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There are a couple of plays you can run out of the swinging-gate concept, but the obvious one for the Colts would have been a screen pass. The Colts were lined up in an illegal formation since nobody but the center was on the line of scrimmage, but had they been lined up properly, nominal quarterback Colt Anderson had two receivers and seven blockers against six Patriots defenders on the right side of the field.

The other idea would pop up if the opponent overcompensates for the unexpected motion and sends eight or nine defenders after the traveling band of linemen. That leaves a center and a quarterback in the middle of the field against two or three defenders, and it’s usually pretty easy to pick up a few yards with that much space. I suspect that the Colts probably had that in mind for Anderson, who might not have thrown a pass since junior high school.

The most plausible explanation is that Griff Whalen and Anderson were only supposed to actually run a play if the numbers were favorable for a fake. If the numbers weren’t right, which they were not, Whalen wasn’t supposed to snap the football. The Colts were surely hoping the motion would force Bill Belichick to burn a timeout or that one of the Patriots defenders would make some sort of mental mistake and step offside at the sound of the vaunted Colt Anderson hard count, but that didn’t happen, either.

Instead, Whalen snapped the football. I wish I could tell you why Whalen snapped the ball. Maybe he didn’t bother to sufficiently look around and recognize that he didn’t have the appropriate numbers in the box to run the play as planned, which is possible when you use a player who isn’t normally a center to snap the ball.1 Maybe Whalen saw the play clock about to strike double-zero and panicked. Maybe he went all Leeroy Jenkins2 and decided to snap the ball, damn the torpedoes. I suspect we’ll never get a straight answer, in part because Whalen himself may not even know why he snapped the ball.

Author:	W_Z [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 3:06 pm ]
Post subject:	The Indy Trick Play
I missed it live because of the Cubs, but this formation just looks hilarious. What was this supposed to accomplish, exactly? Tecmo Bowl version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JP4Y0Xcm4g

Author:	312player [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 4:55 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The Indy Trick Play
Dumb... Not enough guys on the line, Marshall Faulk says somebody on defense yelled Hike! Wasn't supposed to snap ball n try to draw D offsides.

Author:	Dr. Kenneth Noisewater [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 4:57 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The Indy Trick Play
There's a split second after he hikes the ball where everybody freezes like they can't believe that that just happened.

Author:	312player [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 4:59 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The Indy Trick Play
Was flippin thru the channels couple weeks ago n caught an old time favorite- Bad Lieutenant ... Wtf! They edited out the scene where Harvey pulls over the two teenage girls from Jersey...WHY?

Author:	newper [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:00 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The Indy Trick Play
To be offsides, you have to snap the ball, so the best you could hope for there is offsetting penalties. You'd need them to either call neutral zone infraction or encroachment, and even in that case, I'm not sure if you wouldn't get illegal procedure called on the offense as an offset.

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The Indy Trick Play https://mail.chicagofanatics.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=96764	Page 1 of 1

Author:	FavreFan [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:23 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The Indy Trick Play
Bill Barnwell wrote: There are a couple of plays you can run out of the swinging-gate concept, but the obvious one for the Colts would have been a screen pass. The Colts were lined up in an illegal formation since nobody but the center was on the line of scrimmage, but had they been lined up properly, nominal quarterback Colt Anderson had two receivers and seven blockers against six Patriots defenders on the right side of the field. The other idea would pop up if the opponent overcompensates for the unexpected motion and sends eight or nine defenders after the traveling band of linemen. That leaves a center and a quarterback in the middle of the field against two or three defenders, and it’s usually pretty easy to pick up a few yards with that much space. I suspect that the Colts probably had that in mind for Anderson, who might not have thrown a pass since junior high school. The most plausible explanation is that Griff Whalen and Anderson were only supposed to actually run a play if the numbers were favorable for a fake. If the numbers weren’t right, which they were not, Whalen wasn’t supposed to snap the football. The Colts were surely hoping the motion would force Bill Belichick to burn a timeout or that one of the Patriots defenders would make some sort of mental mistake and step offside at the sound of the vaunted Colt Anderson hard count, but that didn’t happen, either. Instead, Whalen snapped the football. I wish I could tell you why Whalen snapped the ball. Maybe he didn’t bother to sufficiently look around and recognize that he didn’t have the appropriate numbers in the box to run the play as planned, which is possible when you use a player who isn’t normally a center to snap the ball.1 Maybe Whalen saw the play clock about to strike double-zero and panicked. Maybe he went all Leeroy Jenkins2 and decided to snap the ball, damn the torpedoes. I suspect we’ll never get a straight answer, in part because Whalen himself may not even know why he snapped the ball. This explanation makes the play look less dumb. Still dumb, but not as bad as without the context.

Author:	Beardown [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:32 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The Indy Trick Play
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote: There's a split second after he hikes the ball where everybody freezes like they can't believe that that just happened. I know. Dumbest and most hilarious play you'll ever see in an NFL game.

Author:	W_Z [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 7:04 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The Indy Trick Play
yeah there was an obvious miscommunication, but what do you even call that play? the willy loman?

Author:	K Effective [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 8:13 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The Indy Trick Play
We had a similar formation in high school, we called it the "lonesome polecat", or just polecat. The screen pass was the most successful play from that formation, for us, about 1 in ten times we gained good yardage. I remember at least one pick six we gave up. It has resurfaced in the eight-man football game- makes the center eligible as the last lineman, eight man does not require position specific uniform numbers, so you can use your normal center to snap, if he can catch, he can be a reliable receiver as well.

Author:	newper [ Mon Oct 19, 2015 8:50 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The Indy Trick Play
My stepson's sophomore team runs that formation as well. They also have one victory this year. Not saying these things are correlated, just an observation.

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