'My goodness' - Scottish punter confuses NFL with classic rugby play
Scottish NFL punter Jamie Gillan has confused American football fans and officials alike after drop-kicking the ball as he botched a snap for the New York Giants.
Former rugby player Gillan dropped the ball during his side's game with the Philadelphia Eagles over the weekend, a move that one pundit described as a 'near disaster', before kicking it off the ground.
The drop-kick apparently confused the NFL referees, who didn't know what to make of the mangled move.
Gillan - AKA The Scottish Hammer - grew up playing the fifteen-man code and many people are drawing obvious parallels between his messed up play and his former sport, where drop kicks are not a mistake and in the right context - are encouraged.
The Eagles ended up being given the ball on the 33-yard line as a result after it was ruled that the drop-kick was illegal.
It led one fan account to ask: "Did he do this on purpose? I can’t tell if the ball slipped or he forgot this isn’t rugby."
After a bright start in the sport, Gillan has hit a rough patch.
A former rugby player at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, where he would have played alongside the likes of Zach Mercer and Stafford McDowall, Gillan moved to the US in 2014, where he attended Leonardtown High School in Maryland. From there, he received a scholarship offer to attend Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
The Browns picked up Gillan as an undrafted rookie in 2019, with the 23-year-old not being drafted following the conclusion of his four years as a college punter. According to reports, Gillan ruined three footballs with the strength of his punting during one pre-draft workout, but despite that impressive feat and a strong collegiate career, the Scot still went unselected in the 2019 NFL Draft.
The Browns eventually dumped the Scot after a rocky season last year, after which the New York Giants came calling.
The NFL is pretty unforgiving of these sorts of gaffs. Now disgraced former NRL star Jared Hayne was released by the San Francisco 49ers after he fumbled a number of balls, despite proving to be a formidable attacking weapon in pre-season in 2015.
Latest Comments
Irish people about the best damn people on the planet. OK, in the NH. Fijians are the World’s best happiest friendliest people. But as far as European cultures producing good people, Ireland stands alone. But on the rugby pitch there is a creeping arrogance that has detached from humility. eg Sexton abusing a match referee, and not for the 1st time. He was extremely lucky to make it to the RWC, strings were pulled. And O’Mahoneys sledge to Cane was lowballing, attacking an opposition Captain seems opportunistic and gutter talk. Cane is a real gentleman. Have never seen ABs unleash after the whistle like they did on O’Mahoney after QterF, it was well deserved. Unlike Bok supporters, the Bok players understand history. Massive amount of respect between Boks and ABs is evident, they get on well and have throughout history. Even Pinetree Meads best mate (except his old cobber Kel Tremain) were Springboks, friendships forged after tours. And Meads was always targetted given his star status (he even played 2 x Tests with a broken arm). On the contrary, ABs and Wallabies famously dont get on, bad blood after Aussies not taking offer of beersies postmatch.
Go to commentsHaha god NZ journalism is so crap listen to this guy “We’ll be proven in a few weeks if our baseless bs can stick” lol Everywhere else uses experts to write stuff but here they’re just career guys that don’t care about what they write, NOT CONCEDED A TRY IN YEARS lol > “Naturally, you’re looking for performance, sometimes that means you can’t think logically or use evidence to arrive at any sort of clarity of decision. Pretty much sums it up to a tee Paul ignores the articles in here about then runs off each team this year, that Penney is just a yearly stop gap until, who, Ellison is released by ABs, the huge imbalance of the injury front between teams at each end of the table, or who it was that _should_ have been coach. But of course if they actually do evidence and investigative work theyre shy of their article not hitting that sensationalism boundary and lose revenue. Leaving us non the wiser. They look like they would have been best with a geeup coach this year to turn around the razorless depression the clubs obviously going through. Hard to think of someone fitting the Bill to have been chosen instead, the clown Cheika? Id have been tempted to double play and entice O’Gara down. Hell maybe that is who they are waiting for, he wants a international gig and it could be after Scmidt or razor
Go to comments