Devin Funchess MOSSES Quinton Dunbar!

The Carolina Panthers fell on the road today to the Washington Redskins, 23-17.  But the Panthers did provide a wonderful highlight deep into the second quarter when they were down 17-0.  Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (#1) lined up in the shotgun for a 2nd and 10 at the Redskins' 23-yard line.  On the far left of the formation stood 6' 4" wide receiver Devin Funchess (#17).  Opposite him was the 6' 2" Redskins cornerback Quinton Dunbar (#23).  Check out the formation (click on image for a larger view).

I don't need to dress up the above screen capture.  You can see Newton in the shotgun, and you can see Funchess and Dunbar at the top of the image.  After the snap, Newton backpedaled to the 31-yard line, where he threw his pass (click on image for a larger view).

Newton released the ball at 46.5 mph and at an angle of 27.2 degrees above the horizontal.  The image below shows the trajectory of the pass, with an air resistance force that was nearly 15% of the ball's weight after Newton released it (click on image for a larger view).

As much fun as it is for me to write and talk about football aerodynamics, let me now turn my attention to the touchdown catch.  Newton’s pass arrived at the 1-yard line, hitting Funchess’s gloved hands at 42 mph (click on image for a larger view).

Funchess leaped before Dunbar, allowing his forward momentum to carry him into the end zone.  Funchess managed to leap over 1.3 feet into the air when he caught the ball.  His leap kept him above the turf more than twice as long as Dunbar’s leap.  Funchess’s gloved hands stopped the ball using a lot of friction.  When Funchess landed on the turf with his left shoe, he was holding the ball in his right hand, well out of Dunbar’s reach.  The best Dunbar could do was yank on Funchess’s facemask with his left hand (click on image for a larger view).

Hang time is a wonderful thing!  For any of us who leap into the air, we spend nearly 71% of our time above Earth in the top half of our motion.  Do as Funchess did to Dunbar and you’ll have more time to "hang" at the top of your flight.  Funchess used his hang time to MOSS Devin Dunbar!

I had to echo the "verb" on social media, MOSS.  Who can forget Randy Moss doing that to defensive backs?  The newly minted Hall of Famer was, like Funchess, 6' 4" tall.  I'm writing this blog post in Huntington, West Virginia while visiting Marshall University for a couple invited talks I'm giving tomorrow (Monday, 15 October 2018).  Marshall is where REAL Mossing began!

Chuck Nice of Playing with Science joined me on today's Check Down piece we did for TuneIn's 1st & Goal.  Click here for the audio link.