Best Plays of 2008: the top six

by Joel Hollingsworth on Jun 6, 2009 8:07 AM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Football

Well shame on me for not making a case for my vote yesterday. Instead, I'll just complain that What a Play by Berry in the End Zone may have been a horrible throw by Stafford, but was a mostly-fantastic and definitely exciting return by Berry in a sorta close game against one of our big three rivals. Alas, it goes on the shelf. Buh-bye:

I'll be sure to actually put my choice for today's elimination in the comment section.

DO NOT VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE PLAY -- VOTE FOR THE ONE YOU WANT TO SEE ELIMINATED. The play with the most votes gets cut from the competition.

The remaining candidates:

VOTE FOR THE PLAY YOU WANT TO SEE ELIMINATED.

Poll

Which of the top six of the Best Plays of 2008 should be eliminated next?

More Score for Moore

11 votes

Eric Berry Flying Corkscrews Marquis Maze

3 votes

That's Beautiful

10 votes

Berry All the Way

0 votes

Eric Berry Clobbers Knowshon Moreno

3 votes

The Fourth of the Half

11 votes

38 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

The Fourth of the Half

First the good: I don’t think this was just a bad throw by Craft. It wasn’t great, certainly, but McKenzie played it perfectly, sticking to the receiver while still keeping his eye on the QB. And as far as in-game context, how much more exciting does it get for your defense to get four interceptions in a single half of football, the last of which results in a touchdown? We were hoping to see this as much as we were hoping to see the Clawfense march up and down the field. But here, the secondary delivered.

Still, compared to the rest of the remaining plays, it’s just not as important. We lost. Yes, we also lost to Georgia and Alabama, but That’s Beautiful was a complete team effort and excellent play at a great time in the game in a surprisingly even first quarter, and Corkscrew and Clobber were nationally relevant for weeks.

The Fourth of the Half for me.

Rocky Top Talk

by Joel Hollingsworth on Jun 6, 2009 8:16 AM EDT reply actions

Given that we all seem to be finding different reasons for this pick, it is probably going to be a runaway vote-off this time.

I can buy an argument that the throw wasn’t bad, but only if it’s accompanied by a claim that the route-running was. Either way, the pass was caught low to the ground by McKenzie more than 5 yards away from the intended receiver, who hadn’t fully turned to catch the ball and was running dead away from the place the ball was landing. If the TE was supposed to pivot and stop in front of McKenzie, then the throw made sense and the TE was at fault.

And no matter how you interpret it, the pass was very risky. McKenzie was parked in a zone – basically in the exact spot that Craft threw the ball toward. He never turned away from the QB (by design), making this a very easy interception.

Of course, this leads to the bigger question from that game: if McKenzie was in such great position to intercept a pass intended for a TE up the middle of the field, why was nobody ever in position to defend the TE during the entire second half?

…Great. We’re talking about the best plays of the year and a pick-six of all things is getting me agitated. This must be that “Constant” part of The Season of Constant Sorrow.

by David Hooper on Jun 6, 2009 9:15 AM EDT up reply actions