Sometimes, it just takes one thing to get you fired, which is why it’s always good to keep things in check. Wear pants for that Zoom meeting. Don’t fudge your expenses. And when you’re a special teams coach, make sure the rest of the coaching staff is aware of the fake punt you’re about to call.
Like Otto in “A Fish Called Wanda,” former Lions special teams coach Brayden Coombs forgot about the third thing, which is why he’s now the Lions’ former special teams coach. With 12:09 left in the fourth quarter in Detroit’s eventual 46-25 loss to the Titans, Coombs called a direct snap to C.J. Moore on fourth-and-4 from the Detroit 31-yard line. Moore was unable to convert, and the Titans took over, scoring yet another touchdown on the resulting drive.
Per ESPN’s Michael Rothstein, Coombs didn’t run that idea by anybody else on the staff, and many players were surprised. Whoops.
“He’s not a culture fit,” one source told Rothstein.
The Lions ranked 17th in Football Outsiders’ special teams metrics coming into Week 15, which is another lesson — if you’re going to go off the grid, you’d better be very good at what you do, and your bizarre idea had better succeed.