October 21st, 2012 at 1:16 PM ^
My first thought is some kind of decoy, but then I thought about having your qb out their where the other teams players basically have a free shot at him and i got a little nervous.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:16 PM ^
Accident/injury waiting to happen
October 21st, 2012 at 1:17 PM ^
They showed it on TV too. I think MSU actually called a timeout because of it, but my memory isn't good due to all the celebrating!
October 21st, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^
it was at the start of the 2nd half...ball got kicked out of the endzone so nothing really happened
October 21st, 2012 at 1:34 PM ^
You're thinking of Wile's field goal. I liked that, too. MSU didn't realize (or at least it seemed this way) Wile was on long kicks, so, assuming it was some sort of trick, they called a timeout and went from a blocking formation to a safe formation. I especially liked this because the trajectory of the kick seemed pretty low, and had they known he was just out there to kick it they would have had a good chance to block.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:27 PM ^
When I saw Wile come out I just had a feeling it would be good based on his performance in HS. Longest field goal since 2009. Kids got a leg. Nice to see Hoke using him for kick-offs, punts and now FGs
October 21st, 2012 at 3:04 PM ^
Wile's FG would have been good from 55.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:17 PM ^
of a lateral too.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:21 PM ^
Why did no one bring this up in the press conference so that Hoke could give a non-answer to it?
October 21st, 2012 at 1:27 PM ^
made me laugh.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:26 PM ^
My guess is that they would have used him as a decoy on a fake reverse.
And it's no more dangerous to have him out there doing that than it is to have him out there on an offensive snap running the ball.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^
especially if he does not get the rock.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:31 PM ^
The fake reverse seems plausible. Something like this I would imagine
October 21st, 2012 at 2:32 PM ^
thanks.
October 21st, 2012 at 9:02 PM ^
needs moar pixels
October 21st, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^
lost their QB several years ago when he was out on the KO team.
Its stupid and don't even pretend you would not be livid he had been injured for the season on that play.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:36 PM ^
If Denard was a decoy on a fake reverse there's really very little bad that could happen. He would be away from the play, and nobody would hit him. If he was taking a reverse then he could get hurt, but the chance would be no greater than on a normal QB run. I really doubt he was just in there to block.
October 21st, 2012 at 4:16 PM ^
If there's no risk of getting hurt as a fake reverse decoy, it wasn't a very good fake.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^
I wouldn't have been livid. Dennis Dixon tore his ACL several years ago (when he was on pace to win the Heisman and a national championship). What was he doing? Dropping back to pass.
People get hurt in the game of football.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:35 PM ^
Except you don't risk your QB, who the entire offense depends upon, for a chance at a long kick return. If he gets hurt operating as a QB, so be it, but it's not necessary to put him in this position.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
Stanton was a regular on kick coverage - MSU actually expected him to make tackles when he was out there.
I'm pretty sure Denard was out there as a decoy - a bit of gamesmanship to mess with their kicker. I don't think we seriously expected him to do a lot of blocking.
October 21st, 2012 at 5:33 PM ^
Yeah, but when you're playing the dirtiest team in the conference, why take the risk of Denard getting hit by a Sparty running full speed, whose only purpose is to take #16's head off?
October 21st, 2012 at 5:47 PM ^
a good point too. I wonder if Hoke will answer this mystery.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^
But being out there for a kick return is more dangerous than not being out there for a kick return... pretty sure that was the point.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:41 PM ^
Being out there for offense is more dangerous than not being out there for offense, too.
Maybe we should just wrap him in bubble wrap and then tape him to the bench. I bet he'd be just fine there.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:47 PM ^
Have you seen how often players run into the bench area during plays? We should keep him in the locker room.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
Do you know how slippery shower floors can be? Put him in bubble wrap in a well-padded room.
I think people are overreacting. I know how important Denard is. But while a ship in the harbor is safe, that's not what ships are built for.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:19 PM ^
So if I understand your analogy right, we must find a ship in a harbor to stash Denard?
What if MSU schedules a game on the ship as some sort of publicity stunt?
October 21st, 2012 at 2:24 PM ^
It's just State. Where's the threat?
October 21st, 2012 at 2:33 PM ^
everyone is a comedian today.
October 22nd, 2012 at 8:18 AM ^
I love hearing that. THAT is never going to get old.
October 21st, 2012 at 6:38 PM ^
"while a ship in the harbor is safe" -- Not withstanding 12/7/1941.
October 21st, 2012 at 7:08 PM ^
It's a quote from the 1920's.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^
Last time I checked, DR was pretty crucial to our offensive game plan, but not our kick return game.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:56 PM ^
this is true. Maybe a decoy.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:00 PM ^
My point being that Magnus's point is only valid if Denard is equally important to both our kick return performance and our offensive performance, which is clearly not the case... so why risk the majority of our offensive game plan by putting him out there on special teams? Think Blake Countess, but x 10.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:34 PM ^
depends if a fake reverse results in a TD or large gain. I see both sides.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:10 PM ^
Last time I checked, we won yesterday's game on the strength of special teams and defense.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:35 PM ^
kick return?
October 21st, 2012 at 9:40 PM ^
altogether due to the disproportionate number of injuries that occur on the play.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/14/john-mara-nfl-evolving-toward-eliminating-kickoffs/
http://usdirect.com/sports-blog/is-the-nfl-contemplating-a-game-without-kickoffs
October 21st, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
I bet Blake Countess would disagree with this statement, as I do.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:12 PM ^
Oh, that's right - I forgot. Guys can't get injured on defense. Just ask Raymon Taylor.
October 22nd, 2012 at 8:21 AM ^
Tripp Welbourne.
October 21st, 2012 at 4:11 PM ^
Special teams plays a massively important role in a game. Especially in a game with 2 great defenses, gunners have a big role in determining field position
October 21st, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
It's not more dangerous? The kicking team has 50 yards to wind up and wreck people. They are all but canceling the kickoff because it breaks people into pieces.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:13 PM ^
They're not winding up for 50 yards to hit a guy on reverse fake. They're winding up for 50 yards to hit returners and blockers.
Read my entire post.
October 21st, 2012 at 2:57 PM ^
If the return team had any way of knowing that he wouldn't get the ball on the reverse, there would be no point in running it. Point being, just because he doesn't get the ball, doesn't mean we won't get hit
October 21st, 2012 at 3:01 PM ^
I have never seen a guy fake a reverse on a kick return and get crushed by a coverage guy. It doesn't happen. Nobody expects the 11 kickoff guys to run toward Denard. The reverse is a play designed to make people hesitate and get out of their lanes.
Look, if everyone's going to assume that Denard was going to get crushed even if he was just faking a reverse, then we're not going to get anywhere. You can go on being silly and believing things that are untrue.
I'm telling you, it doesn't happen. If it does, it's such a small percentage of the time that he probably has the same likelihood of getting struck by lightning.
October 21st, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^
Yeah, but its State.
October 22nd, 2012 at 8:22 AM ^
They could just as easily take a shot at him on offense as they can on special teams. Like I said, let's just wrap him in bubble wrap and keep him on the sideline to prevent him from getting a boo-boo...