it over here.

There is a big difference between a generic comeback and what happened yesterday. For instance, Florida was down double digits against USF and had to comeback to win something like 38-14.

With Weis, we were "coming back" in games we never should have been down in and failing to close out games we should have run away with. Yes, maybe the team didn't "quit" but for the most part we were consistently had issues closing out games for lack of focus or whatever and/or found ourselves in a hole that we dug out of not because of effort/adjustments but because our team was simply more talented than it had been showing.

'08 was worse than '09 but going over '09...

Nevada: Great blowout win.
Michigan: Hard fought game where the refs really screwed us. No "let down" there.
MSU: A game with a lot of fluke plays that we got very lucky to win. No quit but definitely poor execution.
Purdue: This game is a great example of quit. If we had killer instinct, better conditioning, better focus... whatever you want to call it there is NO WAY a 17-7 halftime score turns into us needing a last second play to win. -1 for Weis.
Washington: An epic fail that the game even got into OT but overall a moot game since we won.
USC: Great effort by our team. +1 for Weis.
BC: Moot game. Was a pretty even game throughout.
Washington St.: Moot game like Nevada.
Navy: A game where because of a lack of focus we trailed 14-0 at halftime... and eventually lost because we gave up a safety in the 4th quarter. Let me reiterate that in bold: we lost to Navy because we gave up a safety in the 4th quarter. If that isn't an example of a lack of effort/focus I don't know what is. -1 for Weis
Pitt: We get stomped all game and then fight back. +1 for Weis.
UConn: Basically the definition of quit/not playing all 4 quarters/whatever you call it when a team refuses live up to its potential late in a game. -1 for Weis.
Stanford: Potentially even worse than UConn. This is a game we dominated, had a 4th quarter lead and a chance to add to it, and then just gift wrapped it and handed it to the Cardinal. -1 for Weis.

By my count that is 4 games where Notre Dame really showed sub-par focus/effort and 2 games where they showed superior focus/effort in the second half. And 3 of those 4 games where they showed sub-par focus/effort were in the last four games of the season. That is why he got fired. If you think a BK team would lay a stinker against UConn or Navy with that much offensive talent you're crazy.

I don't want to keep going on arguing about this, so this'll probably be my last comment on the topic. I absolutely disagree that the team didn't play hard pretty much all season. I believe effort, focus, conditioning, execution, and "killer instinct" are all different things. You seem to think that ND controls whether they win or not, but the other team is working hard as well in order to win. Just because ND seems to have more high school talent on paper doesn't mean that there's a lack of effort in games they lose/barely win. There are much more relevant factors involved.

 

[phork]

Why do I keep hearing things like "If we had Weis, we wouldn't have come back." If I remember correctly (and I am), our team last year never quit and battled back in all the games in which we fell behind (Michigan, USC, Pitt, Navy come to mind). Yeah, we lost this one too but the team didn't quit under Weis. Get your facts straight!

Dood, build a bridge and get over it.

 

[IrishGiant]

Weis was a great recruiter, and evaluator of talent. I think the pro system was the reason for his failings, rather than talent level. Someone mentioned Willingham vs Weis, and I agree the cupboard isn't as bare with Kelly coming in, as it was with Weis. Of course if Claussen, and Tate stayed for their senior years we'd be an absolute force this year. C'est la Vie.

 

[jason_h537]

- BK is not the miracle worker I wanted him to be.
- on the other hand, under Weis, I can see us being 0-2 right now. I don't believe they would have fought back this week, ending up a blowout, and I can easily see them folding against Purdue.
- not even going to bring up the FG decision at the end of the half. I have nothing new to bring to the table
- I don't believe I have ever rooted for us to injure a player like I was with DR. Please tell me I'm not a bad person.
- WTF, I could probably intercept a pass from Montana.
- Crist still puts too much air under his passes and clearly can't handle the concept of throwing a pick even if it is meaningless, which brings me to....
- I have never seen a qb throw away a hail mary pass.
- A lot of people have been down on BK with his decision making during the game, myself included. But, with the loss on the board, and nothing we can do about it, I see some positives. The boys don't seem to quit. The running game is much improved. The tackling, while still nonexistent at times, seems to be an improvement over last year. I truly despise losing but somehow, someway, I feel better about this loss than under Weis, and trust me, I'm not on anyone's bandwagon.
- I truly see us moving in the right direction. Maybe not this year as we all hoped as we drank the kool-aid, and perhaps not next year, but I see improvements on the team I haven't seen in years, and that helps me sleep at night.
- 1 non-ND issue that really pisses me off. Penn State loses to the Tide convincingly and moves up a spot in the AP poll. I hate Penn State

-I was not a big Kelly fan but he has really impressed me so far and there is something different about the team, especially on defense
-I dont but that argument last year the team showed alot of ressiliance, i will have an answer in November
-I dont ask for injuries, but if he gets knocked out of the game, i am ok with that
-I dont think Montana played that poorly, does this mean i want to see him again? no, but aside from that bad interception, he made a couple decent throws and ran hard. That was a difficult situation to be in regardless.
- Crist is not Clausen. He will not put the touch on balls that Clausen could but he will get his timing down and will be a GREAT QB for us. Quote me on that.
- The passes that ended not only the game but the half are unacceptable. You have to let your guys make a play.
-No coach is perfect. Some questionable calls, but he also made some good adjustment. Its easy to be right after the fact
-This team will improve each week. A 8 win season is still possible

 

[ACamp1900]

-This team will improve each week. A 8 win season is still possible

this is pretty much where I am at... and where I have been at... and when I step back and take a bird's eye view of this whole thing how f'in depressing is this??? This is Notre Dame Football and in a quest to regain lost respect we have gone 3-9, 6-6, 6-6 and now here the members of the fan base is saying "well, if things work out we can win 8 games this season"


ugh.

 

[Irish_Angst]

this is pretty much where I am at... and where I have been at... and when I step back and take a bird's eye view of this whole thing how f'in depressing is this??? This is Notre Dame Football and in a quest to regain lost respect we have gone 3-9, 6-6, 6-6 and now here the members of the fan base is saying "well, if things work out we can win 8 games this season"


ugh.

Well, we'd all like to have flying cars (and where the hell is my jetpack?!?)... but expecting Kelly to conjure up an undefeated season after installing new offensive/defensive schemes while playing a top-heavy schedule after one spring/fall camp isn't that realistic.

We would LOVE to have the Irish stomp on all opponents while charging to a 12th National Title. However, this just isn't that year. BUT, soon it will be.

Kelly, like any good architect, is laying a solid foundation that will be our football majesty for all to admire in awe and jealousy. We just need to be patient and let him work his mojo and get the team where it needs to be.

Because frankly, if Kelly can't get it done at this point... I'm not sure who can.

 

[JughedJones]

"Because frankly, if Kelly can't get it done at this point... I'm not sure who can."


That's the scary truth in a nutshell.

Not scary because I don't believe he can, scary because this program is pretty much screwed if he doesn't.

 

[phork]

"Because frankly, if Kelly can't get it done at this point... I'm not sure who can."


That's the scary truth in a nutshell.

Not scary because I don't believe he can, scary because this program is pretty much screwed if he doesn't.

That is frighteningly true.

 

[IrishinSyria]

"Because frankly, if Kelly can't get it done at this point... I'm not sure who can."


That's the scary truth in a nutshell.

Not scary because I don't believe he can, scary because this program is pretty much screwed if he doesn't.

Back when I was objecting to the Weis fire (and I don't want to kick that horse again), this was one of my main objections...this hire could actually represent the last chance ND has to return to elite status. TV deals, bowl agreements, and conference realignment looms on the horizon. Better, I thought, to see what Charlie could do this year all the while thinking long and hard about what coach to bring in if he failed. As it worked out, I do agree that Kelly is a guy who can do it, and if he doesn't: panic.

 

[GoIrish41]

I can see this team losing a few more games, but I can also see them running the table. My soul has been crushed for three seasons so I'm not making any bold predictions. That said, Kelly's approach has given me some hope for brighter days ahead. I would be shocked if this team didn't come out jacked for Mich. St.

 

[irishfan]

This was from the ISD twitter feed:
"BK said flea flicker eliminated reads, but Rees still made wrong one."

Most trick plays are all-or-nothing where you either hit the person that got behind the coverage as a result of the trickery or safely throw it away. The flea flicker was BK keeping things as basic as possible for Rees. There was one option and only one option on that play and Rees just threw to the wrong guy. If he throws the correct route, if open, and gets a long gain or even a TD, that would do have gone a long way to calm his nerves and give him some confidence. TJ was sent deep but was well covered, so Rees should have safely thrown it away.

Makes sense. Thanks for finding that, I hadn't seen it anywhere. Still, I don't like the call. Even if it eliminates the reads for Rees, it still puts him under a lot of pressure of having to hand off then wait for Allen to flip the ball back (the fact that a d-end could be right behind him must have been in the back of his head somewhere). There is a lot of pressure to have to catch the ball, hope the D-line fell for the fake and then make your read. I would've preferred the call if it was an all or nothing Jones/Riddick going deep not an intermediate throw. Good find, though. Thanks for clearing that call up a bit.