Back in Week 10, when the Bengals were down by a minuscule 29 points to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons dug into his bag of tricks and green-lit a direct snap to Shawn Williams on a fourth-and-13 at their own 34-yard line. Williams went on to scamper for 39 yards and it ended up being the second-longest play of the day for the Bengals.
Two weeks later, Simmons and Williams did it again.
The Bengals faked a punt against the Giants as Williams took another direct snap around the right edge, this time for just seven yards, but still managed to get the all-important first down. This was the exact same fake that the Bengals ran against the Steelers, but this time, they attacked the other side of the field. It also came even later in the game and happened even closer to the Bengals’ own end zone.
In this video we’ll look at the scheme and rationale behind the fake.
- What did the Bengals see that caused them to run it?
- How did it work twice in three weeks?
- What is the lasting impact of successfully faking punts?