11:03 am | November 5, 2018 | Go to Source | Author:
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Trickery helped the New England Patriots beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, with Julian Edelman taking a lateral from quarterback Tom Brady before passing it back to running back James White on the opposite side of the field, with White running 37 yards.
It was a twist on a trick play the Patriots have run in the past, with Bill Belichick crediting coordinator Josh McDaniels for calling it at the right time Sunday.
The Patriots and Belichick, as history attests, have several tricks up their hoodie sleeves.
“I think we have more plays, and gadgets, than we could ever call in a season,” Brady said Monday in his weekly interview on sports radio WEEI. “So you work on ones until they come up, and then you shelve it, and then you use the 4-5 others you kind of have queued up. When you’ve used two or three of them, you get some other ones ready.”
Brady said the specific play the Patriots ran against the Packers was intended to try to use the Packers’ aggressive pursuit against them.
Here are some of the most notable Patriots’ trick/unconventional plays of the Belichick era:
Double pass, Part I: In a Dec. 10, 2007 game against the Steelers, Brady lateraled to receiver Randy Moss to the right side, with Moss initially fumbling the low delivery before passing it back to Brady. The Steelers’ safeties bit hard on the initial lateral, which left Jabar Gaffney wide open deep on a 56-yard touchdown. That came in the third quarter, upping a 17-13 lead to 24-13, as the Patriots raced away to victory from there.
Double pass, Part II: Putting a twist on the play in the divisional round of the playoffs against the Ravens on Jan. 10, 2015, Brady lateraled to Edelman on the left side, with the pursuit of the Baltimore Ravens closing on him. There was only one problem for the Ravens: Receiver Danny Amendola had snuck behind them and was open for a 51-yard catch-and-run scoring pass from Edelman. That play came late in the third quarter and tied the game at 28. Edelman reminisced about the play on Sunday night, saying of Amendola: “I miss that little joker, but he’s a ‘Phin now. So I don’t like him.” This play more closely resembled what the Patriots pulled off in 2001 when receiver David Patten took a lateral from Brady on the left side, and found streaking Troy Brown for a long touchdown against the Colts.
Eligible/ineligible: Who could forget the same game, when the Patriots’ trickery included declaring eligible receivers ineligible? Ravens coach John Harbaugh was enraged and the NFL later tweaked its ruled to not allow it to happen again. But it accomplished its goal for the Patriots, who rattled the Ravens as it contributed to a comeback victory.
Direct snap at the goal-line: In need of a fourth-quarter two-point conversion in Super Bowl XXXVIII against the Panthers, the Patriots had Brady fake as if a shotgun snap went over his head to draw in the defense. But in reality, the snap was going directly to running back Kevin Faulk, who had been aligned next to him and ran up the middle for a relatively easy conversion. The Patriots brought the play out again in Super Bowl LI against the Falcons.
When Tom Brady becomes a receiver: A play in the 2015 regular season against the Eagles required Brady to sell to the defense that he was trying to communicate with the rest of the offense as he drifted to the right of the formation. But it was actually part of the fake, as there was a direct snap to James White, who then tossed it to Danny Amendola, who had been coming in motion and fired a 36-pass to Brady. Of course, a variation of that play didn’t work in Super Bowl LII when Brady dropped the ball.
Kicker becomes the QB: Adam Vinatieri and Troy Brown pulled it off perfectly in a road win over the Rams in the 2004 season. The Patriots were lining up for what would have been a short field goal, when Brown walked toward the left side, and Vinatieri fielded a direct snap and patiently tossed it to the uncovered Brown. Touchdown. That built a 19-14 lead to a 12-point advantage and the Patriots never looked back.
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