October 19, 2015
For a while, the Sunday night matchup between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts was surprisingly competitive. Indy was hanging in there with the rivals that they can never seem to hang in there with. It was compelling enough theatre.
Heck, the Colts were only down six points late in the third quarter. Then, this happened (Cris Collinsworth’s bewilderment in real time is amazing):
I can see some logic going for it on fourth-and-short there, because New England has a high-powered offense and you don’t want to give them the ball back. I don’t even mind faking a punt in that situation, if you feel like the numbers are in your team’s favor.
But the Pats had two defenders lined up right over the Colts’ center, who had no other blockers around him! The Colts’ center, who you know, isn’t a center! A center who was snapping to a former Eagles special teamer masquerading as a quarterback!
The Colts didn’t even line up correctly, and they were hit with an illegal formation penalty that was declined. The Patriots scored directly off the turnover and ended up winning by seven, 34-27.
Ronnie Brown lateraling at the goal line with the Eagles was unbelievable, but at least he's only a player, right?
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
