And he's gone!

Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears had another amazing punt return for a touchdown in yesterday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs. I was hoping there would already be a YouTube video of it I could post here, but it hasn't shown up yet. It was Hester's 8th TD return of a punt or kickoff in the NFL, including his first-play feat in the 2007 Super Bowl.

Describing it just doesn't do it justice, of course. If you see one of the numerous replays on TV, watch #22 (Dimitri Patterson) of the Chiefs, bottom left of your screen. He's one of the outside "gunners" and as he sees Hester cutting to the far sideline away from him, he makes a tremendous adjustment, reversing his field and taking an angle to cut Hester off. He makes one false step, readjusts his angle, and it looks like he will make a shoestring tackle. He bears down on Hester, who hasn't even glanced in his direction. Hester is intent on staying in-bounds, his eyes straight ahead, looking at the sideline, the players in front of him, the path to the end zone. As Hester approaches mid-field, Patterson moves in for the kill, diving full-out for Hester's legs -- incredibly Hester senses Patterson's diving tackle and alters his gait, lifting his feet higher, and jumping over Patterson's outstretched hands! And he's gone! Another 50 yards later, Touchdown!

Patterson made a great play, Hester made a greater play, an amazing flash of athletic excellence, reminding us again -- "it's a game of inches."

Wanna see it? You have to make a little effort. Go to the Chicago Bears website here: http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/multimediapopup.asp?mm_file_id=915&play_clip=Y#. Now use the search feature at the bottom and search for Devin Hester, then choose the September 16 highlights file. It's the 3rd play in these highlights. Watch the feet! Enjoy!