"Out Of Bounds" - December 13, 2019

[Toby]

NFL not my thing, and I was chasing the wrong rabbit at the last step.

[ChrisKochmanski]

On shore. Though I had to google. Does it make me un-American that I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the NFL?

[Jeanrosz]

Yeah! I’m back to solving after a few bad weeks. On shore for sure!

[joequavis]

On shore. Definitely a new mechanism, for me anyway. Enjoyed it.

[Tony S]

Ashore. Needed Google to complete the grid and the very impressive meta.

[Anita]

Ashore! Took me longer than it should have. I was missing a necessary detail.

[BrianDavidson]

On shore. Wonder Twin powers...

[FrankieHeck]

Huh. I guess I finally have it.

[Wendy Walker]

Saw the gimmick immediately, and after way too much Googling I knew who it had to be, but couldn't find any justification whatsoever. Took a break to wash dishes, and an idea came to me. One more quick Google -- and I'm on shore! The crowd roars!

[Jeremy Smith]

On dry land. I had most of it pretty quickly, but the last piece wasn’t what I expected it to be.

[Scott Lindholm]

Done and done. Pretty clever, at least I thought it was, and I'm not good with the clever ones, because I'm not, you know, clever.

Hitting Wisconsin tomorrow, I'll have to celebrate by picking up some New Glarus Spotted Cow.

[Inca]

Here's a look into my mind:

Oh, no! An NFL player? Definitely not in my wheel house. I know nothing about sports. And, I know less than nothing about football.
Oh well, I'll fill the grid at least.
Aha, I can always rely on Mike Shenk to be a little fair to me even if he does a football meta. Yes! I see what must be the path and I clearly think I've got about 83% of this one.
Wow, even *I* should be able to figure out the rest at this point (even if I do consult google a bit, which I don't enjoy doing). BUT, I just can't make it all the way.
I'm getting really frustrated. This may not be in my wheelhouse, but I feel it's close to me, very near to me.
OK, for now I'll leave it even if I think a bit more work might get me there....maybe later on in the weekend.

For all the football fans....enjoy your happy meta

[MarkL]

Back on the beach. No twins wonder-ing or wandering about. Now, to a fun-filled and chaotic weekend. Cheers!!

[oldjudge]

On shore after an embarrassingly long time. The sad part was that I didn’t need to Google anything. I guess I am just a little slow today.

[Inca]

As I was doing the dishes, it hit me. I knew I had it. A quick Google and I was done.

[Jacksull]

On the beach.

To those who are not football fans: Don’t give up! You and Mr. G can do it.

[Streroto]

Ashore. Have been almost there since about 430....last bit proved a little more of a challenge! I enjoyed this one-not super had but a challenge. Very clever.

[bhamren]

On shore early this week. Last week I missed my first one in quite a while and kicking myself after seeing the solution.

[CruciLexiPhobia]

Okay, I'm going to post a naked plea for some help. This is my second Meta, last week's killer being my first (which I didn't solve). I've solved the grid and I think I know what the Theme answers are but maybe not. I'm not sure how many theme answers I should have/be using. And I know that the name of the puzzle "Out of Bounds" may in some way be a hint to the mechanism that will allow me to use the theme answers to derive the ultimate answer. And I also see that 21A provides additional info about the player to be named.

I have one wacky mechanism that does yield a correct answer (correct in the sense that it satisfies the clues about the player's number being retired and with respect to 21A) but no way to confirm if it is the correct mechanism. If nothing else comes to mind I might use that one.

So if somebody who is confident they have the answer is feeling charitable, could you drop me a PM and I can bounce my mechanism and answer off of you? If I'm wrong, then I can go back to work.

edited to add: I received some replies so thank you and no more help needed.

[MaineMarge]

On shore. In my wheelhouse

Offshore. Not in my wheelhouse.
Congrats Bob.
I’ll be hanging out with Inca and Isaac til further notice.