ON SUNDAY EVENING, NFC East rivals Washington and New York went head-to-head in what was an exciting — if error-strewn — game.
Ultimately, it was Washington that came out on top in a 29-27 victory, helped in large part by a gutsy play call late in the third quarter when they were still trailing 23-24.
On 4th and 12, after Kirk Cousins was sacked for a loss of eight yards the play before, Washington lined up in punt formation but they’d no intention of kicking the ball away.
If you didn’t see it, here’s how it looked it on TV:
Pre-snap read: Offence
Washington are in their standard punt formation with two gunners out wide — Quinton Dunbar (yellow) being the key — and three personal protectors whose job it is to help slow down the defending team trying to get at the punter.
The role of the gunners is to chase down the kick and ensure minimal, or no, return.
The punter in this case is Tress Way (red), a 26-year-old out of Oklahoma who went undrafted in 2013 before being picked up by the Chicago Bears that year and signing with Washington the following season.
Pre-snap read: defence
The Giants are in a punt return formation called 53 ‘eight man’ (left) which means they are overloading one side of the line.
As you can see, the 53 stands for the fact there are five players on one side (the left) and three on the other, while the eight refers to the fact there eight men in the box and, therefore, only two jammers – Trevin Wade (orange) being the key — with Dwayne Harris (off camera) back to return the punt.
At the snap
Credit Tress Way here. He really sells the punt waiting a full two seconds to throw the ball and reading the defence to see if either receiver can get open.
Dunbar is a former wide receiver who only converted to defensive back last season and his ability to perform a juke move off the line gives him separation from Wade and makes him Way’s only real option on the play.
What happens next?
Way’s pass is very, very good, especially as he’s not one of these punters/kicker who maybe played high school quarterback.
Dunbar also does really well to make the catch as Wade is holding on to his jersey most of the way — as he is allowed to do on this kind of play — and makes a nice diving grab to haul in the 31-yard pass.
Notes
This particular fake punt is called ‘Puma’ in the Washington playbook and Way and long-snapper Nick Sundberg have been practising it for over a year without ever putting it into action.
It almost very nearly didn’t happen too. Had Kirk Cousins not taken the sack to drop them back to their own 48-yard line, the coaching staff would probably have called for a quick ‘pooch punt’ as the stats show — according to Way himself — that 98% of them result in fair catches with the Giants pinned deep in their own half.
It didn’t work out that way and Dustin Hopkins 25-yard effort would prove vital in the narrow win.
