with a few seconds left why do most teams try 80 yard hail marys instead of lateral plays?

i never understand it. 90% of the time teams try to just throw it as high and far as they can and it has virtually no chance while a lateral play at least gives you a small narrow chance at the miracle.

i dont get it.

tell me why teams don't try the lateral play?

2/3/2008 10:08:01 PM

I don't know Earl. Why don't you draw one up and fax it to Foxboro.

2/3/2008 10:09:56 PM

^winner

2/3/2008 10:15:05 PM

win.

2/3/2008 10:18:58 PM

lol

2/3/2008 10:19:03 PM

Hail Mary never works

Signed,
1984 Miami Hurricanes
2002 Kentucky Wildcats
2006 Boston College Eagles

Et al.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hail_Marys_in_American_football

2/4/2008 12:21:17 AM

hahaha Ernie wins.

2/4/2008 12:22:14 AM

i'm more confounded at why they didn't use Maroney and Faulk to pound the front 7. all pass all the time = fail.

2/4/2008 1:19:44 AM

Faulk got hurt

2/4/2008 1:24:11 AM

Quote :

"# 2006 — NC State vs. Boston College: A 34-yard Hail Mary from NC State quarterback Daniel Evans to wideout John Dunlap with 8 seconds left gave NC State a 17-15 victory.[7]"

was that really considered a hail mary?

2/4/2008 8:23:45 AM

yes

2/4/2008 8:27:07 AM

^^ anytime daniel evans throws the ball it is a hail mary.

2/4/2008 8:32:10 AM

ive always defined a hail mary as a jump ball in the end zone as time expires,

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oqtbMgyU8Ws (about 4 min in)

hardly qualifies

he made a great throw into single coverage - during the last few seconds of the game after putting together a few good previous plays to set up the winning TD pass.

NOT a hail mary.

ICE

2/4/2008 8:39:55 AM

A "Hail Mary" is just putting 4 or 5 receivers on fly routes.

2/4/2008 8:44:31 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_Mary_pass

2/4/2008 9:22:35 AM

well, it's a little different when you have fucking randy moss. It's totally realistic that he could've caught one of those deep passes and put them in position to kick a field goal. That one pass was right on the money, the defender just got a hand on it at the last second. They're not high percentage plays, but neither are the laterals.

2/4/2008 9:43:21 AM

i really thought brady was going to get them into fg range on the last drive.

35 sec with 3 timeouts is enough time to go 40ish yards to at least have a chance.

2/4/2008 9:54:22 AM

haha 3 times out of thousands and thousands of games that end taht way.

2/4/2008 10:14:01 AM

They don't run laterals in the NFL for the same reason they don't run the option in the NFL.

The defenses are too fast, too good, too experienced, and too smart. It's a different game than college.

[Edited on February 4, 2008 at 10:35 AM. Reason : ]

2/4/2008 10:35:10 AM

Their first hail mary attempt to Moss damn near worked

^yeah and you're not gonna have people just give up on the play like in that Division 3 championship game with ~15 laterals a couple months ago...this is the Super Bowl

2/4/2008 10:37:49 AM

with that said, what makes you think you have a better chance of jumping over 4 guys, catching the ball that was thrown 75 yards on the money and coming down with it?

2/4/2008 12:22:20 PM

WHY DOES ANY TEAM EVER RUN THE BALL?

THAT NEVER WORKS - THEY ALWAYS GET TACKLED!

THEY SHOULD JUST KEEP PASSING IT!

2/4/2008 12:23:01 PM

^^because its Randy Moss and he's a really fucking good receiver

I would've expected the Pats to do neither hail mary passes or laterals, but instead try to throw some 8-10 yard quick outs towards the sidelines to save time while getting in field goal range...but i dont think belichek had any confidence in gotskowski at all...from kicking the early kickoff out of bounds, to the pats going for it on 4th and 13 instead of kicking a field goal

adam vinatieri is laughing his ass off right now

2/4/2008 12:25:24 PM

Quote :

"^^because its Randy Moss and he's a really fucking good receiver "

are you implying that if they didnt have randy mosss they wouldn't have done it? because every team does it.

there is no strategy in throwing the ball up. its basically like fuck it we lost. its like shooting a fulcourt shot in basketball when you could try to make a few passes and get a layup.

the only reason you don't try to lateral every play is because you don't want the other team to get field position. otherwise you would try it every play but if the game is over who cares about field position?

2/5/2008 2:13:17 PM

i assume you've done some pretty intense research to come to the conclusion that the hail mary only works 10% of the time

i also assume that your research has led you to the conclusion that the 80 yard lateral play is successful more than 10% of the time

is that correct?

[Edited on February 5, 2008 at 2:41 PM. Reason : ]

2/5/2008 2:40:17 PM

Simply put..... because your chances of Catching the ball in the end zone are greater than your chances of making 5 or 6 (or many more) laterals just to get the ball to the end zone.

Like in basketball, your chances of making a full court shot is better than making 2 clean passes and catches, and shooting in a small amount of time.



What i want to know, Is why more teams don't try a cross field pass. Tennessee Titans ish.... throw a pass about 30 yards shot of the end zone, let your receiver catch it, turn and throw the 40 yards across the field to another receiver? (by my same reasoning as first, this is a dumb idea, however this seems to work more often %wise than either of the other two options)

2/5/2008 2:55:48 PM

2/5/2008 2:57:53 PM

its a matter of making the defense guard the whole field as opposed to just waiting like 5 guys in the endzone for your hail mary and hoping all of them fuckup.

2/10/2008 3:21:05 PM

Go away. Nothing you are bringing to the table is noteworthy or original.

2/11/2008 2:12:02 PM

Quote :

"^^ anytime daniel evans throws the ball it is a hail mary."

lol

2/11/2008 2:16:23 PM

In the case of Patriots having the ball with 30 seconds left against the Giants...

I was expecting, and I would have personally tried, at least a hook and latter on the first or second play. It always seems that those plays can you get you a good 20 or 30 yards on a relatively easy basis. I guess its because the other team is always protecting against the hail mary/deep pass, that its easy to get a short 10-15 yard route, and the defender is always going to be behind the WR, so a pitch to a running back or another WR is usually feasible.

So with that you get a sizeable gain and make the next hail-mary...less of a hail-mary. You also have the potential for it to be a really big gain and maybe get within field goal range.

But that's just my limited opinion on the subject. I think its a lot better idea than throwing three or four straight 80-yard hail marys.

2/11/2008 2:22:45 PM

Quote :

"Hail Mary never works Signed, 1984 Miami Hurricanes 2002 Kentucky Wildcats 2006 Boston College Eagles "

and 1994 Colorado Buffaloes

thats 4 total

we have 3 lateral plays that have worked

Cal/Stanford
Boise State/Oklahoma
Trinity

4>3 (Hail Mary wins)

2/12/2008 10:06:41 PM

New Orleans over Jacksonville for laterals

so 4 apiece by your logic

2/12/2008 10:10:19 PM

I wouldn't consider a hook and ladder a lateral play. It's basically in its own category of totally awesome shit kinda like the statue of liberty.

2/12/2008 10:11:04 PM

and titans over buffalo.

but the real kicker is this. ok, about the same amount have succeeded of each. but how many have been attempted?

ya ALOT more hail maries

2/13/2008 12:41:50 AM

Quote :

"i assume you've done some pretty intense research to come to the conclusion that the hail mary only works 10% of the time i also assume that your research has led you to the conclusion that the 80 yard lateral play is successful more than 10% of the time is that correct?"

2/13/2008 12:51:50 AM

Why a Hail Mary? Ask Doug Flutie.

2/13/2008 4:54:41 AM

Titans over Buffalo doesn't count

It wasn't a play from scrimmage...they couldn't have run a hail mary on that play

2/13/2008 10:00:09 AM

don't foget Kordell Stewart at Colorado..... Hail mary...

2/13/2008 10:04:52 AM

^^same with Cal/Stanford-kickoff.

[Edited on February 13, 2008 at 10:05 AM. Reason : .]

2/13/2008 10:05:05 AM

Quote :

"4>3 (Hail Mary wins)"

How many times is the hail mary used and how many times is a lateral play or a hook and lateral used.

I would say that the Hail Mary is used a shit-ton more times than the other plays. So proportionally, maybe the Hail Mary doesn't win.

2/13/2008 10:33:47 AM