Colt on fake punt: 'Complete cluster'; Patriot on fake punt: 'You know, Colts'
INDIANAPOLIS – The pregame, deflate-gate inspired storylines here Sunday were simple: The New England Patriots were trying to humiliate the Indianapolis Colts by winning by 60 points and Indianapolis was trying to in turn humiliate New England by winning at all.
And then the Colts came out and humiliated themselves, although not by losing 34-27. Most teams lose to the 5-0 Patriots.
No, this was self-inflicted embarrassment via a late third-quarter "fake punt" decision that very well may be the most ill-conceived, if not worst executed, play in NFL history. It is, at the very least, in the running.
"Obviously it played a huge factor in this loss," Colts coach Chuck Pagano said. "That's all on me. I take full responsibility."
This was the situation: Colts ball on their own 37-yard line, 1:14 left in the third quarter. The score was Pats 27-21. This was a game, back and forth. Considering the recent history of New England blowout victories in this series, it was rather promising for Indianapolis.
And then it wasn't.
Rather than simply punt the ball away on fourth-and-3, Indy shifted almost its entire team to the right side, leaving the ball unattended in the middle of the field. That's when third-string wide receiver Griff Whalen assumed the role of center with safety Colt Anderson becoming the quarterback.
[Play Yahoo Daily Fantasy and get a 100% deposit bonus with your first deposit]
They were alone, out on an island, yet didn't fool the Patriots one bit. New England immediately spread out along the line of scrimmage, planting players on either side of Whalen, a third just a yard back and two more in the area. This was essentially five on two, and since Whalen would have to snap he wasn't in any position to fully block. He also weighs 190 pounds. Maybe.
Gasps of confusion swept through Lucas Oil Stadium, as most expected the Colts to return to the normal formation or at least have Pagano call timeout because whatever Indy was up to, it was doomed for failure.
Instead nothing happened as the seconds slipped by. There was ample time to bail on the play. Indy didn't. Then Whalen snapped the ball to Anderson, who didn't take it cleanly (perhaps he was surprised). Patriot Brandon Bolden stepped up and immediately tackled Anderson in about the easiest fourth-down stoppage ever.
The refs threw flags all over the place because the rest of the Colts were lined up illegally, with not just too few guys on the line of scrimmage but lacking anyone on the left side of the football. Even if the play had somehow worked, it was completely ridiculous in its design.
The entire concept was a complete disaster.
New England declined the penalty, took over in prime field position and scored a few plays later on a Tom Brady touchdown pass to LeGarrette Blount.
It proved to be the winning points and even though Indy made a late push, at that moment, the game was effectively over. All the energy Colts fans brought to the stadium was gone as people took turns either laughing or cursing the ineptitude before them. Plenty of them, no doubt, began scrolling through their cell phones, as social media lit up with jokes.
So many Colts fans eventually bailed early, that when Indy rallied late and lined up for an onside kick that conceivably could have given them a chance to win or tie, the place was 25 percent of its capacity. They'd seen enough.
So, Coach, what the heck was that?
"The whole idea there on fourth-and-3 or less [is] shift the alignment so you either catch them misaligned, they try to sub some people in, catch them with 12 men on the field and if you get a certain look, you've got three yards, two yards and you can make a play," Pagano said.
"I didn't do a good enough job coaching it during the week," he continued. "Alignment-wise we weren't lined up correctly and a communication breakdown between the quarterback and the snapper [occurred] and that's all on me. I take full responsibility on that. And I didn't do a good enough job of getting that communicated to the guys."
Communication breakdown was the Colts' buzzword. Make it your fantasy team name next season. Essentially it meant Whalen shouldn't have snapped the ball. According to Pagano, if there was no obvious running play for Anderson, Whalen was supposed to let the play clock expire and take a 5-yard delay of game penalty.
In truth, he never should have been in this position in the first place.
"Just miscommunication between all of us," Whalen said afterward, understandably trying to say as little as possible.
Did the coaches tell you to snap the ball?
"That's the part that was miscommunicated," Whalen said.
The play had so many problems there is almost nowhere to start – although the fact the entire designed alignment was illegal is probably first. The bigger issue, though, is that it was the Patriots across the way, not some bumbling rag-tag, poorly coached operation.
New England wasn't fooled in the least. It didn't misalign, it immediately spread out perfectly and without panic. The Patriots certainly didn't attempt to illegally sub in extra players – is that even a probability?
For example, once the Colts moved their formation at all, return man Julian Edelman immediately left his post and sprinted toward the line of scrimmage to help. Everyone knew what to do and where to go. That's how well-trained New England is. Indy took so long to actually snap the ball, Edelman was almost in on the gang tackle.
"It's on me," Pagano said. "It's not on those players."
This is a nice thing for the coach to do, take all the blame. The problem is, it's those players who were left out there looking like idiots.
"It turned out to be one of the most failed fakes probably of all time," Colts punter Pat McAfee said. "… It was just not good … a complete cluster."
The Colts will spend all week as a laughingstock. The replay will get trotted out forever. The picture of Whalen and Anderson alone about to get sacked will become iconic. You could almost sense in the locker room that poor Whalen knew this was going to be ugly.
About the only person happy with the decision to run that cockamamie idea is Michigan's punter, who won't have the No. 1 blunder of the weekend on the cable highlight shows.
No one play ever truly loses a football game, but the decision to run such a bizarre one was born of Pagano's desperation. He was playing bold all game – going for it on fourth down and later running an onside kick that the Colts likely recovered although the refs ruled otherwise. He didn't trust his defense to stop Brady so he pulled out all the stops.
"We didn't want to leave any bullets in the gun," Pagano said. "We wanted to be aggressive in all three phases [of the game]."
Some bullets are meant to remain in the gun.
In the end, this game wasn't at all about deflate-gate, although the Patriots no doubt enjoyed winning here. Belichick was happily exchanging hugs and handshakes on the sideline as Brady knelt out the final victory formation plays. Mostly, this was a reminder that New England is better than Indianapolis. There is no controversy or debate about that. Andrew Luck is now 0-5 in his career against the Pats, who have better players, better execution and, quite clearly, vastly better coaching. PSI levels have nothing to do with it.
The fake punt is just one more example of why New England looks down on Indy.
"They did that," Edelman said. "You know, Colts."
Pagano is a good guy and an inspiration to those battling cancer. He's also, here in his fourth season, fighting for his job. The team is 3-3. There's been discord with the front office. Luck is an uber talented 26-year-old who should be in his prime, but hasn't made that final leap in development. Everyone is understandably impatient to see him reach it and see the Colts find a way past New England.
Because they have a great quarterback, the Colts know that if they decide to fire Pagano at season's end, they will attract a great coach who believes he can make it happen. As such, the current coach is without a safety net. That's an organizational failure.
So maybe Pagano thought he had to find a way to beat the Pats and thus got too desperate.
Across the way, Bill Belichick must have looked on, first in disbelief and then bemusement. He's been in the NFL in some capacity since 1975 and there's never been anything like that fourth-and-3 play. An ill-fated "swinging gate" fake field goal by Washington in 2009 comes to mind, but the Redskins were trailing 24-0 at the time, not nose to nose with New England in this circle-the-date, franchise-pride game.
This was a big game, a meaningful game. Colts fans showed up here Sunday, motivated by deflate-gate, desperate for redemption and stocked with signs and chants and all sorts of humiliating jokes to rain down on the Pats.
Then their own team delivered the biggest one on itself.
More on Week 6
