Pat McAfee Comments on Colts' Botched Fake Punt Call vs. Patriots

Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee offered more insight into the team's odd punt formation and failed punt attempt against the New England Patriots on Sunday night that ultimately led to a Patriots touchdown.

McAfee, speaking to The Bob & Tom Show on Tuesday morning, via Steve Andress of Colts.com, explained that Griff Whalen wasn't supposed to be the original center on the play.

"The gunner who became the center all week was (safety) Clayton Geathers," McAfee said. "Clayton Geathers gets injured in the second quarter. Insert Griff Whalen, who had never done it before. So Griff Whalen is now the new center in a play he's never practiced before."

The play, as designed, was supposed to deceive the Patriots, according to McAfee. When the majority of the punt team sprinted toward the Colts sideline, the hope was that the Patriots would think the Colts offense was being subbed back onto the field and would quickly scramble to get their own defense back on the field. Then the Colts would set and snap the ball, drawing a penalty on the Patriots for having too many men on the field as they made their substitutions.

The play in question was on a 4th-and-3, so the ensuing yards gained on a penalty would have been enough for a first down.

But the Patriots didn't take the bait, keeping their punt unit on the field. The Colts still had a second option for the play to draw the defense offside that was added in practice during the week. But Whalen wasn't privy to the audible that had been added to the play, per McAfee.

"

Last week (in practice), Griff is at the other end catching my punts. We added something to try and draw them offsides if they don't do their substitution. Griff never got the heads up this was happening, because it's not in the playbook. Stanford guy, reads the playbook, knows everything he has to do, but if he's not there for an audible that's added, he can't know.

"

In essence, one of the more bizarre plays in the NFL this season boiled down to a miscommunication centered upon an injury and a replacement center that wasn't privy to an addition that had been added to the play last week in practice.

Still, the fact the play was run at all raises several concerns.

Why did the Colts still run the formation if the only player who had been taking snaps for the play was out of the game? Why didn't anybody ensure that Whalen knew his exact responsibilities once Geathers was injured?

And in the same game the Colts attempted an onside kick and failed, the team seemed to get a little too cute on special teams looking for an advantage, ultimately costing themselves key points in a close game.

The Colts are 3-3 and still in first place in the AFC South, so the team hardly needs to enter desperation mode at this point. But plays like the botched punt Sunday night won't inspire much confidence in head coach Chuck Pagano from the front office even if a simple communication failure was the cause of the mishap.