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November 28th, 1995
Shenanigans on Special Teams leads to Fine and TerminationCoach Fired!!! Team fined millions!!!
In front of 65,816 fanatic spectators inside the Astrodome, special teams coach Brian Deed inserted one of Houstons biggest offensive weapons into the punt return formation in the 3rd quarter of a pivotal Conference match-up against the Denver Gold and lined him up on the defensive front four!!!
He did this without the knowledge of Head Coach Dorian Peters or Offensive Coordinator Jesse Cain in some sort of twist he came up with which clearly was in violation of league rules and safety protocols. Apparently, Deed had secretly worked with Chance in practice and decided to go rogue during the game. It worked, Hugh Chance blocked the punt and that was the issue.
The league had instituted weight restrictions for the front four on punt return formations in 1988 when undrafted rookie WR Lex Sample was paralyzed in preseason when playing on the front four of the punt return formation. He was attempting to make the team as a special teamer and in his attempt to block the punt was brutally double team blocked by Generals G Kirby Puckett & T Don "Donkey" Kong.
The Leauge and players association swiftly instituted the new rules prohibited players players under 265 pounds from playing the front four on punt return formations. The rule hasn't been strictly enforced over the years but has stopped skill position players from lining up on the front four....until now!
The game continued after the punt block with no flags or even a stoppage but after the game, the entire Houston Gambler organization including owner C. J. Fredericktown and Head Coach Peters was quick to apologize to the League, the Denver Gold and the players and fans for violating this rule. They fired special team coach Deed and paid an undisclosed fine to the league while donating 1 million dollars to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation in the name of the Denver Gold organization.
When special teams coach Brian Deed was questioned, he gave this statement.
"This whole mess was entirely my fault, I had been working with WR Chance in practice on getting to the punter without knowledge from any other coach and I decided to use him during the game. I was aware their was a rule on the books but I hadn't seen any enforcement or mention of the rule in years and thought...why not. Clearly I was wrong and for that I want to apologize to my team, my fellow coaching staff and the players for creating this nightmare. I want to apologize to the Denver Gold for using an unlawful player against them and I want to apologize to WR Hugh Chance for putting him into this mess. To his credit, when I first approached him about using him on punt return formations, he did ask me, is this legal? and I told him it will be fine, let me handle it. I accept full responsibility for my actions and want to thank the Houston Gamblers for giving me a chance and simply close with...I'm sorry!
When owner C. J. Frederickson was questioned about the incident, he had this to say:
"This whole fiasco with the punt block is an extreme embarrassment for this team, this city, myself, our coaching staff and our players. I want to personal apologize to Denver and thier owner V. C. Ramsey for this error that one of young coaches clearly made without the consent or knowledge of our entire coaching staff. He has been removed from our organization because he has tarnished our name. This organization has a proud history and we would never knowingly violate rules or endanger players. Our goal now as always is to win the Championship, with dignity and class and we will continue to do so as we Head into the Playoffs this season and beyond.
