Playing the Greatest

So there have been sweeping summaries, and dramatic cliff-hangers posted so far. Let me add to the blogosphere with just one play. I will openly admit at the beginning of this that I did indeed make the wrong choice, but that having made the right choice may have lead to a worse outcome.

A brief warning that previously in this point I had dropped a 15 yard pass, and that is just humiliating. Then after this play I am so unfocused that I throw a 20 yard turnover to a covered man. In short, this was my worst point at nationals and the one that most sticks in my mind. It was the one time I felt like I let my team down.

So the play, as it happened:

I am covering my man pretty hard on the incut somewhere near mid-field. We are playing Machine and the game is close enough to be taken seriously. My man sees an opening to go deep down the center of the field. I pursue and have the force side covered and am gaining ground on his deep cut. I see the pass immediately and it is level and out of bounds. The wind is coming from the break side and will continue to push the disc more out of bounds. I am getting closer to my defender as he veers towards the sideline to play the disc. As the disc comes into both of our playing area, I lay off of it because I know it cannot be caught in bounds. My man makes the bid and catches it at lest 4-5’ out of bounds. I get yelled at a bit for laying off the D and then disc is brought in at the cone, which I now realize is the wrong location since the disc was OB the whole time.

Side discussion:

In one of our previous game, a disc was thrown high and OB. 3 of our guys went for the D and since the disc could not possibly be caught in bounds the other team threw a greatest and scored a goal. Should one of our 3 guys read the disc as OB and stayed off to play the greatest attempt? If you see someone jumping to catch a disc a little out of the endzone, you might be willing to not play it and drop off and play man. Should greatests be treated the same way? As someone who is not much for battling in the air, I would be willing to lay off the high and floaty disc, and instead cover the man who would catch the greatest.

So back to the play.

Choice 1: I go for the D as soon as possible and tip the disc. It could then either be a D or it could be a mac for a score. It would also make the disc check in further downfield.
Choice 2: I wait to get closer and layout and catch the D. It is checked in further down field, but no chance of a score!
Choice 3: I wait to get as close as possible and catch the D but make contact with the other guy. It could be a solid D, it could be a contested foul.
Choice 4: I wait too long and completely miss the D. The guy catches it and calls himself “out” or calls himself “in”. In reality he did ask me if he was “in” after the catch and I told him he was “out” because I stood there and made sure he was “out”. If he had called himself “in”, I would have gone to the observer saying that I thought he was “out”. This could be a turn, a completion, or sent back to the thrower.
Choice 5: I wait too long and completely miss the D and he does a layout greatest. They keep the disc and everyone tells me I tried my best.
Choice 6: I don’t play the disc and he catches it OB. I call him out and he agrees or he could argue and refuse to admit he was way out. Go to observer.
Choice 7: I don’t play the disc and he attempts a greatest. I see this happening and D it easily or maybe I miss it.
Choice 8: I don’t play the disc and I misread it. He catches it for a score. I cry like a baby for not know how to read.
Choice 9: I layout and get injured. Ummm, I don’t think this is ever one of my concerns.

What are the key points to take out of this?
-I should not initiate contact that would cause them to maintain possession.
-Someone needs to make sure that he is OB, but we had observers to do that.
-Playing a disc that never came in bounds causes us to lose a lot of yardage.
-Passing up a layout D opens the door for a lot of possible bad outcomes.
-Sometimes a greatest is the other teams only choice and you should try to stop that.

I do admit that I should have just sped up and caught the disc, because that is the most fundamental play that would have the best chance of us keeping the disc, but when I saw the disc flying past me, I knew that it was already a turnover and that was my goal.

I would say that everyone should have said nothing while we were on O, since I did get the turnover. Then if there was an other turnover, someone could have yelled at me that I better layout the next time I see a disc go by me and not just watch my man catch it.

I would really like to hear some more opinions on how to play this disc.