yes, I thought it was perfect.


whats even controversial about this?

I liked the call. I thought with the wind swirling as it was they assessed the likely hood of a 52 yard FG to be slim.

I'll say this - the applause is probably not as universal if that ball doesn't check up like it does. Harrison cut that one pretty damn close - you can't really count on most punts checking back when they bounce at the 3 like that one did.

If that's a 17 yard gain in field position instead of a 35 yard gain in field position, the responses here may be a bit different.

Execution made it a clear win - but kick that ball 10 more times and you may only see 2 or 3 of them check up like that one did. Luck helped quite a bit there.

My question is, why not just punt it?

TBH, the whole strategy was negated pretty quickly. IIRC, the first play was a big gain.

It was a good idea though.

Balls of steel on that. You have to punt that shit perfectly, and Butker did. It was amazing. At first I was like, we need the points, but after thinking about it, it made more sense to pin them deep with no time outs and a two score lead. Basically in ensured a victory, unless some truly crazy shit happened, namely them recovering an on side kick after scoring quickly.

Good call.

Because you don't want them having a chance to return it.

Yep, pin em deep and they still have to score twice

even if it was a touchback it was ok, still 2 scores right? Its not like a touchback was some deal breaker.

It’s just a play I’ve never really understood, I guess. Not sure why a high punt by a person that practices that play over and over is less likely to field less yards than a fake fg/punt by a kicker.

It was a great play and a good call. Just seems like it is dressed up to be dressed up.

It was a pretty incredible kick, to be fair.

I generally don't like making guys do something out of their comfort zone in a situation like that, which increases the risk of something going wrong (and something going wrong in that scenario is really the only way we could lose).

But Butker clearly seems to have practiced the play judging by his execution of it, so I have no complaints.

I think the answer Id give would be biased by the perfect result.

Yeah, but the ball would almost certainly be inside the ten when fielded. At that point maybe he'd return it anyway, I guess.

I'm one of the handful who said no, and I'm voting based on what I knew at the time. I didn't think of it being windy and it's a great point that the game would still be a two-score game even if he made it. I also didn't know at the time that Butker was a nails punter. Looking at it now with the outcome, it was a brilliant move.

The other thing that we didn't discuss is the tiny probability that a blocked field goal could have produced a quick touchdown. So the punt avoided that as well. Overall, the coaching staff earned biscuit and a pat on the head for this play. It was both smart and clever.

I thought the FG was the right call.... but I liked the punt even better.