The man who snapped the ball to begin the botched fake punt dubbed SwingingGateGate tried and failed to explain what he was thinking when he snapped the ball.
Colts special teams player Griff Whalen says he knew the Colts’ trick play wasn’t going to work “right away” because of the way the Patriots lined up to stop it. Because of that, Whalen admits, he was supposed to take a delay of game penalty.
“When they adjusted to our motion, we knew we didn’t have a good look,” Whalen said. “We were just going to take a penalty.”
So why did Whalen snap the ball?
“Just miscommunication,” he said. “That’s all it was, just miscommunication. I’ve got to do a better job of making sure that I can do the right thing.”
Whalen’s answers don’t make sense, but that’s because the whole thing doesn’t make sense. And although Whalen deserves a lot of the blame for snapping the ball, it’s not Whalen’s fault that his teammates lined up in an illegal formation. There’s plenty of blame to go around, and the largest share of the blame should go to Colts coach Chuck Pagano, who should have ensured that his players knew what they were doing. Whalen didn’t know what he was doing, but he wasn’t the only one.
