ET the Punt Returner

[Ozzy]

I think its bad solely beceause he hasn't looked good doing it. He's lucky he didn't fumble it multiple times. I love ET as much as anyone but would rather see someone else back there.

 

[Seafan]

Stick a fork in him. He's no longer the lead.

 

[Wagon12]

I think its bad solely beceause he hasn't looked good doing it. He's lucky he didn't fumble it multiple times. I love ET as much as anyone but would rather see someone else back there.

Absolutely right, and I for one am very happy the E3 PR experiment is OVER!

 

[Year of The Hawk]

I beg to differ on the fumble punt. Even if you call a fair catch you can still fumble the ball. The fact that a player was blocked into him is why he fumbled. This was not Earls fault on this play. Watch again and tell me why a fair catch would have changed anything.

If Earl signals a fair catch, then Sherman isn't forced to block a guy literally a yard away from him. Once the fair catch is signaled, the defender cannot interfere with the returner's ability to catch the ball. Thus, if the fair catch was signaled, GB's gunner wouldn't have come as close to Earl for fear of penalty. Furthermore, Sherman's block is basically the only thing that stopped Earl from getting completely leveled on that play as the gunner was running at a straight line toward Earl. A fair catch signal would've forced the gunner to pull up sooner, and Sherman wouldn't have had to continue blocking up until the last second.

Simply put Sherm messed his block up. He should have blocked him regardless of fair catch or not (to give him room to catch the ball). Sure the defender cant catch the ball but if Sherm would have hit his block then Earl probably would have caught it and maybe got a few yards out of it. Sherm slowed the guy down but did a poor job of blocking the guy (at least throw him off his trajectory so he goes around Earl). Also I think Earls determination to call a fair catch or not is dependent on the blocking up field and trusting it will get done. I love me some Sherm but IMHO he deserves the fault on this one.

Anyways Earl is back to Safety. I think everyone is happy again. I just hope Walters can get it done.

 

[DavidSeven]

Simply put Sherm messed his block up. He should have blocked him regardless of fair catch or not (to give him room to catch the ball). Sure the defender cant catch the ball but if Sherm would have hit his block then Earl probably would have caught it and maybe got a few yards out of it. Sherm slowed the guy down but did a poor job of blocking the guy (at least throw him off his trajectory so he goes around Earl). Also I think Earls determination to call a fair catch or not is dependent on the blocking up field and trusting it will get done. I love me some Sherm but IMHO he deserves the fault on this one.

The punt hangs for far too long to not call a fair catch in that situation. Gunners get around blockers all the time. We've seen it ourselves with Lockette and Lane. The returner needs to see what's developing downfield and make a prudent decision. He can't assume anyone is going to just make that last second block 5 yards ahead of him. That's playing with fire and often leads to disaster.

Anyone who watched that game live was internally begging him to fair catch based purely on the hang-time and the coverage, just like we did on his first return which also should've been fair caught.

Don't take it from me, take it from the best:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Leon_Washington/status/507696092528783361[/tweet]

 

[HawkWow]

Simply put Sherm messed his block up. He should have blocked him regardless of fair catch or not (to give him room to catch the ball). Sure the defender cant catch the ball but if Sherm would have hit his block then Earl probably would have caught it and maybe got a few yards out of it. Sherm slowed the guy down but did a poor job of blocking the guy (at least throw him off his trajectory so he goes around Earl). Also I think Earls determination to call a fair catch or not is dependent on the blocking up field and trusting it will get done. I love me some Sherm but IMHO he deserves the fault on this one.

The punt hangs for far too long to not call a fair catch in that situation. Gunners get around blockers all the time. We've seen it ourselves with Lockette and Lane. The returner needs to see what's developing downfield and make a prudent decision. He can't assume anyone is going to just make that last second block 5 yards ahead of him. That's playing with fire and often leads to disaster.

Anyone who watched that game live was internally begging him to fair catch based purely on the hang-time and the coverage, just like we did on his first return which also should've been fair caught.

Don't take it from me, take it from the best:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Leon_Washington/status/507696092528783361[/tweet]

Sweet. It doesn't get much more definitive than that right there.