This is an excellent explanation of punt protection theory, and “root cause analysis” of Nebraska’s catastrophic punt protection breakdown last Friday. Thanks for sharing!!
I agree that it’s obvious (
and concerning to me) that
none of our coaches were paying attention to this play/detail Pre-snap, or they would have (hopefully) called a timeout to fix it.
Seriously though, given our struggles with ST I’m alarmed that Dawson doesn’t have a “time out” with the ST unit before they take the field to assure everyone is in sync… like “Ok, Przystup is kicking, alignment left, punt direction left…” or something like that.
Similarly, in healthcare before any surgery there’s a quick pre-procedure “timeout” to assure and confirm that the team is in sync on: correct patient, correct procedure, correct location, and expectations for any team member to speak up at anytime if there’s a concern. It just takes a short amount of time to complete and avoid potential harm.
With that in mind, It’s unfortunate that none of our players noticed this misalignment during their pre-snap huddle or check. Much like how the place clicker or holder checks alignment, players, and/or numbers before the snap on a PAT or FG. But ultimately, players count on their coaches to put them in positions to succeed… as they should.
These types of “attention to detail” unforced errors should be fairly easy to fix.
And in this case, simply having a dedicated, competent Special Teams Coach will go a long way to improving this phase of the game for us.
