OT: Colts' failed fake punt formation is worth seeing
The Colts - for reasons known only to them - tried to run a fake punt of sorts last night that involved WR Griff Whalen hiking the ball to safety Colt Anderson (with no other blocking) and watching Anderson be immediately and predictably swallowed by the Patriots' coverage team. Michigan's execution of its final punt was worse than the execution on this play, but at least the basic design of Michigan's punt wasn't this...creative. Tom Brady also had a good game, so last night was fun.
A video clip is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrtzpdH_uPM
October 19th, 2015 at 3:20 PM ^
Embed for the board
I actually feel a little better after watching that.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:21 PM ^
I've never learned how to embed. I don't know how to make fire either.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:53 PM ^
Me, neither. I've heard it's somehow related to keeping your wick dry.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:20 PM ^
October 19th, 2015 at 3:20 PM ^
October 19th, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^
I have a feeling the execution on that one was pretty shitty too.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:26 PM ^
I thought the guy receiving the snap did ok given that he seemed totally surprised the ball was snapped and he was hit immediately. The "center" on the other hand, not only seemed to incorrectly snap the ball but he also declined to bother to block......
October 19th, 2015 at 3:25 PM ^
This was one of the most unbelievably bad plays I've seen an NFL team make. I can't even begin to understand what the idea behind it was.
Also, I'd love if you could title this post in such a way that it didn't trigger everyone's PTSD; this is something I'd actually love to see a discussion on (that does not include allusions to our game).
October 19th, 2015 at 3:31 PM ^
Good idea.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:55 PM ^
The TL:DR of it was an attempt to draw the offsides. Notice that the o-line is a yard back fromtthe line of scrimmage. This was never supposed to be snapped.
October 19th, 2015 at 4:05 PM ^
I don't see how that would be the case. For them to draw an encroachment penalty, a player on the Pats would still need to touch a player on the Colts - this formation actually makes that even less likely to happen than usual. Simply getting the Patriots offsides gets you nothing, since that only becomes a penalty when the ball is snapped - if it was snapped in that scenario, it would still be illegal formation on the offense. Plus if it was "never" supposed to be snapped, I can't imagine it would have been. Miscommunication is one thing, but there's a 0% chance an NFL player is told "hey, go line up over the ball and do nothing" and ends up deciding on his own to snap the football.
October 19th, 2015 at 4:34 PM ^
The idea was to catch New England making a mistake. Draw them offsides, get into a numbers advantage where he can snap the ball and get 3 yards or more, or make NE call a timeout. None of those things happened. Worst case scenario was that they were supposed to take a delay of game and then punt. The players were supposed to call timeout in that situation but they weren't coached well enough for it. FWIW, it was doomed anyway as half the team is lined up in the backfield.
October 19th, 2015 at 10:46 PM ^
to fall down and die of laughter, and then walk into the endzone.
It didn't work.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:26 PM ^
The difference between an 'Act of God' and an 'Act of Incompetence'.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:30 PM ^
but I'm gonna say this is probably an RPS -1 in the Colts UFR.
October 19th, 2015 at 4:26 PM ^
This formation would set it.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:36 PM ^
I’m a lifelong Indy resident and Michigan fan. I became a Colts fan when Jim Harbaugh became our QB. I’m also an IU grad (Rutgers returned a fumbled punt snap on the first play of the 4th quarter during their 28 pt comeback win against my alma mater).
Throw in the botched call on the Colts surprise onside kick and I think I can safely say nobody has endured more special teams misery in a 26 hr period than me. By the time the Colts started shifting into this formation I knew nothing good would come of it, but I was already numb. FML, but man, Go Blue - I'm excited about this team!
October 19th, 2015 at 3:48 PM ^
October 19th, 2015 at 3:46 PM ^
after they come off the field say, "Why did you snap it"? It was just a really weird setup to get them to try and jump offsides. Apparentely, they should've told the team that...
October 19th, 2015 at 3:47 PM ^
That is one of the dumbest things I've seen in football.
The Pats look confused for a second or two and then realise there's only the snapper blocking, and come back to the ball like, 'Are you serious?'
October 19th, 2015 at 3:53 PM ^
The humorous undercard to the equally humorous main event is that the Colts were considerably back of the LOS, and you can see the Patriots trying to point that out before the snap too. The flag came in, not that the penalty really could hope to overshadow the sheer "WTF?" of that particular play. Meanwhile, the look on Pagano's face was sort of, "So, did that work? What do we think about that, guys?"
October 19th, 2015 at 3:56 PM ^
The amazing thing is that at some point, this play was practiced.
October 19th, 2015 at 5:33 PM ^
October 19th, 2015 at 3:58 PM ^
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October 19th, 2015 at 4:01 PM ^
The TD was right there for the taking. Whalen only needed to juke 6-7 Patriots defenders with no blocks and it was open field to the endzone.
October 19th, 2015 at 4:04 PM ^
It looked really good on paper.
October 19th, 2015 at 4:15 PM ^
And this is just a guess. They didn't like the illegal formation penalty they got out of the attempted illegal formation play, the penalty and turning the ball over to the Patriot's with a 1st down.
That is what happened with the play.
October 19th, 2015 at 10:50 PM ^
In search of a laugh, the all-time-QB says "Hike", throws the ball to a surprised receiver down the line, and tells him to "Do something!" (as if that will work in touch football)
October 20th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^
October 19th, 2015 at 4:03 PM ^
But apparently even with that really bad call, Michigan Fans still won the twitter meltdown for the entire weekend.
Go Blue!
October 19th, 2015 at 4:29 PM ^
Chuck Pagano's reaction as the team came to the sidelines after that was priceless. Just muttering "why did you snap the ball?" over and over with a totally befuddled look on his face.
October 19th, 2015 at 10:51 PM ^
That's what snappers do.
October 19th, 2015 at 4:06 PM ^
Watched this live. I was all like WTF? My mind hasn't changed today. WTF? What good could have transpired from this play?
October 19th, 2015 at 4:22 PM ^
When faced with this type of thing, two thoughts spring forth:
1. Somehow someone was paid off to throw the game (e.g. corruption)
2. Somehow there is a massive failure of the coaches and players higher brain centers so they all lost access to those parts that have anything to do with the rules and play of American Football. (e.g. incompetence, temporary football blindness/insanity)
Just amazing.
The Colts were actually making a credible game of it. This will forever undermine any claims of how the Pats have cheated them out of games. This was in Indy, on their turf and they had the lead at the time. Unless they come up with a theory that Bill Belichik mesmirized their punt team this is all on them.
October 19th, 2015 at 4:28 PM ^
Meanwhile, the only AP Coach of the Year winner to ever work for the Colts has a top 5 offense AND defense in Arizona with the ghosts of Carson Palmer and Chris Johnson carrying the load.
:-D
October 19th, 2015 at 4:51 PM ^
They were gonna outfox the foxes, hoodwink the jesters, trick the tricksters. They'd never see it coming.
Then, as the ball snapped, Pagano suddenly realized in a terrible clarity, that he had miscalculated: he was not, in fact, Bill Belichick.
October 19th, 2015 at 4:56 PM ^
Maybe the stadium techs piped in the artificial crowd noise at wrong time and caused the misalignment.
October 19th, 2015 at 5:01 PM ^
Did they expect ALL of the Patriots to run to the left, following the Indy players, thus leaving enough space for Whalen to run for the 1st down?
Did they intend to draw the Patriots into an offsides penalty?
Were they just trying to get the Pats to waste a timeout?
I don't see how either of the first two options could have ever worked with the illegal formation, and the 3rd option seems like a lot of trouble to go to just to get your opponent to waste a time out. So I just don't get it.
October 19th, 2015 at 5:14 PM ^
Hey @Colts, this is how it's done. #BlackBearNation #CAAFB pic.twitter.com/QgokyjOK7m
— Maine Football (@BlackBearsFB) October 19, 2015October 19th, 2015 at 5:17 PM ^
Maine Blackbears tried this in a game against James Madison in 2011. I think this is what the Colts were trying to do, but obviously the Pats D is not James Madison Univeristy.
October 19th, 2015 at 5:15 PM ^
Yeah, at least go in shotgun.
October 19th, 2015 at 7:34 PM ^
October 19th, 2015 at 7:49 PM ^
If I never see a failed punt formation for the rest of my life it will be too soon
October 20th, 2015 at 2:17 AM ^
That formation wouldve probably won our game...