I'm playing in a 3-man online franchise. I'm the Bears and one of the other guys is the Titans. We both go 16-0 (yeah I know) and make it to the Super Bowl. Now my team has battled injuries all year long and had Forte and Hester out most of the season (both back for SB) while his Titans have enjoyed an injury-free campaign and Chris Johnson has rushed for 2100+ yards. All of my games have been fairly competitive but he has blown out most of his competition save for a a couple of teams. We play a realistic style of play but don't have any rules in place because we've never needed to.
I win the toss and elect to kickoff. He puts together a decent drive but I manage to hold CJ in check for the most part and he kicks a 51 yard FG to take a 3-0 lead in the first.
My first possession I manage to drive a little ways but have to punt. I come up in punt and notice he is in punt block. I punt and pin him at the 2 yard line.
His next play Urlacher busts through the line and hits Johnson before Collins can hand the ball off and my DL cleans up Collins for the safety.
Titans 3 Bears 2 end of 1st QTR.
I get the ball back on free kick and manage to get a TD pass Cutler to Bennett. The 2-point conversion fails. Bears 8 Titans 3.
He gets the ball and gets a TD drive to go back up 10-8 halfway through the 2nd qtr.
We trade punts after each having a 3 & out and he again comes up in punt block.
I hold on his next drive.
I get a TD and 2-point conversion to take a 16-10 lead.
I get an INT with around 2:00 to go in half. He holds again and I punt for the 3rd time in the half and again he comes up in punt block (leaving my outside gunners completely uncovered for the 3rd time).
Halftime
I get the opening kickoff and get to my 36 yard line with a 4th and 3. Now he has come out in punt block every time I've punted so far so I decided to call a fake and see if he comes out again in punt block leaving the outside gunners uncovered.
A little aside here I have never called a fake punt in an online game or offline game. I only went for it on 4th down 2 times during the regular season but both with traditional plays converting 1 of 2. My thinking here is that it is early in the 3rd and if I fail to pick up the 3 yards the best he can do is go up 17-16 early in the 3rd qtr. He hasn't moved the ball particularly well to this point so I figure the reward is worth the risk and if he doesn't come out in punt block I can always audible to a punt or call a timeout.
He does in fact come out in punt block so I run the play. It turns out he is in punt block zone and his defenders drop back into the routes of my receivers. I throw (with my punter mind you) underneath to my backup FS short of the first but he manages to juke a defender and barely get the first down. I go on to pick up a FG on the drive and lead 19-10 early in the 3rd.
To make an already long story a little shorter the game remains a defensive struggle into the 4th and Collins throws his second pick of the game on the 5 yard line about halfway through the 4th quarter with the score still 19-10.
Titans owner gets pissed off and says that the fake punt was not realistic and quits the game and the league. I argue that while risky it wasn't unrealistic. A special teams coach sees 3 straight punt blocks where no one is covering the outside receivers. I very much think the fake is a call that would be called given the way the game was going and seeing the receivers left uncovered for a 4th time.
It wasn't like I called some cheese play that couldn't be stopped. I called my first ever fake punt and had to execute a punter to backup FS pass and catch and run to convert.
So for those of you who actually took the time to read all of this (thank you BTW) what do you think. Was the play reasonable at that point in the game and is the Titans owner overreacting?
Bears won 19-10.
I win the toss and elect to kickoff. He puts together a decent drive but I manage to hold CJ in check for the most part and he kicks a 51 yard FG to take a 3-0 lead in the first.
My first possession I manage to drive a little ways but have to punt. I come up in punt and notice he is in punt block. I punt and pin him at the 2 yard line.
His next play Urlacher busts through the line and hits Johnson before Collins can hand the ball off and my DL cleans up Collins for the safety.
Titans 3 Bears 2 end of 1st QTR.
I get the ball back on free kick and manage to get a TD pass Cutler to Bennett. The 2-point conversion fails. Bears 8 Titans 3.
He gets the ball and gets a TD drive to go back up 10-8 halfway through the 2nd qtr.
We trade punts after each having a 3 & out and he again comes up in punt block.
I hold on his next drive.
I get a TD and 2-point conversion to take a 16-10 lead.
I get an INT with around 2:00 to go in half. He holds again and I punt for the 3rd time in the half and again he comes up in punt block (leaving my outside gunners completely uncovered for the 3rd time).
Halftime
I get the opening kickoff and get to my 36 yard line with a 4th and 3. Now he has come out in punt block every time I've punted so far so I decided to call a fake and see if he comes out again in punt block leaving the outside gunners uncovered.
A little aside here I have never called a fake punt in an online game or offline game. I only went for it on 4th down 2 times during the regular season but both with traditional plays converting 1 of 2. My thinking here is that it is early in the 3rd and if I fail to pick up the 3 yards the best he can do is go up 17-16 early in the 3rd qtr. He hasn't moved the ball particularly well to this point so I figure the reward is worth the risk and if he doesn't come out in punt block I can always audible to a punt or call a timeout.
He does in fact come out in punt block so I run the play. It turns out he is in punt block zone and his defenders drop back into the routes of my receivers. I throw (with my punter mind you) underneath to my backup FS short of the first but he manages to juke a defender and barely get the first down. I go on to pick up a FG on the drive and lead 19-10 early in the 3rd.
To make an already long story a little shorter the game remains a defensive struggle into the 4th and Collins throws his second pick of the game on the 5 yard line about halfway through the 4th quarter with the score still 19-10.
Titans owner gets pissed off and says that the fake punt was not realistic and quits the game and the league. I argue that while risky it wasn't unrealistic. A special teams coach sees 3 straight punt blocks where no one is covering the outside receivers. I very much think the fake is a call that would be called given the way the game was going and seeing the receivers left uncovered for a 4th time.
It wasn't like I called some cheese play that couldn't be stopped. I called my first ever fake punt and had to execute a punter to backup FS pass and catch and run to convert.
So for those of you who actually took the time to read all of this (thank you BTW) what do you think. Was the play reasonable at that point in the game and is the Titans owner overreacting?
Bears won 19-10.
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