Worst NFL Play Call Of 2015

[TheGardener]

I know a lot of people think that Pete Carroll made a terrible decision in the last Super Bowl, for what turned out to be the last Seahawks' possession of the game. While the execution failed, it was only due to a spectacular interception by the Patriots' Malcolm Butler. Personally I think it was far from the worst play ever called by a coach. It just didn't work.

This past Sunday, Chuck Pagano of the Colts, called what I consider to be the worst play I can ever remember. Not only was the 4th down play call severely flawed, but his special teams unit was ill prepared to understand what to do. The snapper was never suppose to hike the ball, but he didn't understand. He was either a receiver or a cornerback, not a punt snapper. After the snap, the Colt's formation was called illegal by the ref. Naturally the Patriots refused the penalty, and they took possession of the ball. The Colts were very much in the game prior to this play call. But the momentum of the game clearly shifted to favor the Patriots, after this bungling attempt by coach Pagano.

Never seen anything like this. And really prior to this play call, Pagano was calling an excellent game on both offense and defense. Then it all fell apart.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/655943070488236032?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

NBC Commentators.....

Collinsworth: "There is absolutely no way possible that they should have snapped that ball and tried to sneak it. There were three, four, five guys around two players. That was insane. You got a guy on either side of them! What are you doing here? They don't even try to run a play. We've seen a lot of bizarre stuff. I have never seen anything more bizarre than that. What was the plan?"

Michaels: "I don't know. It looked completely nuts."

Collinsworth: "It had to be complete screw up. I mean, it's the only explanation."

 

[edro]

Yeah, stupid play call, but it was an obvious try to force a time out.
The snapper is probably the moron.

 

[Homerboy]

You know, there's a thread for this...

 

[Krazy4Real]

lol... missed this live... wish i watched the rest of the game. I turned it off at halftime.

 

[Drako]

Michigan could have won their game with MSU with that play. :biggrin:

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Yeah, stupid play call, but it was an obvious try to force a time out.
The snapper is probably the moron.

Gotta be that. There was absolutely no way the ball can be snapped in that situation.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Pete Carroll's decision was worse. A Super Bowl was riding on it and IIRC, he had timeouts and a couple of downs to use to pound it in. There is a HUGE probability that Pete's decision cost them the Super Bowl. The Colts stupidity may have cost them the game, but you can't say that with NEARLY as much certainty as you can with Carroll's call and the Colts did NOT do this in a Super Bowl.

More is coming out about the stupid Colts' play:

1. The player who was supposed to be the center on that play was injured so they subbed in another player who apparently was not as familiar with the play. Pagano should NEVER have attempted to run it when the guy trained on the play was injured and out and clearly did not communicate "DO NOT SNAP IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES" to the new snapper.
2. News is coming out that at least one player on the field yelled for them NOT to snap the ball.
3. If you look at a screenshot of the formation, you'll see the Colts offense on the sideline, right where the gunners were running towards. What Pagano hoped to accomplish was that when the formation broke and the guys started running towards the sideline, the Patriots would see the offense ready on the sideline and try to rush their defense back on, thinking the Colts would try substituting their offense or at least a huge part of it. The snapper would then snap the ball and get a "12 men on the field" penalty on the Patriots. HOWEVER, that was just dumb because the Colts would've had to quickly set into position in a LEGAL formation WHILE the Patriots were rushing around and then snap it. They couldn't even get into a legal position with all the time they had, let alone rushing to beat the Patriots if they ran their defense on the field.

All-in-all, it was an incredibly stupid play with a huge longshot of succeeding. He should've just kept the offense on the field and tried to draw contact with Luck's cadence.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Pete Carroll's decision was worse. A Super Bowl was riding on it and IIRC, he had timeouts and a couple of downs to use to pound it in.

He had three downs and one time out. He was going to have to run a pass play if he wanted to keep all three downs on the table. Bad call? In hindsight, yes, but I don't think it was an unreasonable strategy. If Lockette had attacked the ball the way Malcolm Butler did, we'd be back to back champs.

 

[waggy]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...botched-fake-punt-according-punter-pat-mcafee

he explains the fucked up play. it also makes sense.

 

[BUTCH1]

Pete Carroll's decision was worse. A Super Bowl was riding on it and IIRC, he had timeouts and a couple of downs to use to pound it in. There is a HUGE probability that Pete's decision cost them the Super Bowl. The Colts stupidity may have cost them the game, but you can't say that with NEARLY as much certainty as you can with Carroll's call and the Colts did NOT do this in a Super Bowl.

More is coming out about the stupid Colts' play:

1. The player who was supposed to be the center on that play was injured so they subbed in another player who apparently was not as familiar with the play. Pagano should NEVER have attempted to run it when the guy trained on the play was injured and out and clearly did not communicate "DO NOT SNAP IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES" to the new snapper.
2. News is coming out that at least one player on the field yelled for them NOT to snap the ball.
3. If you look at a screenshot of the formation, you'll see the Colts offense on the sideline, right where the gunners were running towards. What Pagano hoped to accomplish was that when the formation broke and the guys started running towards the sideline, the Patriots would see the offense ready on the sideline and try to rush their defense back on, thinking the Colts would try substituting their offense or at least a huge part of it. The snapper would then snap the ball and get a "12 men on the field" penalty on the Patriots. HOWEVER, that was just dumb because the Colts would've had to quickly set into position in a LEGAL formation WHILE the Patriots were rushing around and then snap it. They couldn't even get into a legal position with all the time they had, let alone rushing to beat the Patriots if they ran their defense on the field.

All-in-all, it was an incredibly stupid play with a huge longshot of succeeding. He should've just kept the offense on the field and tried to draw contact with Luck's cadence.

Yea, got to agree with you on this one, this was just a bad idea run incorrectly, what Carrol did cost them a good shot at the SB. I could see BM getting stuffed once, but 3 tries from the 1yrd line?, I think he gets it done. IMHO Carrol's ego got the best of him, he wanted the QB HE picked to "out-Brady, Brady" and get him the MVP. Butler blew it up in his face.

 

[smackababy]

He had three downs and one time out. He was going to have to run a pass play if he wanted to keep all three downs on the table. Bad call? In hindsight, yes, but I don't think it was an unreasonable strategy. If Lockette had attacked the ball the way Malcolm Butler did, we'd be back to back champs.

I think the biggest problem wasn't that it was a pass, it was that it was the same short yard, quick slant Seattle always runs. It was THE play NE was expecting and had prepared for. If they ran from that formation, jumping the route wouldn't have been costly and Butler knew the set up to attempt it.

While, Lockette certainly ran a half ass route and didn't try attack the ball when Butler jumped the route. I am certainly fine with a pass on that, they just should have done something different. Let Wilson roll out and someone get open...

Yea, got to agree with you on this one, this was just a bad idea run incorrectly, what Carrol did cost them a good shot at the SB. I could see BM getting stuffed once, but 3 tries from the 1yrd line?, I think he gets it done. IMHO Carrol's ego got the best of him, he wanted the QB HE picked to "out-Brady, Brady" and get him the MVP. Butler blew it up in his face.

The issue is, if BM gets stuffed and loses yards, that is a few more he has to get the next time. If that happens twice in a row, they won't run the ball again and be FORCED to pass. Letting Wilson throw early (especially when it is the obvious move to run) isn't a terrible idea. The problem was the play itself. Had this simply been an incomplete pass and BM failed on the next runs and they lost, people wouldn't have even remembered the play. The only reason it is "bad" is because it failed in the worst possible way.

 

[BUTCH1]

I think the biggest problem wasn't that it was a pass, it was that it was the same short yard, quick slant Seattle always runs. It was THE play NE was expecting and had prepared for. If they ran from that formation, jumping the route wouldn't have been costly and Butler knew the set up to attempt it.

While, Lockette certainly ran a half ass route and didn't try attack the ball when Butler jumped the route. I am certainly fine with a pass on that, they just should have done something different. Let Wilson roll out and someone get open...



The issue is, if BM gets stuffed and loses yards, that is a few more he has to get the next time. If that happens twice in a row, they won't run the ball again and be FORCED to pass. Letting Wilson throw early (especially when it is the obvious move to run) isn't a terrible idea. The problem was the play itself. Had this simply been an incomplete pass and BM failed on the next runs and they lost, people wouldn't have even remembered the play. The only reason it is "bad" is because it failed in the worst possible way.

IMHO the best play these was a fake to BM and a naked bootleg by the speedy Wilson, probably walks in untouched. Your right, handing it to BM is the "obvious" play but if your going to throw it make it a fade pattern where your guy can get it or no one can. Throwing into traffic with all the defense jammed into a tiny part of the field is dangerous. Even if Butler gets a hand in there and sends it up for grabs there's a good chance a Patriot can make an easy pick.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

I didn't mean to hijack the thread and make it about the Seahawks.

I agree the choice to throw in traffic was very poor. The only point I make when this comes up is that they HAD to pass it at least once in the next three downs if they wanted to get all three chances. There was only 1 time out and not enough clock to get 3 running plays off. The best choice is to pass on 2nd down. A naked bootleg or a fade or something -- just about anything, really -- would've been better than that easily-read slant, though.

 

[Kelvrick]

I think the biggest problem wasn't that it was a pass, it was that it was the same short yard, quick slant Seattle always runs. It was THE play NE was expecting and had prepared for. If they ran from that formation, jumping the route wouldn't have been costly and Butler knew the set up to attempt it.

While, Lockette certainly ran a half ass route and didn't try attack the ball when Butler jumped the route. I am certainly fine with a pass on that, they just should have done something different. Let Wilson roll out and someone get open...



The issue is, if BM gets stuffed and loses yards, that is a few more he has to get the next time. If that happens twice in a row, they won't run the ball again and be FORCED to pass. Letting Wilson throw early (especially when it is the obvious move to run) isn't a terrible idea. The problem was the play itself. Had this simply been an incomplete pass and BM failed on the next runs and they lost, people wouldn't have even remembered the play. The only reason it is "bad" is because it failed in the worst possible way.

It has also been shown that BM has gotten goal line stuffed repeatedly before. Nothing is a sure thing. It isn't a given of 3 tries at the 1. The first run try could easily have also meant a stuff for loss of yardage, now it is maybe 2nd and goal at the 2 to 5. Playing armchair quarterback combined with hindsight is always fun, unless you're a colts fan.

The colts play can be analyzed over and over, but I haven't heard anyone come up with ANY way it could have worked at all. Whether they were looking for a 12 man, or maybe a swing gate run, the way they lined up made it a play that at best would have given them a delay of game and -5 yards.

 

[KLin]

Super Bowl != regular season

kthxbai

Pete Carroll ftl

 

[TheGardener]

Three things laughable about the Colts mystery play. One they saved this trick play to fool the Patriots, who are the best coached team in the NFL. They should have saved it for a Rex Ryan coached team. Two, they never told the substitute snapper that they changed the audible on the playbook during the week's practice. He was practicing during the scrimmage with the punter and was never informed. Completely on the coaching staff. And three, this was a play that they were working on for a year.