One of the most scrutinized decisions from the Detroit Lions’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles came in the second quarter when the Lions attempted to fake a punt. Facing a fourth-and-2 from their own 43-yard line, the Lions direct snapped to linebacker Grant Stuard. The play failed right away, as Moro Ojomo and Jalyx Hunt met Stuard in the backfield and stopped him for no gain.
It was the second of five times the Lions were stopped on fourth down Sunday night, but it was more criticized than the other decisions, because Philadelphia kept their defense on the field. Many believed that running into the teeth of that defense—particularly with special teamers like Trevor Nowaske on the front instead of offensive linemen—was a poor decision.
However, Stuard insisted after the game that they got the look they wanted. On Thursday, special teams coordinator Dave Fipp explained it a little more thoroughly.
In essence, the gamble was that Philly would be lulled into sleep on the play. Because so many teams opt not to run a fake when the Eagles keep their defense out there, Fipp thought they could catch them off guard.
“You look around the league through the years, you’ll see a handful of times where the defense has been on the field, and what happens with those guys is they don’t think that the ball is going to be run on them because they’re out there,” Fipp said. “And every time they’re out there, they just punt the ball. And then, all of the sudden, get up underneath their pads and you roll them back for a yard, and it happens so quick on a guy that it ends up working out.”
Obviously, that gamble didn’t pay off. The Eagles—knowing that Detroit is a team that isn’t afraid to fake punt—aggressively attacked the play, and thanks to Ojomo getting lower leverage on Nowaske, the trick play never really stood a chance.
Despite the Eagles clearly being ready for the play, Fipp believes he could’ve done a better job coaching the play.
“I could do better. I mean, our blocking technique could’ve been better, our pad level, I could’ve coached those guys better. We could have fit them up better on the block,” Fipp said.
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