Tag: touchdown

Ravens Highlight: Lamar Jackson hits Hayden Hurst for a 61-yard TD

TE Hayden Hurst slips past the defense where Jackson finds him for the easy throw and catch and subsequent score.

After a relatively slow first half, the Baltimore Ravens offense found pay-dirt early in the second half — just three plays in, actually.

With the Buffalo Bills’ defense selling out to stop the Ravens’ rushing attack, tight end Hayden Hurst was able to get wide open. Hurst slipped beyond the defense where quarterback Lamar Jackson found him wide open and with open field in front of him. 61 yards later and Baltimore extended their lead over Buffalo.

The Ravens’ pick-your-poison offensive scheme is largely the reason for this play’s success. You can see the linebackers keeping their eyes in the backfield, either waiting for Jackson to run or for a delayed handoff. Hurst ends up being completely forgotten in coverage, allowing him to get open.

This was Hurst’s longest passing play of his short career. With fellow tight end Mark Andrews doubtful to return with a knee injury, Hurst and Nick Boyle have stepped up to help fill the void. Though Baltimore’s offense hasn’t had the best game thus far, Hurst’s quick touchdown could be the thing that gets the Ravens over the Bills this week.

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Watch: Drew Brees goes over the top on fourth down for a Saints TD

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees jumped over the San Francisco 49ers defensive line for a rushing touchdown in their Week 14 game.

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Faced with a short fourth-and-goal in a one-score game, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton made the easy call and sent his franchise quarterback into the teeth of the San Francisco 49ers defense. Drew Brees took the ball himself and jumped over the top of the battling offensive and defensive lines to break the plane and pick up a touchdown to keep his team in the lead.

This one has turned into a boat race, with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan creating big play after big play against a normally-sound Saints defense. Whether he’s scheming receivers wide-open downfield or fooling New Orleans’ pass rushers with trick plays, he’s picked up an early edge over Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. Several big returns on special teams by Saints rookie Deonte Harris and precise execution from Payton and Brees are keeping New Orleans on top, but barely.

If the Saints can hold onto their lead at halftime and make their adjustments, they might outlast the 49ers. But it’s hardly been easy so far, and it should continue to be a dogfight as the game wears on.

You can watch Brees’ big touchdown score in the video embedded below, or at this link:

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Watch: Jared Cook catches two touchdown passes on Saints’ first two drives

Veteran New Orleans Saints tight end Jared Cook caught two touchdown passes from Drew Brees early against the San Francisco 49ers.

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New Orleans Saints fans have been hoping for veteran tight end Jared Cook to have his breakout game, and he’s delivering it at the best time. The Saints’ big free agent signing of the offseason caught both of his team’s first two touchdown passes against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday to give New Orleans an early lead.

Both plays featured everything Saints coach Sean Payton and his staff spent the summer talking up about Cook. On the first score, Cook caught a pass from Drew Brees that was thrown high above his ahead (and the 49ers linebacker covering him), secured the ball, and then slipped a tackle to cut into the open field and outrace the San Francisco defense to dash into the end zone. Check it out at this link, or in the video embedded below:

On New Orleans’ next possession, Cook’s athleticism was again on display with another touchdown grab. Cook beat his defender off the line of scrimmage and streaked towards the end zone, giving Brees an easy lay-up lob for six points. But they paid for it with an illegal hit by a 49ers defensive back, who came flying in and struck Cook near his helmet as they both fell to the ground. Cook was slow to get up but celebrated his big play before walking to the Saints medical tent for further evaluation. Stay tuned for an update on his status. Here’s his second highlight play:

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Seahawks running backs prove unstoppable Monday night against Vikings

The Seattle Seahawks turned to their trusty running back duo of Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny in their Monday night win over the Vikings.

The Seahawks turned to their trusty running back duo Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings to come away with a huge NFC win and the lead in the NFC West. Seattle beat Minnesota 37-30 Week 13 to advance to 10-2 on the year.

Starter Chris Carson and second-year running back, Rashaad Penny, split the load in primetime and each came away with major yardage and a rushing touchdown.

Carson scored first on a one-yard run in the first quarter after an impressive long of 25 yards to get the Seahawks in the red zone. On the night, he posted 23 carries for 102 yards and the TD. He also managed an absolutely huge third-down conversion in the final minutes of the game to basically seal the deal for Seattle.

Penny’s one-yard TD run came in the third quarter to tie up the game 17-17. He finished the outing with 15 touches for 74 yards on the ground and also factored nicely into the passing game, totaling four catches on five targets for 33 yards and a receiving touchdown.

Carson and Penny have been hot and cold throughout the year, with one or the other dominating each week. On Monday night, however, the group effort finally paid off and two combined for 176 yards rushing to give the Seahawks exactly what they needed to emerge victorious over the Vikings.

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WATCH: Texas gets on the board

Going down 14-0, Texas finally was able to get some points on the board against Texas Tech. You can watch Sam Ehlinger’s touchdown here.

After going down 14-0 early to Texas Tech, the Longhorn offense was finally able to get on the board in the first quarter. Coming into today, it had been four consecutive games without a touchdown in the opening quarter for Texas.

After a Roschon Johnson 44 yard rush and a Malcolm Epps 36 yard reception, Texas got all the way down to the Texas Tech 10 yard line. On 3rd and 2, quarterback Sam Ehlinger took the snap and powered his way into the endzone.

Watch it here:

The point-after attempt by Cameron Dicker was blocked, cutting the Longhorn deficit to eight.

Texas is down to Texas Tech 14-6 on Fox.

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Watch: Taysom Hill scores 30-yard TD, sends Saints into halftime up 17-9

Have a day, Taysom Hill. The New Orleans Saints’ reserve quarterback and do-it-all gadget playmaker scored both of his team’s first-half touchdowns against the Atlanta Falcons while also blocking a punt on the Falcons’ opening drive. He was credited …

Have a day, Taysom Hill. The New Orleans Saints’ reserve quarterback and do-it-all gadget playmaker scored both of his team’s first-half touchdowns against the Atlanta Falcons while also blocking a punt on the Falcons’ opening drive. He was credited with a touchdown catch off of a Drew Brees shovel pass, but followed up that act with a scoring run that carved through the heart of Atlanta’s defense — from 30 yards out.

The highlight reel-worthy play put Hill’s athleticism on full view, and cast the struggling Falcons defense in a harsh light. Hill kept the ball on a zone-read, caught the defense off-balance, and outraced everyone to streak into the end zone, untouched. Check it out where the video is embedded below:

This is the fifth touchdown Hill has racked up in 2019, and his eighth career score since entering the NFL (including the playoffs). He’s proven to be a threat to make plays on special teams as well as while handling the ball himself, making plays on the ground and through the air. Whether his future lays at quarterback is anyone’s guess; for now, the list of more-exciting players in the game today has to be awfully brief.

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Watch: Taysom Hill blocks a Falcons punt, catches a touchdown pass

New Orleans Saints quarterback Taysom Hill made two big plays against the Atlanta Falcons, blocking a punt and catching a touchdown pass.

The New Orleans Saints started their Thanksgiving night game with the Atlanta Falcons in the most entertaining way imaginable. Defensive end Marcus Davenport sacked Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan on the first play of the game, and the Saints snuffed out Atlanta’s efforts at trying to dig out of that hole.

Forced to punt, the Falcons failed to block reserve Saints quarterback Taysom Hill, who crashed through the line and blocked the punt to give New Orleans the ball inside Atlanta territory. It was a huge breakdown for the Falcons and possibly the worst start they could have hoped for. Check out Hill big play for yourself:

However, Hill wasn’t finished yet. He caught two passes on the Saints’ first drive to first convert a fresh set of downs and then score the game’s opening touchdown, grabbing a shovel pass from Brees and following his blocker into the Falcons’ end zone. All told, Hill almost gave the Saints’ an early 7-0 lead over Atlanta on his own. It’s going to be tough for Hill’s detractors to talk down his impact in this one:

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Notre Dame/Stanford: David Shaw Throws A Book of Praise

I’ll be the first to say that Book gets criticized a ton for not being as great as some of the Heisman or national championship contending guys and his performance against Michigan was inexcusable.

However, the young man is still one of the better ones you’ll find in all of college football

Stanford head football coach David Shaw was once widely regarded as among the best in the country and potentially destined for the NFL.

You don’t hear that as much the last two years as Stanford fell from the top-ten to a 9-4 squad last season before regressing to a 4-7 team this year as they enter their final game of 2019.

When meeting the media like he does every Tuesday during the season, Shaw was asked about his next opponent, No. 16 Notre Dame.

As most coaches normally do, he gave a lot of praise to this week’s foe, but saved the most compliments for the Fighting Irish quarterback.

A quarterback that just makes plays, with his legs. I told the team yesterday, I don’t know that there’s many quarterbacks in the country that about half the season he’s led them in passing and rushing. It’s not that there are a whole bunch of designed quarterback runs, it’s just the kid’s got a great feel for football. He pushes up in the pocket and can escape, can buy time with his legs, it’s hard to get your arms around and wrap him up and bring him down. – David Shaw on Ian Book

I’ll be the first to say that Book gets criticized a ton for not being as great as some of the Heisman or national championship contending guys and his performance against Michigan was inexcusable.

However, the young man is still one of the better ones you’ll find in all of college football and with what has gone on at Stanford this year, you can bet Shaw would love to have the stability of Book at his quarterback spot.

Book’s first home-start in 2018 came against then-seventh ranked Stanford last September.

Book shined bright under the lights throwing for 278 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 47 more yards.

Here’s to hoping he does the same to Stanford on what looks like it’ll be a very sloppy track in Palo Alto.

Seattle Seahawks offensive player of the game: RB Rashaad Penny

Seattle Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny rushed for a career-high 129 yards on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.

For the second season in a row, Seattle Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny exploded for a huge game at an entirely unexpected time. This time, however, his performance helped lead his team to a victory.

Last year, Penny hardly contributed through Seattle’s first eight games before taking off for 108 rushing yards (on 12 carries) against the Rams in Week 10, a game the Seahawks narrowly lost, 36-31.

This year, Penny was even quieter through his first seven games, but he had a huge game on Sunday against the Eagles, carrying the ball 14 times for a career-high 129 yards.

Most of his damage came on a 58-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, which gave Seattle a 17-3 lead and put the game on ice.

Penny exploded through the tackles on a first-and-20, and used his blazing speed to outrun the rest of the Philadelphia defense.

The second-year running back out of San Diego State has been frustrated with his lack of playing time this season, but instead of sulking he has worked hard to improve his conditioning, and his work impressed coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer enough to give him an extended look this week.

“We expect our guys to be frustrated,” Carroll said after the game. “They all want to play. They all deserve to play, sometimes it just doesn’t happen. It’s how you deal with it. What he did is he got better, he’s trimmer, he’s faster, I mean look how fast he looked today, he looked like he was shot out of a cannon. That’s because of the hard work.”

Penny’s performance merited our offensive player of the week award, and it will be interesting to see if it gives him more opportunities going forward, especially after starter Chris Carson fumbled twice in a row and only finished with 26 yards on eight carries.

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Rashaad Penny reemerges as offensive weapon for Seahawks Week 12

After very little production over the last three games, Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny logged an impressive Week 12 against the Eagles.

Seattle Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny has finally come to life. Penny had a banner day Week 12 against the Philadelphia Eagles, finishing the game as the team’s leading rusher with 14 carries for 129 yards and one touchdown.

Penny, who has been relegated to a minor backup role as of late, actually got more touches than starter Chris Carson on Sunday. Entering the matchup, Penny had only posted 14 carries over his last three outings and just 26 total on the year.

Penny’s impressive 58-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter against the Eagles is a career-long and his second score of the season.

Penny, unlike Carson, has just one fumble in 2019, which came Week 10 in San Francisco.

Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer had said just last week the plan was to get Penny more involved in the offense.

“But for us to go where we want to go, I think Rashaad will help us win games and he’s chomping at the bit,” Schottenheimer told reporters Thursday. “We just don’t ever plan exactly how it’s going to play out. Chris has been playing so good right now but, when Rashaad get his chances, I think he’ll play well.”

Luckily for the Schottenheimer, the Seahawks and Penny, the plan worked flawlessly.

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