Watching the replay of the play Thornton was stripped of the ball on his way to the endzone for a td, the linebacker #10 for WMU who stripped the ball from Thorson was not blocked at all. Just wondering if someone on NU missed a block or was the play intentionally designed to influence the lb to take the fake and not be blocked?? I give a lot of credit to the WMU lb #10 by making a great play not taking the fake and going straight to Thorson to rip the ball out of his grasp before Thorson could cross the goal line.
Question about the play that Thorson was stripped of the ball
- Thread starter WestCoastWildcat
- Start date
As an inside linebacker, his responsibility is likely to key the RB (closing if it is a give) or to shadow the QB (if it is a keep). He didn't really make a great read on the play, but took a decent angle and was helped-out by the corner not really being blocked -- Skowronek kind of sort of runs him off, but then makes no effort to get back in front of him. If Skowronek makes his block, Thorson waltzes into the end zone and doesn't have to alter his angle up the field to avoid the corner.
Long story short: the LB doesn't do anything overly impressive and the play could/should have worked with better blocking outside.
GC- Well the lb did rip the ball away from Thorson so he should get credit for that. But my question was if the lb should have been blocked on the play at all or was he supposed to take the bait and go inside after JJ. If the lb doesn't rip the ball away then we still have possession and a chance to win even if Thorson doesn't score on the play. I hear you too about a sustained block on the CB would have allowed Thorson to get into the endzone.
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