Did anyone catch that trick punt return by the Bears?
 

I was watching it live yesterday and it was literally the most brilliant trick play I've ever seen in my life.

Of course, the officials (most likely influenced by some Vegas line or O/U) threw a phantom holding penalty on a guy that wasn't within 20 yards of anyone...but anyways...

The punter punted the ball...and the entire Bears team with Hester all drifted to the left side of the field...Hester decoyed it like he was calling a fair catch...only for the ball to be punted to the right side of the field where Johnny Knox was all alone with a lead blocker who escorted him 80 yards for an uncontested TD...

It was SO COOL. I can't believe no one has ever tried that before.

Wait, did Hester actually wave for a fair catch?

I think if anyone on the receiving team signals fair catch, the ball is dead at the spot it's caught.

Yeah and never could see the penalty that got flagged either.

Even fooled the camera man

i laughed so hard at the phantom holding call, how the NFL can even justify stuff like that is pathetic.

that guy was no where close to anyone, a defender, a teammate, a anything. There was 3 guys on that side of the field and no defenders for like 20 yards lol

Cromartie picked off Peyton Manning back in the 2007 playoffs and there was a phantom holding call on Eric Weddle that brought back a TD right at halftime. I am still convinced that the refs were trying to influence that game. The Chargers still won.

I love how Hester gave a little laugh as all the Packers players surrounded him and were like "where the **** is the ball?"

as for if he really waved for a fair catch? I don't know...I thought it looked like he did...I was so enamored with how cool the play was I didn't bother noticing...

Packers were -5...

if they gave the Bears that TD it would have killed that line...

O/U was 45.5...Bears get that TD the over hits...and everyone knows the over is a fish bet...bookies make money on the under all the time because the fish love offense.

So I am willing to bet that call had some Vegas influence...funny now that I actually look at the lines.

That drew a hold, but Tamba can't draw one after getting raped over and over again??? The officiating in this league is garbage.

Game was in Chicago. Would have you thought any different?

The worst part is that they can't use that play anymore.

there was A TON of money flying around on the Bears/Packers game...more money flows on afternoon games, especially the prime time 3 PM game...

No doubt in my mind this one had Vegas influence all over it...as the holding penalty didn't exist. It just couldn't have possibly existed. It defied all logic.

Much like the Polamalu INT (or fumble recovery) at the end of a Ravens game a few years ago that was clearly, no matter what a meaningless end of the game TD that, for no reason whatsoever, the officials waived off...

Chiefs would fall for it

you know? I don't see why not...

that's what drives me crazy about the NFL...

the Saints found a 2 point conversion play that worked yesterday...they did it once, 2 points...they called the same play with the same motion the next time and it worked again...

In 2005 we played the Jets and we started the season with two Scary sweeps (or so I call them), one to Holmes (30 yards) and the next to LJ (TD)...same call, different back, no problem...

I never get why, if a play works, playcallers refuse to go back to that play...we opened the game 2 weeks ago with a great reverse to McCluster that he almost broke to the house but I haven't seen that play since?

Uhm, why?

Wow that was a horrible bullshit call.

I totally don't give a shit about the Bears, but calls like that boil my blood.

Really?
They didn't call it on 23 after they fielded the punt, they called it on 21 while it was in the air.
http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/9387/unlednl.png

That end zone replay starts halfway through the play, I'm wondering if something happened before that.

Ah, kstater got it. It was a cool play though.

You know what was puzzling about that play? The PUNTER is running towards Hester, too. Doesn't he know which direction the ball was punted? How did he get fooled?

If that is the hold they called, it was a ****ing horribly late thrown flag. The flag wasn't on the field until after Knox had the ball and started the return.

The pussification continues.

I'll post the screencap if you wish, but he reached for it at 1:05 and it left his hand at 1:04. Now if you think it's unreasonable for a ref to see a hold process it, and reach for his flag in less than 2.5-3 seconds, that's your opinion.

But the official down on the goal line did throw the flag well before Knox caught it. Twenty yard heave. Good arm I guess.

Cool play. Horrible call.

I have to ask why run it then? The game was all but over and now its toast.

Not much chance they were going to score again in the last minute after that.

Post a screen cap of 1:26 of the above video. You can see the flag coming in from the right side. Knox has the ball. The GB player in question is at the 7 yard line & the Chicago player is at the 15.

The screen cap you showed the players at the 35ish yard line. Seems like a long time to throw the flag to me.

The times I was referring to was game time, not youtube video time. He threw the flag roughly 2.5-3 seconds after the hold. Was reaching for it before that.

Gotcha. Makes no real difference to me - just seemed like a late flag from the video above.

That's true, but I think that against the Bears, teams put extra work in on special teams during the week. I think they'll nail it into the players heads to look out for this kind of stuff.

that was my thought? Why burn such a brilliant play on a likely unwinnable game.

loved the play
hate the chicago orange crush uni's

Joe Valerio begs to differ.

people are going to have to start watching the ball instead of just keying in on hester. So maybe that gives him more room to work down the road. I have a feeling they've had that play going more than once, but it would take a kick to the corner for it to work. I would think.

I rewound that play a few times on Sunday, just to marvel at the brilliance of it. Unfortunate that it was nullified - such a brilliantly simple play. I'm amazed I've never seen anyone else try that...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6NUC7zYOFaQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

You can clearly see the hold at 0:03 of the video.

I didn't see a hold

Does Rosetta Stone have a package for this language? It uses words that are so familiar, and yet, my gamble-speak is too weak to comprehend. Genious! (cp)

Nevermind. It's while the ball is in the air on 21. Shitty call as it had nothing to do with the return.

There were actually multiple holds by the Bears on that play. The refs made the right call.

I don't disagree, but they were away from the play. Over-officiating.

They call shit like this, but Hali gets ****ing raped on a regular basis.

disagree. ANY hold while the ball is in the air impacts the return. No one on the kicking team is "out of the play" until the receiver has it and is clearly never going to be caught by him.

As it happened, it didn't have anything to do with the return because almost everyone was fooled, but the ref couldn't have known the trick play was on when the ball was in the air.

I don't think it is a late flag. Its a case of negative reinforcement where we never pay attention to how long after the foul a flag was thrown, and only pay attention, aside from ludicrously late flags, when a great play is called back in a close game on a hard-to-see foul and people wonder about vegas, then think "huh, took him a while to throw it". I bet if you sat with a stopwatch and just observed ref flag-throwing times all day you wouldn't see a difference. All good refs/umpires/officials should take a second to process it and think "am I sure" before reacting. He was reaching for his flag at a reasonable time.

that penalty pissed me off, you have to know that was vegas that got that call. Anything with that much money involved is going to corrupt the sport.

This belief, incredibly unlikely though it may normally be, is not at all believable when you consider that the flag was beginning to be thrown when the ball was barely in the air and no one had any idea it would be anything but a normal return.

All we have is a brilliant play that was ruined, by a moron lineman who had no reason to hold anyone if he believed in the trick play, and now we are upset about it being called back and need a scapegoat. The gamblers did it, obviously.

I was just reacting to how it impacted the line...how the Vegas money was heavier on the Bears not scoring that TD (which would have changed the points and the O/U)...

PROBABLY a coincidence, but just saying...

and please, explain this...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08322/928592-66.stm

This was totally inexplicable, and it won Vegas a SHIT ton of money...

This is one of the nice trick in the Football history. Now 341,530 + people has been watched this video and appreciate,,,:clap::clap::clap:

Far left side of the screen. He's blocking the gunner. The gunner gets by him on the inside and he reaches out his right arm and appears to tug on the guys shoulder pad.