Unsuccessful trick play in American football
The
Colts Catastrophe
was an unsuccessful
National Football League
(NFL)
trick play
attempted by the
Indianapolis Colts
against the
New England Patriots
on October 18, 2015. It occurred near the end of the third quarter in the teams' Week 6 game of the
2015 NFL season
.
[1]
The play was called during a Colts' fourth down on their 37-yard line, with three yards needed for a new set of downs. A
fake punt
, it saw most of the Colts players (including punter
Pat McAfee
) move from their positions to
line up on the other side of the field
, leaving only
upback
Colt Anderson
set to receive the ball from gunner
Griff Whalen
. With the Colts' unusual formation alerting the Patriots to the fake punt before the play began and Anderson virtually unprotected by his teammates, Anderson was almost immediately tackled for a loss after the ball was snapped and New England took over on downs. An
illegal formation
penalty was also called on the Colts, which the Patriots declined. The Patriots scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive, helping seal their eventual 34?27 victory.
According to McAfee, the play was intended to trick the Patriots into being penalized for having
too many men on the field
or going
offside
, which would have resulted in a Colts first down. McAfee said Indianapolis planned on letting the play clock run out after it failed to draw a New England penalty, but a "communications breakdown" led to the ball being snapped. It is regarded as one of the worst trick plays in NFL history due to its poor execution and outcome.
Background
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]
The Colts and Patriots were perennial playoff contenders who had
developed an intense rivalry
over the years. The Patriots had most recently blown out the Colts in the
2014 AFC Championship Game
(before subsequently winning
Super Bowl XLIX
), in a game marked by the
Deflategate
scandal. This Week 6
Sunday Night Football
game was the first meeting between the two teams since the scandal.
The game featured a back-and-forth first half in which Patriots
quarterback
Tom Brady
threw one
touchdown
pass and Colts quarterback
Andrew Luck
threw two. With strong running games and accurate kickers on each side, the Colts led the close contest by only a single point at halftime, 21?20. After Brady threw a touchdown pass to
Rob Gronkowski
on the Patriots' first drive of the third quarter, the teams traded punts for several possessions. When a Colts possession stalled at their own 37 yard line, the team chose to call for a trick play.
The play
[
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]
With 1:14 remaining in the third quarter, facing a fourth down with three yards to go on their own 37-yard line, the Colts lined up in a punt formation, with
punter
Pat McAfee
in his usual position. After several moments, most of the Colts' punt team began jogging toward the Indianapolis sideline, but stopped and lined up in an imitation of their punt formation near the outer
hash mark
.
Upback
Colt Anderson
jogged with them, then ran back toward the ball and lined up as quarterback behind
gunner
Griff Whalen
, who had positioned himself as the new
center
and was prepared to
snap
the ball.
The Patriots players initially followed the Colts toward their sideline, but some remained in the area near the ball.
Brandon Bolden
and
Jon Bostic
positioned themselves on either side of Whalen in what would normally be called the A-gaps. Whalen snapped the ball with one second remaining on the
play clock
, and Bolden was immediately on top of Anderson, wrestling him to the ground with the assistance of
Tarell Brown
for a loss of two yards.
A
penalty flag
was thrown on the Colts, which
referee
Tony Corrente
announced as an
illegal formation
penalty, explaining "The whole right side of the line was not on the
line of scrimmage
." Patriots coach
Bill Belichick
declined the penalty, giving the Patriots the ball at the Indianapolis 35-yard line.
[2]
New England scored a
touchdown
on the ensuing drive and went on to win the game 34?27.
Game information
|
First quarter
Second quarter
- NE ? Gostkowski 40-yard FG
- IND ?
Mike Adams
14-yard interception return (Vinatieri kick)
- NE ? Blount 38-yard run (Gostkowski kick)
- IND ? Hilton 3-yard pass from Luck (Vinatieri kick)
- NE ? Gostkowski 35-yard FG
Third quarter
Fourth quarter
- NE ? Blount 11-yard pass from Brady (Gostkowski kick)
- IND ?
Griff Whalen
18-yard pass from Luck (Vinatieri kick blocked)
|
Top passers
Top rushers
Top receivers
|
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Reaction
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Color commentator
Cris Collinsworth
cut himself off in mid-thought when the Colts began moving. He and
play-by-play
announcer
Al Michaels
reacted to the play with hesitation and confusion.
Collinsworth:
Uh-oh.
Michaels:
Yeah. Now we've got... on a 4th down and 3... you got Griff Whalen ready to take the snap. He'll snap it, actually Colt Anderson is behind him.
Collinsworth:
What. The. Heck?
Michaels:
And... w-what in the world. Flag is down. You tell me.
Collinsworth:
I thought maybe they were trying to get them to jump offsides.
A nonplussed Collinsworth spent several moments trying to analyze the play, making statements such as, "That was insane," "I've never seen anything more bizarre than that," and "What was the plan?" to which Michaels replied "I don't know. It's completely nuts."
[2]
Scott Allen of
The Washington Post
compared the play to the
Washington Redskins
's
swinging gate
play in
2009
.
[3]
McAfee's explanations
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On October 25, 2018, and later on October 18, 2019?the fourth anniversary of the play?punter McAfee provided a detailed explanation of the play on
The Pat McAfee Show
.
[4]
[5]
According to McAfee, the play was designed to trick the Patriots into committing a penalty. The shift of the special teams players was intended to fool the Patriots into thinking the Colts were about to send the offense back onto the field; the hope was the Patriots would send their defense out on the field, allowing the Colts to catch them with
too many men on the field
. In this case, the resulting five-yard penalty would give the Colts enough yards for a first down. If that failed, the Colts would simply wait for the play clock to expire, take the five-yard
delay of game
penalty, and punt normally on the next play.
McAfee claimed that the play was executed flawlessly during practice, but that Whalen was not involved in the practice drills. The player who had initially been assigned the role of snapper, McAfee said, was deactivated on Saturday due to illness, leaving Whalen only a day or so to learn the play. As a result, Whalen read in the playbook that he should snap the ball if the quarterback for the play gets under center. Pagano had apparently told Anderson before the play that he was to use a
hard count
to try to draw them
offside
should they fail to catch the defense with too many men on the field. This would also give a first down if successful and was still intended to lead to a delay of game if the Patriots did not commit either penalty. Whalen was unaware of this last-minute change to the play; McAfee noted that even the other players on the field were not expecting Anderson's hard count. Per McAfee, Whalen was not intended to snap the ball at all during the play. Similarly, Pagano attributed a "communications breakdown" for the play's failure.
[3]
Legacy
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The Colts finished the year 8?8, one game behind the
AFC South
champion
Houston Texans
, beginning a three-year playoff drought. Coach
Chuck Pagano
was fired in 2017 after two subsequent non-winning seasons.
Football fans on
Twitter
reacted with strong statements of contempt directed toward the Colts.
Internet memes
that spread in the immediate aftermath featured Luck, Pagano, and other Colts figures cast as the
Three Stooges
, along with
Hillary Clinton
and other political characters.
[6]
On the
NFL Network
's "Top 10 Worst Plays" episode, the Colts Catastrophe was ranked number six.
[1]
The Colts Catastrophe was referenced in the
SB Nation
video "The Worst Trick Play", which deemed the
swinging gate
play attempted by the
Washington Redskins
against the
New York Giants
to be worse. Commentator Will Buikema noted the Colts were seeking to draw a penalty instead of attempting a fake punt, while the Redskins intended to run their play, even after the Giants called a timeout that effectively prevented the Redskins from catching them off-guard.
[7]
See also
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References
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