The NFL is a copycat league, and the best playcallers often copy each other
The NFL is a copycat league. Nothing is new under an NFL sun, and if a coordinator implements something cool, you can believe that another playcaller will have it installed by the next week. This has already happened with the Miami Dolphins and Mike McDaniel’s use of the “cheat” motion that literally every team in the league uses now, but on Sunday, we saw two teams run the exact same trick play, thrown near the same area, and to tight ends who went to the same university.
Let’s start off in the 1 p.m. slate. The Detroit Lions were turning the Carolina Panthers into mincemeat, and decided they wanted to throw some extra sauce on top of the victory. The Lions would hand the ball off to RB David Montgomery, who flipped it to WR Josh Reynolds, who THEN flipped it to QB Jared Goff, and by that time TE Sam LaPorta (of Iowa fame) was wide open and headed for the end zone.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan probably saw this, and went into Kakashi Hatake mode, and copied the exact play and situation, from 10 yards further back because the 49ers need an actual challenge.
Like I said, nothing new under the sun. In fact, you can track this play (at least this year) as far back as Week 2, when the Atlanta Falcons ran it against the Green Bay Packers. It wasn’t a touchdown because, well, it’s the Atlanta Falcons, but it was a big play nonetheless.
Kittle even talked about running the same play that LaPorta scored a TD on, bringing up the fact that both are former Iowa Hawkeyes. The world is run by Iowa tight ends, and Brian Ferentz should be ashamed of himself.
“I’m never upset when two Iowa tight ends are scoring on the same play.”
Kittle on him and Sam LaPorta scoring on the exact same play today.
— Nicholas McGee (@nicholasmcgee24) October 9, 2023
I wonder what the trick play of the month will be in November. Will it be a double reverse? Maybe an offensive linemen scores a TD off play action. The Tennessee Titans almost scored a TD on a sweet looking halfback pass, but, well, it’s the Titans. Either way, seeing where this goes is going to be extremely fun.
