Internet Reacts to Colts' Terrible Fake Punt Attempt Against Patriots

The Indianapolis Colts did a weird thing during the third quarter of Sunday night's game against the New England Patriots.

More accurately, the Colts tried to do a weird thing during the third quarter of the game and ended up not doing anything at all.

The strange incident began when the Colts' special teams unit took the field for a presumed punt on 4th-and-3 at their own 37-yard line. Everything looked normal until the signal was given for a dramatic shift, which moved all the Colts but wide receiver Griff Whalen and safety Colt Anderson to one side of the field.

Ostensibly, this was an attempt to draw New England offside.

However, when that failed to work, Whalen and Anderson ran a play of their own that consisted of Anderson running straight into a wall of unblocked tacklers.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened here, as this may have been one of the most ineffectual and worst play calls ever witnessed in professional sports.

As ever, Twitter had its own take on the Colts' inexplicable play call.

"

In defense of the Colts' fake punt... pic.twitter.com/25y334sg8G

— Max Olson (@max_olson) October 19, 2015"

"

@BillSimmons pic.twitter.com/n6x8wg8eDI

— Eric (@ehuston7) October 19, 2015"

The following might be the saddest bit from all of this.

As the New York Post's Bart Hubbuch reported, Colts punter Pat McAfee said they've been trying to nail this play for a while:

"

Hahaha, Pat McAfee said the Colts had been working on that fake punt play SINCE LAST YEAR. I can’t even ...

— Bart Hubbuch (@BartHubbuch) October 19, 2015"

Yeah, this was bad. And not just as a busted play—if that's even what it was.

Whalen and Anderson had no plan here. That's evident from the moment the ball is snapped. Anderson takes the ball and runs headlong into a wall of humanity.

The Colts had three timeouts left. They could've called one! Or taken a delay-of-game penalty! Or done anything that didn't give Tom Brady the ball with great field position!

But they didn't, and I have no idea why.

I refuse to believe head coach Chuck Pagano told his team, "If you can't draw them offside, just run forward and yell. The Patriots are like bears. They fear confidence." Unfortunately, that's the shape of what happened.

As for Brady, he took the ball and passed to LeGarrette Blount for a touchdown on the ensuing possession.

New England went on to win 34-27, and now the Colts are left to figure out exactly what went wrong with their uncharacteristic attempt at "trickeration."

Dan is on Twitter. He blames the schools.