 Lucas Oil Stadium, the site of the game | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | October 18, 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis, Indiana | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Patriots by 9.5[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Tony Corrente | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 66,726 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Al Michaels,Cris Collinsworth | ||||||||||||||||||
TheColts Catastrophe was an unsuccessfulNational Football League (NFL)trick play attempted by theIndianapolis Colts against theNew England Patriots on October 18, 2015. It occurred near the end of the third quarter in the teams' Week 6 game of the2015 NFL season.[2]
The play was called during a Colts' fourth down on their 37-yard line, with three yards needed for a new set of downs. Afake punt, it saw most of the Colts players (including punterPat McAfee) move from their positions toline up on the other side of the field, leaving onlyupbackColt Anderson set to take the snap from gunnerGriff 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. Anillegal 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 havingtoo many men on the field or goingoffside, 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.
The Colts and Patriots were perennial playoff contenders who haddeveloped an intense rivalry over the years. The Patriots had most recently blown out the Colts in the2014 AFC Championship Game (before subsequently winningSuper Bowl XLIX), in a game marked by theDeflategate scandal. This Week 6Sunday 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 PatriotsquarterbackTom Brady threw onetouchdown pass and Colts quarterbackAndrew 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 toRob 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.
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, withpunterPat 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 outerhash mark.UpbackColt Anderson jogged with them, then ran back toward the ball and lined up as quarterback behindgunnerGriff Whalen, who had positioned himself as the newcenter and was prepared tosnap the ball.
The Patriots players initially followed the Colts toward their sideline, but some remained in the area near the ball.Brandon Bolden andJon 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 theplay clock, and Bolden was immediately on top of Anderson, wrestling him to the ground with the assistance ofTarell Brown for a loss of two yards.
Apenalty flag was thrown on the Colts, whichrefereeTony Corrente announced as anillegal formation penalty, explaining, "The whole right side of the line was not on theline of scrimmage." Patriots coachBill Belichick declined the penalty, giving the Patriots the ball at the Indianapolis 35-yard line.[3]
New England scored atouchdown on the ensuing drive and went on to win the game 34–27.
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patriots | 7 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 34 |
| Colts | 7 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 27 |
atLucas Oil Stadium,Indianapolis, Indiana
| Game information | ||
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Color commentatorCris Collinsworth cut himself off in mid-thought when the Colts began moving. He andplay-by-play announcerAl 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.
[At this point the ball is snapped.]
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."[3]
Scott Allen ofThe Washington Post compared the play to theWashington Redskins'sswinging gate play in2009.[4]
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 onThe Pat McAfee Show.[5][6] 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 withtoo 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-yarddelay of game penalty, and punt normally on the next play.
McAfee claimed that the play was executed flawlessly during practice, but 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 ahard count to try to draw themoffside 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.[4]
The Colts finished the year 8–8, one game behind theAFC South championHouston Texans, beginning a three-year playoff drought. CoachChuck Pagano was fired in 2017 after two subsequent non-winning seasons.
Football fans onTwitter 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 theThree Stooges, along withHillary Clinton and other political characters.[7]
On theNFL Network's "Top 10 Worst Plays" episode, the Colts Catastrophe was ranked number six.[2]
The Colts Catastrophe was referenced in theSB Nation video "The Worst Trick Play", which deemed theswinging gate play attempted by theWashington Redskins against theNew 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.[8]
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