I KNOW WHAT you’re thinking? How can Coaches Film not cover the Julian Edelman touchdown pass to Danny Amendola that tied the game up at 28 points apiece on Saturday night?
And you’re not wrong, it was a guttsy play call from Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels but they were trusting a former college quarterback to complete a relatively simple – if very cleverly disguised – pass.
What was far more interesting, at least in my eyes, was how the Patriots coped with the loss of center Bryan Stork to knee injury in the first half by having only four recognised offensive linemen on the field for some plays.
But there’s five offensive linemen there you say? That’s what the Ravens thought too. What they failed to realise was that #47 – tight end Michael Hoomanawanui (circled) was actually an eligible receiver on that play. Something we’ll get to shortly.
Working within the rules
On Saturday, the Patriots did something I’ve never seen in the NFL before and took to the field with just four offensive linemen for three plays, all three of which went for first downs during their second half comeback.
But before we get to how the Patriots took advantage of the NFL rulebook, it’s probably a good time remind ourselves of what exactly those rules are.
On any given play, the offence has to have seven players on the line of scrimmage, five of whom cannot catch the football on a passing dwon. In 99.9% of cases, those five players are the offensive linemen.
Below, in their first snap of the game, you can see the five linemen in front of New England quarterback Tom Brady as well as two receivers on the line of scrimmage.
The next rule we have to take at is substitutions which — unlike in soccer or GAA for example — are unlimited. However, players can only enter the field of play when the ball is dead.
Normally – say close to endzone – teams substitute in players who don’t normally catch the ball who tell the referee they are an eligible receiver. The referee then tells the opposition and crowd using his microphone.
However, what the Patriots did was create confusion in the Baltimore defence as the player coming in — alternating between Shane Vereen and the aforementioned Hoomanawanui – reported as ineligible instead.
So how did it work?
On the first play, with the Patriots trailing by 14 points for the second time in the game, Vereen was brought into the game and reported to the referee – who subsequently told the Ravens and crowd – he was going to be an ineligible receiver on the play.
He is, essentially, the right tackle in a very unusual looking offensive line. However, he has taken up a position you would expect from an eligible receiver (blue) whereas Hoomanawanui (yellow) lined up as if he was ineligible but was actually considered a tight end on the play and, therefore, free to catch ball.
To add to the confusion for the Ravens, Rob Gronkowski (red) – because he has lined up behind the line of scrimmage – is also free to catch the ball. Tom Brady, however, was only ever going to throw the ball to Hoomanawanui.
The play looks like it should be illegal and worked because by the time the Ravens figured out what was going on, Hoomanawanui already had the first down.
Four plays later, the Patriots ran an even trickier variation of the play.
This time, Gronkowski (blue) lined up as ‘left tackle’ but, with Hoomanawanui and Vereen (out of picture) lined up as blockers on the right of the field, both Gronk and Julian Edelman (yellow) were eligible to catch the ball, which the latter did for an 11 yard gain.
Two plays after that, the Patriots ran their first variation of the play again with Hoomanawanui taking the ball inside the 10-yard line.
From the TV angle, you can see just how open the tight end is:
Speed kills
So we’ve seen how it worked, but why it worked is an awful lot simpler.
Firstly, the Ravens were clearly unsure who was eligible and who was not, despite the referee giving them (according to reports) an average of eight seconds notice.
Secondly, Tom Brady got rid of the football well inside two seconds on all three occasions. Given that Brady’s average release time in 2014 was 2.54 seconds, the defence just had no time to make a read on the quarterback.
Adapt and survive
So why did the Patriots use the rules and get creative with substitutions in this way?
Well, if you were reading last week, you’ll know just how big a loss an offensive lineman can be for a team.
Stork has been an important cog in the Patriots wheel since becoming a starter way back in week four and after the former Florida State man’s first half injury, we saw guard Ryan Wendell come in to take over at center, with Josh Kline slotting in at right guard.
The move did not go well for the Patriots with the re-jigged line consistently allowing Baltimore defensive linemen into the backfield, particularly on run plays.
Indeed, their ability to create holes for or even just protect the running back was so compromised that New England did not hand the ball to a running back once in the second half, throwing pass after pass instead.
Whether we see it next week against the Colts in the AFC Championship Game though, is anyone’s guess.
Originally published at 17.01
