What on earth. Where on earth. How on earth. Why on earth. It may not technically be the worst interception return in the history of football, but Brandon Cisse’s run on Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys must have one of the worst ratios of distance covered to yardage gained.
The Green Bay Packers’ rookie cornerback got his first NFL interception last weekend, but it was an absurd run after he made the catch. Cisse initially catches the ball on the numbers at the twenty yard line. On an NFL field the numbers are approximately forty yards away from the opposite sideline. Cisse ends up returning the ball all the way to the twenty three yard line. That’s a 40:3 ratio at best. Even MarShawn Lloyd finds that inefficient.
When Cisse first looks up after securing the catch, here is the picture he sees.
There are two opposing receivers as immediate tacklers. The intended receiver, CeeDee Lamb, has been blocked and is about to get double-teamed as Zaire Franklin is approaching. Rather than running away from the pursuing receiver across the middle of the field and following a potential lead blocker in a race against the collective Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line and Dak Prescott, Cisse decides to immediately go against the grain and cut behind the pursuing player. This is the worst choice.
It’s a split-second choice, but Cisse has a worse angle on the greatest number of Cowboys here. The entire offensive line is more medial to the field than he is, and there are multiple receivers whom have the speed to chase him on that side of the field. On his current side of the field, the only threat is about to be double-teamed, and Cisse has an opportunity to press his physical advantage towards the near sideline where both his current lead blockers and also the defensive line can either clear a path or create enough chaos to make a crease. As we saw on the almost-pick-six from Dallas earlier in the game, offensive lines and quarterbacks are terrible tacklers. You have to challenge them to stop you.
Look at it. After dispatching with the pursuing Jake Ferguson, Cisse finds himself in a very advantageous position now. The offensive line committed to the near sideline, and now he has a chance to press the angle towards the far sideline but start picking up yardage. Keisean Nixon will have to be careful not to get a blindside blocking foul and do an airplane block, but between him and Xavier McKinney, Cisse will have blockers who can take care of both wide receivers on that side of the field. Then it’s down to Cisse, Dak Prescott, and the Cowboys protection unit.
Instead Cisse bounces it and ends up in a situation where he has no blocker for the receiver on the far sideline, and ends up just taking it out of bounds. That’s a lot of effort for three to four yards, and it’s not exactly an elite display of ball carrier vision. Hopefully we see Cisse get many more opportunities this year to work out the kinks.
