Yeah, don't think this is a trick they could use more than once or twice and even then it's a gamble. So incredibly dependent on timing. If the play clock isn't about to expire, just don't snap the ball and you have an offsides - or if he stops short and resets, snap it and he'll be off-balance. This just happened to work well because the timing's right and I think the confusion factor is more likely to have success in the future than timing things correctly and getting a running start will.
Originally Posted by: Porforis
This play really doesn't depend all that much on perfect timing. If you watch the play Ringo is running parallel to LOS and the snap is WAAAY before Ringo gets there. We get desensitized to speed; but a 4.9/5.0 40 is pretty damn fast. Ringo made up the distance in a split second. Now Imagine what would have happened if Ringo timed it perfectly.
This Ringo play can work like the Rodgers' hard count creates a FEAR of jumping offside; this gives our OL a huge advantage. On 3rd and 4 these DLmen and blitzers are on their absolute heels when the ball is snapped. Plus they're thinking, "dont jump, dont jump", instead of their assignment. Bennett's game is jumping the snap count, he's the world leader in encroachment penalties and pressure; he didn't commit a single penalty, but nor did he cause any pressure. Rodgers took Bennett out of his game! Same thing with substitutions, these players and coaches are so nuts about not getting caught they are expelling precious energy sprinting on and off field and their mind is not 100% on their assignment.
So you do the Ringo dance a couple of times and you get them thinking about it. You get them altering their snap count when they see Ringo slide out to slot area and scraping his right foot on the ground like a bull ready to charge. All 11 O players will be thinking about the Ringo charge, instead of their assignment.
So Ringo anticipates the snap, and takes off, if he's too early, he just slows up and if necessary comes to rest in the spot that was left open for him at LOS. And he performs like he would normally.
I even thought of a variation to the play [I feel like George Costanza telling Jerry he has way to trade for both Bonds and Griffey]. You leave a hole for Ringo on the right and the left. If the ball isn;t snapped as Ringo is ready to turn up into the right hole; he runs past the center and turns it up the hole on left side. And sometimes when he turns it up left B gap he can hit the OT and knock him on his ass as Guard is reaching to block Ringo, then the LOLB has a free path to QB.
How about this, it's 3rd and 17, and you got 3 Ringos standing around by the left and right slot WRs and you got three of them crashing into the OL at once. We'll call it BIC [Bull in China Shop] for one Ringo; BICS for 3 Ringos.
And hey on 3rd and 17 and Ringo times it wrong and crashes too early and just knocks Glowinski on his ass from his stance, probably 5 yards back; worst case its 3rd and 12, but with that team of roided-up thugs, I guarantee a 15 yard PF.
Here's the big problem: The league would probably intervene because if Glowinski's head was down, and Ringo crashed him, the risk of spine/neck injury would be high.
One thing I know for sure; the DL room had a lot of fun with that play today.