Usually a fake punt is a remarkably tricky thing. There are tons of moving parts, all of which are designed to take advantage of a return team that could either get caught sleeping or lose someone that goes for a big gain.
And then, there is this fake punt from Saturday afternoon’s XFL game between the Orlando Guardians and the St. Louis Battlehawks. Orlando found itself facing a fourth-and-21 in the second quarter from deep in its own territory after a three-and-out, which meant the punt team was going to go out there. It’s a situation where teams should probably never fake punt, but instead, the Guardians opted to run a fake punt where their punter threw up a jump ball that somehow worked. Mac Brown took the snap, didn’t even pretend like he was going to punt, and lofted a duck to former NFL tight end Jordan Thomas.
Orlando Guardians punter Mac Brown has thrown a TD on a fake punt in two straight games.
This 84-yarder to Jordan Thomas is insane
Cc: @PatMcAfeeShow
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: @SpringFBnews) pic.twitter.com/LjnppQaDh3
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 22, 2023
The whole thing worked out better than anyone could have hoped, as Thomas overpowered the defender, caught the ball, and took off up the field. He knifed his way through the Battlehawk defense, made a few men miss, and 84 yards later, he was in the end zone. As for Brown, this was the second week in a row that he’s showed off his arm on a fake punt, only the last time he did this, it didn’t quite end in a score.