Last night the Bears shocked everybody with a stunningly creative (by NFL standards) 2 point play.
Immediate responses across the twitterverse were: "never seen that before", "best play I've ever seen (in the league)", "so creative", etc... NFL players a plenty dropped in with similar thoughts. But in the back of my head, I knew that play had been run by many programs at many levels. That's what coaching is. Coaches see a great idea and they work their own version of it. Happens all the time. I saw several coaches tweeting that they run that at the high school level and some at the college level; but was waiting to see some evidence that it had been run in the league before; and sure enough...
Let’s talk about that 2 point play https://t.co/6PCabxayF2pic.twitter.com/8iWCoMx03f
— FootballScoop Staff (@FootballScoop) October 10, 2017
The 2000 Tampa Bay Bucs, an all-star crew, ran the exact same play for 2 points as well against Green Bay. Led by head coach Tony Dungy and offensive coordinator Les Steckel, with Shaun King at quarterback the play was sent in. King took the snap, handed to Warrick Dunn who in turn handed it to Mike Alstott...who then pitched it back to King for the 2 points.
Something tells me Coach Steckel enjoyed seeing that one called last night; and he probably remembers to this day the coach from whom he got the idea...