Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Kicking It

Okay, there were three extraordinary highlights from the recently completed football weekend.

TigerBlog isn't sure which is the most incredible.  

He'll start with Todd Gurley of the Atlanta Falcons and the touchdown for which he apologized.

To set the scene, Atlanta trailed 16-14 but was in a near-perfect position to win the game, being in chip-shot field goal range and having Detroit with no timeouts. As a result, Atlanta could have taken the clock down near zero and then kicked the easy game-winner for the 17-16 win.

Instead, Gurley scored, giving his team the lead - but giving the ball back to Detroit. Matthew Stafford then led the Lions down the field with no timeouts and scored the winning TD on the final play, so it's not exactly all on Gurley.

Also instincts are instincts, and getting into the end zone is the whole point. Well, almost always. 

Maybe the most insane part of the clip is the way the Detroit defenders signal touchdown, while Gurley agonizingly tries to stay out of the end zone. TB has never seen that before.

Then there was D.K. Metcalf of the Seattle Seahawks. If you remember earlier this year, Metcalf, a second-year wide receiver, cost his team a touchdown by slowing down and holding the ball in celebration before getting into the end zone and subsequently having it knocked away.

If he needed that as a lesson in the importance of hustle, it seems he got the message. 

TB has watched this clip a thousand times, and it gets more impressive each time Metcalk looks like he's chasing down someone slow, as opposed to an NFL defensive back who had a huge head start.

The best part is that the tackle saved a sure touchdown, and Arizona didn't even get a field goal on its possession. The Cardinals did win the game in OT, though.

Still, that's one of the greatest individual plays in NFL history. That's how impressive it was.

Then there was the play in college football this weekend. Which one? This one:

So that kick, to potentially win the game, hit the goalposts four times before bouncing away. What the heck? Is that even possible?

How about the reaction of the refs under the goalposts? They just calmly waited for the play to end and then said "no good."

The quadruple-plunk attempt reminded TB a little of a 2001 Princeton game, when Taylor Northrop's potential tying field goal from 57 yards hit the crossbar. It didn't just hit the crossbar. It hit the backside of the crossbar and yet somehow came back to the field, as opposed to dropping in.

What TB also remembers about that play was that the field goal would have been from 20 yards closer had it not been for a sack and two penalties.

TB also remembers being surprised that Northrop's kick was no good. That's how strong a leg he had.

When Northrop graduated in 2002, he held the Princeton record for career field goals with 38, something that's been broken by Derek Javarone (45) and Nolan Bieck (39).

When Northrop was Princeton's placekicker, he drew a regular crowd of NFL scouts to the games. TB is really surprised that he never got a chance in the league, not only because of his field goal ability but also because of how deep his kickoffs routinely were.

He was also a very thoughtful, very soft-spoken person. He had the perfect mentality for a placekicker, and he was a first-team All-American in 2001, as well as a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection as a placekicker and second-team All-Ivy as a punter.

These days, it appears that Northrop lives in Florida, where he works as a financial advisor. At least that's what a quick search turned up.

He also is married and has two kids of his own. There was a picture of him on his company website, and he doesn't look all that much different than when he played nearly 20 years ago.

Nearly 20 years already? 

Anyway, his kick that day was only one plunk off the crossbar, as opposed to four. Either way, it still stung in the moment.

On the other hand, he did make a lot more than he missed, and he is one of the greatest ever to play his position at Princeton.

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