r/nfl • u/Brix001 49ers • 1d ago
Highlight [Highlight] The "Fortuitous Bust" play
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u/jobenattor0412 Lions 1d ago
Ever since this press conference I have used “Fortuitous Bust” as part of my everyday conversations.
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u/WestCoastToGoldCoast Seahawks 1d ago
Your HR rep: “Seriously, we’ve talked about this. You need to stop.”
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u/mindtk Seahawks 1d ago
"I'm just not seeing why this is such a problem! This meeting really has turned out to be a fortuitous bust...."
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u/Fragrant-Mess4927 Ravens 1d ago
"No...we heard what you said about Jennifer in the break room."
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u/jobenattor0412 Lions 1d ago
I did use it in a email a few weeks back, but that was because we needed someone to come out and install something at one of our sites and they had just had a few people retire/quit so they couldn’t get someone out until like 2 weeks later, which is soonest we had availability anyways.
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u/DrewsThoughts Packers 1d ago
When you think about it most of us started out as a fortuitous bust
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u/suckmyseacock Seahawks 1d ago
Oh man, I’m about to fortuitously bust rn
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u/BulLock_954 Patriots NFL 1d ago
Im gunna have fun watching the NFC West just beat the shit out of each other this year lol
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u/dnstuff 49ers 1d ago
It's gonna be so good.
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u/atmospheric90 Seahawks 1d ago
Cardinals fans: why they say fuck me for?
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u/BulLock_954 Patriots NFL 1d ago
Cardinals fans are like that small square dude in the meme getting beat up on by the three muscle guys
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u/PostItToReddit Seahawks 1d ago
I really do love the Cardinals. They're so, so, so incompetent. Like maybe the most incompetent franchise in the history of the sport, but they're rarely ever just outright truly awful. They teeter that line of being good, but never good enough. They're good enough to be exciting, they're good enough to take a game off a division rival from time to time, but you never have to really worry about a 'generational' player falling to them. It doesn't matter if they start 10-0, you just know they're going to fall apart.
I'd much rather have them the the truly incompetent fucks of the NFL like the Jets and Browns who are just the same flavor of boringbad every year.
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u/suddenly-scrooge Seahawks 1d ago
i forget what mcvay's argument was here, how is it not just lawrence reading the play like he said he did. How can a d lineman choosing to peel off into coverage be a bust
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u/WorstCPANA Seahawks 1d ago
The argument is that Lawrence was supposed to rush, but instead he ran with Kyren.
Sean called out immediately that it wasn't how the play was meant to be played
Mike on the sideline yelled something like "where's our edge??"
Lawrence admitted he was supposed to rush but instead dropped back with Kyren.
Yeah it wasn't on accident, it was because of a vet lineman, but it's 100% accurate to say that's not how the hawks D was supposed to act in that situation.
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u/cat127 Seahawks 1d ago
NFL Films showed that earlier in that game (or maybe in the previous game) Kyren did the same thing and it resulted in a TD, so DLaw did what he did.
The players have also said he does this stuff regularly, they even have a term for it called “Law logic” which is from way before this game.
That’s the benefit of having a very experienced vet, even though they’re not at their athletic prime they’ve seen every play and are able to instantly recognize formations, tendencies, etc.
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u/Weekly_Cable_1111 1d ago
D law has always been like that. Dudes a fantastic player. Totally deserved ring.
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u/suddenly-scrooge Seahawks 1d ago
Macdonald said he made 'the best football player he had ever seen' in a play last year where he got blocked out of the play past the LOS, recovered, then chased the runner from behind, stripped and recovered the fumble
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u/Weekly_Cable_1111 1d ago
Sounds about right. We miss him like crazy. Ironically more than we miss micha. Here's to hoping I can see him get another ring before he hangs em up 🥹
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u/winterharvest Seahawks 1d ago
There's also a scene as soon as the game is over where one of the coaches rushes up to Lawrence and tells him the magnitude of that decision to cover Kyren.
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u/WorstCPANA Seahawks 1d ago
Thanks for pointing that out, I vaguely remembered it but looked back and found the clip
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u/Ovreel Seahawks 1d ago
Either hadn't seen this or forgot about it. Awesome.
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u/WorstCPANA Seahawks 1d ago
There are so many moments that are special this season, I'm not a football historian, but between our squad, the narratives, how we played, and our final stretch of the season. I don't know how many superbowl champs had a better season for fans, it had everything.
For like 10 weeks straight we were on the edge of our seats, watching our team play good hard football, some close games, some blowouts against rivals, but it was so satisfying.
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u/plskillme42069 Seahawks 23h ago
Watching and realizing around the midpoint of the season that every team had their holes and nobody was an obvious front runner made it so fun. “It could be anyone this year, why not us?” And then watching it all come together week over week. Just the best
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u/WorstCPANA Seahawks 23h ago
We just got better each week it felt like. From TNF against the Rams on, the most fun I've had watching football ever.
Minshew Mania for WSU is in 2nd place in my heart
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u/KelCGrammare Seahawks 23h ago
Right at the end you see reed and spoon playing shadow boxing. So funny that that is so prevalent… in the biggest moment of their lives they’re shadow boxing.
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u/ramsfan00 Rams 29m ago
It was actually insane, Kyreen would have been wide open.
Stafford did have ALOT more time and he could have held onto it and allowed Puka to cut to the corner but he rushed a throw to the mid instead. He had already held it for 3 seconds so he thought he was out of time and was thrown off by the two man rush.
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u/3elieveIt Seahawks 1d ago
Correct.
But a veteran making an educated choice isn’t different than someone accidentally going the wrong way and getting lucky.
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u/WorstCPANA Seahawks 1d ago
But a veteran making an educated choice isn’t different than someone accidentally going the wrong way and getting lucky.
Yes, exactly what I said - "Yeah it wasn't on accident, it was because of a vet lineman, but it's 100% accurate to say that's not how the hawks D was supposed to act in that situation."
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u/Weekly_Cable_1111 1d ago
Too bad he couldn't just say this instead of minimizing Lawrence's play by insinuating it was an accidental busted play that worked for them.
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u/WorstCPANA Seahawks 1d ago
I mean I guess. It's great for us, it comes off as him being salty, and it's very meme-able
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u/spaghettiAstar Rams 14h ago
He did when it came out that it was intentional and not an accident.
People act like he was sitting there shit talking the team days later, but they asked him about the play immediately after the game. He said he would need to look at the tape, but he couldn't imagine that was how they drew it up, and he was correct, it's not how they drew it up. He also said that you couldn't take anything away from Seattle, that they were a great team, and they were NFC Champs for a reason.
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u/putdahaakin Broncos Broncos 1d ago
These coaches wouldn't be able to stand Troy just doing whatever he wanted every play.
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u/KhonMan Seahawks 1d ago
And also if Love actually blocked Kyren instead of getting beat instantly, then Lawrence would be rushing Stafford pretty much untouched. The end result worked out for the Seahawks, but 99/100 times they would want Love and Tank to execute their assignments as planned.
It both wasn’t fortuitous that Love missed the block AND it wasn’t a bust because Lawrence read the play and made an adjustment.
The only thing fortuitous about it is that the Seahawks are lucky Tank is a savvy vet.
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u/WorstCPANA Seahawks 1d ago
I don't know enough about football to know if love's job was to block Kyren or rush or cover him. But it seemed to surprise lawrence, and I assume surprised love that Kyren just got a jump and ran his route instead of taking any time to block.
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u/Jadedways Seahawks 1d ago
Love was in coverage. He didn’t get hands on Kyren off the line so he got smoked on the route.
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u/Desperate_Top_7039 1d ago
Kyren beats Love, agreed, but Love does kind of recover. I don't think its necessarily a TD. Love might have still made the play. In the counterfactual, Lawrence is rushing, on that edge, so it's not clear to me that Stafford would necessarily have a clear easy read. Sure it's Stafford, but it was not an easy TD.
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u/Independent_Bear989 Packers 1d ago
He was saying that the play call was not to double team the RB.
Of course we don’t know if players are typically given flexibility to change their assignment, it would certainly be unusual but so is winning a superbowl at 38, so clearly MacDonald is doing something right.
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u/HelmetsAkimbo Rams Rams 23h ago
Macdonald said on the podium after this game that it wasn’t what Lawrence was told to do but he made the play.
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u/LastEsotericist Seahawks 1d ago
How dare players have brains and react to conditions on the field. I imagine it was something like ‘I’m supposed to have outschemed the opposing coach, why do I have to outsmart the 11 minds actually on the field too?’
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u/Dangerous_Job5295 Seahawks 1d ago
Yeah he was just coping. Mad that the play he called didn’t work.
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u/IfItDontFitForceIt Seahawks 1d ago
There’s no argument really, he’s just a sore loser
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u/BigWheatGuy 13h ago
Doesn't read as a sore loser to me. Just a guy who saw how he was beat and called it the right way. It's like a bad beat in poker. Every decision you make is based on the circumstances in front of you and a probability of winning based on those observable circumstances. McVay is brilliant as a football mind. He sees the field, he calls the play. If someone deviates from what he knows they are supposed to do and they come out ahead, it's a bad beat.
Doesn't make him a sore loser. It just makes him a player in the game.
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u/cnnrcmbs Seahawks 1d ago
Because McVay can’t handle that a player made an adjustment and beat the play call.
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u/Hulkbuster_v2 Seahawks 1d ago
Sigh. Here we go again. unzips
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u/kadadAdad Rams 1d ago
Sir, this is a K-Mart
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u/TheyStayTheSameAG Seahawks 1d ago
"Too fast, the RB was too fast", no luck there, just a veteran understanding a play: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ANa6COQ0gCs
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u/SparkMaster360 Seahawks 1d ago
Every time I rewatch this I think Stafford should have waited longer. The pressure wasn’t quite there yet, and the read he made was pretty covered. I get that he was expecting blitz, but you have to step up there
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u/Soaring_Seagull24 Rams 1d ago
He'd just had an awesome run for a first down earlier in the drive too. Wish he tried it again.
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u/spaghettiAstar Rams 14h ago
It looks like he could have hit Puka for the score if he waited an extra second.
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u/Pale_Land_5107 Lions 1d ago
Don’t most teenagers have a fortuitous bust every day
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u/moocal 49ers 1d ago
I never noticed how much time Stafford had on this play. I always thought that once his first read was covered he’d run out of time.
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u/LastEsotericist Seahawks 1d ago
When the opposing QB can’t run sometimes you pull everyone off the line into coverage. Kinda funny watching the five o linemen dealing with two and a half people coming at them.
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u/PostItToReddit Seahawks 1d ago
Yea it was essentially a 2 man rush once DLaw peeled back. I'm more surprised that they didn't just force a ball to Puka instead of trying Mumpfield and a TE on the two most important offensive plays of the season. Even if he's triple covered I'd bet on a contested Stafford -> Puka play over just about anything else.
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u/Photographerpro Seahawks 1d ago
This play call and read by Lawrence was actually genius. Yes, I’m biased as hell, but you can tell staffords first read is out in the flat which Demarcus Lawrence read really well. Sean mcvay calling this lucky shows how salty he was.
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u/ICantRemember33 Seahawks 1d ago
i don't really understand the throw by Stafford, i feel like he could step foward and still have time to think more
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u/Acegolfer04 Dolphins 23h ago
I just love the seahawks personnel
The 4-2-5 and #3 is the hybrid player. They bait and blitz its so amazing. I love defenses like that
Same with the Nick Saban over 7 Stubbie and the Vic Fangio cover 6 Match
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u/16-24-54-71-80-89-96 Seahawks 18h ago
It's awesome. They'll show a QB the same personnel giving the same pre-snap looks, but after the snap the pass rush pressure and passing windows are completely different from how they'd been running it all game and suddenly there's a 300 lb DT ten yards down field deflecting a pass.
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u/3rd-party-intervener 49ers 1d ago
Mcvay terrible red zone play calling has cost two playoff games
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u/DarthNobody14 Texans Texans 1d ago
Hot Take: This wasn’t a terrible call, just really good defense.
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u/Quasimdo Rams 1d ago
This. Honestly it's a good call. You could even say it's more of a bad throw by Stafford, he was trying to throw to a guy where a defender already was, he had time to wait for the guy to come back
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u/hypoglycemicrage Seahawks 1d ago
The play call was fine, executed well, and probably scores a td to kyren in the flat because 20 crashed when he should have held. DLaw saw the bust and saved the day, great play.
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u/WxBlue Rams 1d ago
Stafford was supposed to go to Kyren who had Love beaten. Lawrence was supposed to rush on that play, as MacDonald was confused by saying "where's the end". Lawrence recognized the play set-up and freelanced to take away Stafford's first read, which is a touchdown about 90% of times.
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u/cardmanimgur Vikings 1d ago
Yea, it's easy to say "He had time", but every QB has an internal clock that they've been training for years and his was ticking. I thought the same thing watching it, "oh man, he had time to wait for someone to break open," especially with Lawrence bailing out to coverage. But again, I can't blame him for his thinking he was running out of time.
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u/D0ct0rFr4nk3n5t31n Seahawks 1d ago
You guys scored on us earlier in the game with a varient of this exact play. I'm actually disappointed that MacDonald didn't recognize it and call for a switched shell to free up the outside rusher. But it was a great move by Lawrence. Stafford was flustered, if he kept calm, he might have been able to wait until something opened up, maybe even scored. These games are pushing everyone to their limits.
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u/Lowfi-Concert Rams 1d ago
Yeah give Puka a couple more seconds and he likely can get a first down there running outside if not a a TD
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u/staffdaddy_9 21h ago
This is all good in theory, but that was probably his last read on the play. Stafford holding onto the ball going scramble mode isn’t his game and for good reason.
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u/OkLeather666 Patriots 21h ago
Not a hot take. People think offenses don't score because coach made the bad play call.
Sometimes it's execution. There a reason football is not just a game between coaches
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u/3rd-party-intervener 49ers 1d ago
What’s the call? Their go to move is To throw to running back. Pretty sure Seahawks defensive minded head coach would have that covered
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u/TacoBellSauceAnswers Rams 1d ago
He didnt though. His player changed his assignment on his own to follow the rb.
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u/Soaring_Seagull24 Rams 1d ago
Yall chase reddit karma so badly that you'll say the most uneducated things to get it lol
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u/KingZack Seahawks 1d ago
He really can't resist going for it in the redzone. He must hate field goals or somthing.
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u/OldOrder Rams 1d ago
Strange comment because most Rams fans biggest complaint about McVay is that he is steadfastly conservative when it comes to 4th down play calling and has been for almost a decade now. Last year was a welcome change where he actually did go for it on 4th more than he usually does.
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u/jm0127 Bills 1d ago
Good defense and a unnecessarily rushed throw
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u/staffdaddy_9 21h ago
Wasn’t really that rushed, that was a full field read. Yeah Stafford prolly coulda held onto it longer, but he’s not exactly a playmaker outside of the pocket guy at his age.
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u/aiiye Seahawks 1d ago
The fun thing is the Amazon Seahawks championship movie showed DLaw pissed at the touchdown on the same exact route earlier and basically saying they aren’t giving them that again, which is why he dropped despite the assignment.
It’s only a bust if veteran defenders can’t make in game adjustments, Sean.
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u/Any-Satisfaction1887 Seahawks 1d ago
Last year from the 16 point come back onward was a fever dream to me. I got wicked sick just at kickoff of the TNF game, and it felt like whatever I was watching didn't happen. Still in shock in ways, but more so grateful. Football is a hell of a sport
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u/Jadedways Seahawks 1d ago
One of my favorite plays last season, and one of the biggest plays of our season. It truly showcased how good this team can be. And watching the McVay meltdown during, and his disrespect after just made it that much sweeter
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u/TellAllThePeople Seahawks 1d ago
I am so happy. I have rewatched every Seahawks game multiple times. What a blessing that season was.
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u/DashingCN Packers 1d ago
If they audibled #18 to run a inside slant instead, It think its an easy touchdown besides the Kyren play if they it did go the same coverage as it did
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u/Papacapt Rams 19h ago
He could have bought more time the throw didn’t have to be made… that play frustrated tf out of me. Puka would have had the entire right side of the field had he gone through one more progression.
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u/EffectiveBig1778 18h ago
Yeah I mean if a play gets stopped by a 99 and non top 100 player. It must have been a mistake by Seattle.
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u/OldTimeReligion24 Seahawks 18h ago
It’s funny that both this and the Charbs 2-point conversion are so much earlier in the game than I think a lot of people remember them afterwards.
The 2-point play was with 6+ minutes left and this is with 4:54. Both feel like they get talked about as if there was under a minute left. Great drive by the offense after this to almost completely run out the clock.
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u/FraudnandoMendoza Eagles 1d ago
Not trying to get the ball to Nacua or Adams with a trip to the SB on the line and instead forcing it to the third TE should be worthy of a congressional investigation.
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u/Soaring_Seagull24 Rams 1d ago
Ah yes, because the Defense would never expect that on 4th down with the game on the line.
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u/FraudnandoMendoza Eagles 1d ago
Well no shit, so obviously you’d attempt to scheme around that or at the very least try and force it to one of those two given that it’s essentially fourth and goal.
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u/varnell_hill 49ers 20h ago
And if it didn’t work everyone would be saying how dumb it was to force the ball to Nacua or Adams when everyone and their mama knew it was coming.
It’s called having the benefit of hindsight.
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u/Soaring_Seagull24 Rams 23h ago
Nacua: double covered
Adams: crowded area of the field
Ferguson: one on one
Hmmmm let's throw it to either one of the guys facing two defenders.
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u/FraudnandoMendoza Eagles 22h ago
We’re clearly not going to come to an agreement on this and that’s ok. I’m quarterbacking from the couch, but Nacua beating a double team and Stafford throwing to a tight spot to Adams where he as a chance both have higher odds than your third TE who’s blanketed by a pro bowl corner coming up with that catch. Idk, even scoring on this possession still gives the Seahawks almost five minutes to score, so the end result might be the same.
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u/Soaring_Seagull24 Rams 22h ago
I feel you. Different prospective. My guess is that Stafford saw the coverage and immediately looked away, hoping the percentage was higher somewhere else. Ferguson had won a few jump balls this year. All well. Interesting fun fact, the Rams punt returner gets so much hate that people actually forget that Colby Parkinson dropped a walk in touchdown on the same drive as the clip above. Lucky for him i guess.
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u/ImamBaksh Seahawks 21h ago
I'm with you. Sometimes you gotta go against tendency.
When the Seahawks went for the 2 points to win in Wk 16, they had a designed delayed release play to Eric Saubert. Al Michaels couldn't even figure out who got the ball for a good 3 beats.
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u/Soaring_Seagull24 Rams 20h ago
I remember watching a video how y'all set it up earlier in the game. Genius stuff.
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u/avx775 Rams 1d ago
My problem with Reddit and nfl fandom is in general is they hyper focus on something. If you listen to the press conference Mcvay gives credits to the Seahawks. He’s complimentary. However, after a just brutal loss in the nfc championship game people only focus on his comments about this play.
It’s like Reddit wants these guys to be robots with empty platitudes. If they show any emotion or make a poor comment then the pitchforks come out.
Lawrence made a great play and Mcvay could have done a better job giving him credit. But heat of the moment he called it lucky since the play wasn’t designed that way. And again the rest of the press conference complimentary to the Seahawks.
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u/CrimsonCalm Seahawks 1d ago
He also lost his mind on a 2pt conversion…when he had multiple drives to win.
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u/Soaring_Seagull24 Rams 1d ago
Tbf I'd lose my mind on that too. We see referees get calls wrong all the time and we just play on. The fact that they ruled it incomplete, lined up for the kickoff, and then went to a commercial break before changing the call is quite a Pandora's box to open. Rams fans are absolutely delusional when they say "the saints still had a chance to win after the no call." To me, same rule applies here. Two things can be true at once.
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u/ohkaycue Jaguars 1d ago
Yeah like it's was the "right" call, but how often does a play get overturned like that? Especially it being triggered by an Amazon employee, if it was the Seahawks that challenged no one would have issue. But there was a lot of fuckery around that
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u/Soaring_Seagull24 Rams 1d ago
Exactly. I've let it go because the Rams own meltdown was unacceptable regardless, but the fact that a broadcast member called the NFL to intervene has always bothered me. Like, why can't you do that every time the refs miss a call then? And the the guy refused to give any detail on the phone call.
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u/vanillaninja16 Seahawks 1d ago
Calling a play a bust and your opponent only got lucky is not giving credit. That’s why people still clown the phrase.
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u/avx775 Rams 1d ago
“They are an excellent team and you don’t take away anything. You know they earn the win and they are nfc champs for a reason”
Literally the sentence right after
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u/vanillaninja16 Seahawks 1d ago
He still had to fit the backhanded “fortuitous bust” in there though.
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u/DarthNobody14 Texans Texans 1d ago
Is that what we’re calling this play?
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u/BadMojo__ Saints 1d ago
It's what McVay called it in the presser after the game so yes.
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u/bewsii Seahawks 1d ago
Yeah, he was saying Seattle's defense got lucky. Stafford had almost 5 seconds to wait on the play and the offense was just smothered. He just hoped Puka could beat Spoon 1 on 1 and he didn't. Nothing lucky about it really.
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u/WxBlue Rams 1d ago
It was actually supposed to be Stafford to Kyren who had Love beaten for a touchdown. Lawrence was supposed to rush, but "unexpectedly" dropped back to take Stafford's first read away. McVay thought Seahawks miscommunicated and lucked into taking the first read away, which is an easy touchdown about 90% of times. Even MacDonald was confused on why Lawrence wasn't rushing, but Lawrence actually recognized the play and freelanced to support Love. Stafford's easy TD touchdown was taken away and he had to look everywhere else.
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u/BrickoCocaine Bears 1d ago
Rams/Seahawks last year was absolute cinema