Our next Pay that Paid Off was not directly nominated by a reader, but rather came out of a reader's nomination. Before any of the games had even kicked off on Sunday, one of the members of our
Facebook group, Joel Day, an Eagles fan, nominated a future play to be broken down - specifically, he requested (direct quote) "Can you break down one of Vick's many interceptions that he will throw tonight against the Ravens? As much as I love my Eagles, and I'd love to see them win, I'm not holding out hope". Well, luckily for Joel, his hopelessness was unfounded as Vick's 1-yard touchdown run inside the 2-minute warning saw them scrape a victory over the Ravens to remain undefeated. Nonetheless, Vick did throw two interceptions in the game - how did you possibly know that was going to happen Joel? You must have a crystal ball stashed somewhere! - but, when deciding which plays to break down this week, I was actually drawn to an interception by his opposite, Joe Flacco. Vick's first interception was a case of a misplaced throw under duress; his second was the result of a freak bounce off the hands of his intended receiver, and not actually his fault. Flacco's interception, on the other hand, was all on him, and gives us a great opportunity to show how disguising coverages on the part of the defense can trick quarterbacks into throwing interceptions - before the ball is even snapped.
Remember, you too can have your name in the blog, just like Joel, by nominating a play to be broken down for next week. You can follow Joel's example and nominate a play in our Facebook group (which you should definitely join even if you don't want to nominate a play, but just want somewhere to actually discuss and debate football, instead of people swearing at each other for supporting a different team). Alternatively, you can tweet out the description of a play you'd like to see broken down using the hashtag #TPL5plays - if we break down a play that you nominated, you'll get your name in the blog, just like Joel. Now, onto the play...