Denard on kick return

Submitted by AAK15 on

So at the beginning of the 2nd half I noticed Denard on the kick return team. NFL tryout? A latetal option? I dunno, it was weird

dinsdale613

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.

go16blue

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.

Magnus

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.

go16blue

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.

Magnus

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.

jmblue

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.

 

BiSB

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.

1464

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?

RakeFight

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.

Magnus

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.