On Monday, Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano stuck by the decision to call a play that is going to live forever on NFL blooper videos.
Chuck Pagano has no regrets about failed trick play
The Colts coach said that all the blame for the bizarre fourth-down play belongs to him.
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"I don't regret the play call," Pagano said. "I obviously didn't do a good enough job of coaching the play, because we were aligned incorrectly, and I didn't communicate well enough with them about what to do if we didn't get the Patriots to call a timeout or have too many men on the field. That's all on me."
Pagano explained Sunday night how the play was supposed to work:
The whole idea there was on fourth-and-3 or less, we shift to an alignment to where we could catch them misaligned. They tried to sub some people in. Catch them with more men on the field -- 12 men on the field. And if you get a certain look, you have three (or) two yards to make a play.
While wide receiver/punt returner/sudden center Griff Whalen probably didn't realize that the rest of the offensive linemen were lined up 2 yards too deep -- they were 20 yards away, after all -- he should have seen that the Patriots had more than enough players in place to swarm Colt Anderson:
However, with the play clock running down, Whalen appeared panicked and snapped the ball to an unsuspecting Anderson. He was immediately tackled, and the Patriots quickly turned the ensuing drive into a crucial touchdown.
“It’s not really up to me,” Whalen said Sunday night. “Colt has a couple of decisions to make. We’ll take a look at the film tomorrow and get it figured out. It was just a miscommunication I think between us and the coaches and everything.”
That touchdown ended up being the final margin in New England’s 34-27 win -- a far cry from the blowout that most people expected.
“I think we showed that we can play with anyone,” Pagano said. “That loss last night was more about what we did to ourselves. It is like we say - the enemy is always in your camp, and it is the friendly fire that gets you.”
The Colts are 3-3, but 0-3 outside the AFC South. They will get another chance Sunday against a non-divisional opponent when they face the New Orleans Saints, who showed signs of life Thursday night with a 31-21 upset of the unbeaten Atlanta Falcons.
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