All 22 View: Tavon Austin’s Punt Return

[RamBill]

Watch former St. Louis Rams player Will Witherspoon break down the All 22 film of Tavon Austin’s punt return touchdown against the Redskins.

Watch Tavon's Punt Return

 

[Thordaddy]

Great play , don't know how to say this ,but he was never touched , I wish he'd broken a tackle ,so we could say he could,cuz the ones where you are never touched come once in a blue moon.

 

[Corbin]

That was a cool break down by Will

 

[jjab360]

Great play , don't know how to say this ,but he was never touched , I wish he'd broken a tackle ,so we could say he could,cuz the ones where you are never touched come once in a blue moon.

I don't see why that matters, his ability to stay out of reach with his speed and quickness is what makes him special not his ability to break tackles and run over guys. The guy can make you miss in a phonebooth like on the Colts return TD last year for example. He was pretty much boxed in and nobody even laid a hand on him iirc.

 

[Faceplant]

I don't see why that matters, his ability to stay out of reach with his speed and quickness is what makes him special not his ability to break tackles and run over guys. The guy can make you miss in a phonebooth like on the Colts return TD last year for example. He was pretty much boxed in and nobody even laid a hand on him iirc.

That^^. The less Tavon gets hit, the happier we (and Tavon) are. I prefer to see defenders hitting turf as their ankles give out trying to get even a paw on TA....

 

[LazyWinker]

Tavon makes defenders miss bad. They hit the turf diving for him as he yards up the field.

 

[Ram Quixote]

Great play , don't know how to say this ,but he was never touched , I wish he'd broken a tackle ,so we could say he could,cuz the ones where you are never touched come once in a blue moon.

Then here's to more blue moons. When Tavon isn't touched, he scores.

That's his skill, btw. Knowing where the tacklers are and when to turn on the wiggle and the burst. Which isn't to say that he needs things perfect; he creates that.

 

[Thordaddy]

Don't get me wrong , his ability to make people miss is impressive, it can make up for lesser blocking ,and I'll take it.

However there are a few people who knock Austin for his " inability" to break tackles , as I said I wish he had broken a tackle somewhere during that return come out of it faked someone out of their jock and gone ahead and scored and given us the ability to say he could, and as I said the clean, never get touched returns like that are just so rare even with a guy so capable of producing them.
If I had my preference I'd rather he never get touched on any of his returns just like that, but that doesn't happen ,he'll have even more spectacular returns if he sets people up to be off balance and delivers a hit himself to a guy on his heals, Faulk was a master of that and Austin's game would be even greater than it is if he utilized that, BTW I don't mean he should look for contact ,I mean that when it is inevitable that feature is nice to have and you don't have to be a big dude to use it.

 

[LetsGoRams]

Great analysis. I loved how the double gunners took their guy all the way behind the bench. I'm surprised - knowing how the reps usually screw us that there wasn't a holding penalty on JJ on that play.