Mike From Woburn: Breaking Down The Logic (Or Lack Thereof) In The Patriots' Surprise Drop Kick
The Patriots had just scored their second touchdown of the day, upping their lead to 14-0. They were doing exactly what we expected them to do, which was beating the bag out of Chip Kelly and his putrid Eagles.
And then the Patriots did exactly what no one expected.
They tried an onside kick via drop kick.
Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski was hovering in the area of the kicking tee when he suddenly lateraled the ball to Safety/Special Teamer Nate Ebner who proceeded to drop kick the ball behind the first line of Eagles special teamers. The kick was recovered rather easily by the Eagles, who immediately had excellent field position at their own 41 yard line.
Now I understand the idea of attempting an onside kick in that situation. If you recover it and score, you stand a very good chance of making a team that clearly quit on Thanksgiving call it a day in the second quarter, and possibly put the embattled Kelly on unemployment by Monday. Couple this with the fact that the Pats were getting the ball back after the half, and if the Pats recover the onside kick they could possibly be up four scores by the time the Eagles see the ball in the 3rd Quarter.
But why try a drop kick? It makes no sense for a number of reasons.
First, the drop kick gave away the advantage of deception. The Patriots may have used the correct player to execute the dropkick. Nate Ebner, one of the youngest players ever to take the field for the United States in International Rugby, is clearly familiar with the technique as it's employed commonly in Rugby Union and Rugby 7s. But by giving the ball to Ebner to kick, you immediately tip off the Eagles special teamers that something out of the ordinary is coming and give them a few crucial seconds to prepare for trickery. If Gostkowski had simply executed a traditional onside kick it might have caught the Eagles napping.
Second, you not only surrender total surprise by having Ebner kick but you also have someone kicking other than Gostkowski, which is also doing the Eagles a favor. In theory, what Ebner tried to do was put the drop kick in space between the Eagles special teamers and have the Pats run onto it and recover. So why not let Gostkowski do it? Look I hate kickers like Trump's hair hates a breeze, but it's his only job and he's actually pretty good at it.
Let him kick it.
Third, in Rugby the ball is much more rounded and more forgiving on the bounce than a football that is now designed with passing aerodynamics in mind. A pooch kick off the tee by a kicker is a far easier technique to execute correctly than a drop kick with a ball that's no longer designed to be drop kicked, attempted by a non-specialist.
Fourth and most importantly, there is no tactical advantage. In Rugby, there is no fair catch rule. So a drop kick on a restart after a score isn't just the black and white change of possession that we see in American football. Drop kicks are routinely executed with a high arch just over ten meters down field in order to give the kicking team a chance to run under it and once again take possession. After ten meters, even in the air, that ball is up for grabs. The fair catch rule completely negates this tactic which is why Ebner was trying to put the kick behind the Eagles. Which is something a traditional pooch kick could accomplish.
But this brings us back to the original question, why have Ebner kick it in the first place?
A better use of Ebner's Rugby kicking skills would have been a short grubber kick (a kick that tumbles along the ground and sometimes pops up into an oncoming runners hands) up the middle where he is more suited to win a one on one battle to recover it than Gostkowski.
Look, this wasn't as bad as the Colts fake punt we saw in week six. That was a diversionary play that was never supposed to work - let alone be run - that was coached so poorly that the players actually tried to execute it.
I played Rugby in college (not well mind you), I love when elements of it worm their way back in the NFL game and if there was some way this could have been advantageous, I'd be lobbying for kicker layoffs league wide. But this was simply an onside kick that the Patriots themselves added degrees of difficulty to execute for no tangible advantage. It just wasn't a smart play.
And that is something that we never expect from Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
Mike From Woburn, formerly known as Mike From Attleboro, is a regular caller to the Felger & Massarotti Show. You can find him on Twitter @MikeFromWoburn.
