The Lions and 49ers Ran the Exact Same Trick Play for a Touchdown Hours Apart

We don't agree on much in this fractured society but we do all agree that trick plays are cool and football teams should run them more often. For proof of how effective they are, consider that the San Francisco 49ers just scored a touchdown on the exact same play the Detroit Lions ran earlier this afternoon. If that wasn't enough, the recipient of the walk-in touchdown in both occasions was a tight end from Iowa.

On each play, a running back took the ball, ran to his right and flipped it to a wide receiver going the other way. Then the wideout pitched it back to the quarterback, who simply had to find the open man running unencumbered by any defense down the right sideline.

Jared Goff found Sam LaPorta, who had two touchdown catches in a rout, and Brock Purdy hooked up with George Kittle for their second such connection of the day. Somewhere Kirk and Brian Ferentz must be watching and wondering if a play like that is even legal under the rules of football.

Look, we're not privy to all the analytics here but it sure seems like razzle-dazzle like this would work quite often. No one ever thinks a blocking tight end is going to suddenly take off when there's a standard run in his direction. Any team not running this is not trying and we're looking forward to a mashup of several more of these next week.