On this day in 2015, the Indianapolis Colts attempted the wildest play in football history. On Sunday Night Football, the Indianapolis Colts were trailing the New England Patriots 27-21 with 1:14 to go in the third quarter. Andrew Luck failed to convert a 3rd and 3 to Donte Moncrief so the Colts brought out Pat McAfee to punt.
The Indianapolis Colts Catastrophe
What happened next will go down in the annals of football history. The Colts pulled everybody to the right side of the field and Griff Whelan lined up at center Colt Anderson who was the “quarterback”. With the Colts trying to trick the Patriots and draw them offsides the ball was snapped.
Jonathan Bostic, Brandon Bolden, Nate Ebner, and Logan Ryan all collapsed on Griff Whelan for the sack and a turnover on downs. For many questioning why the ball was snapped and or why even try this illegal formation don’t worry we have answers.
It’s the seven year anniversary of the worst fake punt in NFL history: pic.twitter.com/5HopE2aGX1
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 18, 2022
The Plan
First off, the Colts planned for this if they were to be inside their own half of the field. The plan was to draw the Patriots into a substitution penalty and get a five yard penalty and a first down. By running towards their sidelines, the Colts, wanted to make it seem like they were bringing their offense back onto the field. By having Whelan under center he could snap the ball and take a knee if they Patriots had too many men on the field, thus giving Indianapolis a first down.
If that’s not the case then there is really no difference in five yards with a delay of game penalty when most likely the ball will be a fair catch inside of the twenty yard line on a punt. So by the Colts were trying to catch the Patriots sleeping. Not a big deal as well with All Pro Punter Pat McAfee booting the ball away.
Secondly, the left gunner who practice the play all week for the Colts fell ill the day before the games. Ultimately, Griff Whelan was chosen to be the left gunner on the punt unit so he was the one responsible for snapping the ball for the substitution penalty. Whelan was a swiss army knife for the Colts so he was trusted by the coaching staff to snap the ball. Unfortunately, the plan didn’t work out because Whelan never practiced the play. He was aware of the play but didn’t know any of the nuance of it. This led to the confusion that is now know and the worst play in football history.
Media Perception
The play would be looked at and analyzed many time by NBC’s Cris Collinsworth and Al Micheals for the next five to ten minutes of air time. The play would also lead to the touchdown by LeGarrette Blount which would ultimately be the game winning score.
Pat McAfee speaks on his podcast about how the breakdown of the play but also how successful it was in practice. He talks about how they kept having the scout team caught in the middle of substitutions and how this play would work. Sadly, this was not the case at all in the game. Twitter also had a field day with this play as well.
Football is an interesting game. No two plays are ever the same. Even if you call the same play multiple times in a game it is unlikely that everything will happen like it did prior. In this case, this will be the only time that we will have the chance to see a play unfold like this. A plan that was set up to catch the Patriots off guard was actually a ticking time bomb for the Colts. Follow @kperry2217 on Twitter for more football history.
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