Eleven years ago this Sunday, on October 18, 2015, the Indianapolis Colts tried a fourth-down trick play against the New England Patriots that is still replayed every time someone ranks the worst plays in NFL history. Trailing 27-21 late in the third quarter, the Colts sent out their punt team, shifted nine players toward their own sideline, and left receiver Griff Whalen alone over the ball with safety Colt Anderson behind him. Whalen snapped it. Anderson was buried almost immediately. New England scored six plays later and won 34-27.
The play was never meant to be run at all. That is what makes it stick.
The setting: the first rematch after the AFC title game
This was the Sunday night game at Lucas Oil Stadium, and the first meeting between the clubs since the Patriots’ 45-7 win in the AFC Championship Game the previous January — the game that set off the Deflategate saga. New England arrived 4-0. Indianapolis was 3-2, and Andrew Luck was still looking for his first win against the Patriots.
It was close for most of the night. The lead tied or changed five times by the middle of the third quarter. Colts safety Mike Adams returned a Tom Brady interception 14 yards for a touchdown, the Colts also tried a surprise onside kick that New England recovered, and Indianapolis led 21-20 at halftime before Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for a 25-yard score on the first drive of the second half.
| Quarter | Scoring play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Donte Moncrief 5-yard TD pass from Andrew Luck | IND 7-0 |
| 1st | Julian Edelman 12-yard TD pass from Tom Brady | 7-7 |
| 2nd | Stephen Gostkowski 40-yard FG | NE 10-7 |
| 2nd | Mike Adams 14-yard interception return | IND 14-10 |
| 2nd | LeGarrette Blount 38-yard TD run | NE 17-14 |
| 2nd | T.Y. Hilton 3-yard TD pass from Luck | IND 21-17 |
| 2nd | Gostkowski 35-yard FG with 0:02 left | IND 21-20 |
| 3rd | Rob Gronkowski 25-yard TD pass from Brady | NE 27-21 |
| 4th | Blount 11-yard TD pass from Brady (after the trick play) | NE 34-21 |
| 4th | Griff Whalen 18-yard TD pass from Luck, extra point blocked | NE 34-27 |
The play: fourth-and-3 at the Indianapolis 37
With 1:14 left in the third quarter, a Colts drive stalled at their own 37 with three yards to go. Punter Pat McAfee lined up in his usual spot. Then most of the punt unit, McAfee included, jogged toward the Colts’ sideline and set up in an imitation of a punt formation on the right side of the field. Anderson jogged with them, turned back, and settled under Whalen, a receiver and gunner who was now playing center.
New England did not take the bait. Instead of sending its defense back onto the field, Bill Belichick’s punt return unit kept five men hovering around Whalen. Whalen snapped, Anderson was swarmed almost instantly, and the Colts lost yardage on fourth down. A flag flew too: referee Tony Corrente announced an illegal formation on Indianapolis because the whole right side of the line was not on the line of scrimmage. The Patriots declined it and took over deep in Colts territory.
What the Colts were actually trying to do
Colts coach Chuck Pagano explained the idea after the game: shift late on a short fourth down, hope New England tried to substitute, and catch the Patriots with 12 men on the field.
We shifted over and I didn’t do a good enough job coaching it during the week. Alignment wise, we weren’t lined up correctly and we had a communication breakdown between the quarterback and snapper. That’s on me.
Chuck Pagano, October 18, 2015
Belichick said his staff had expected trickery in the kicking game that night — an onside kick, a fake punt or a fake field goal — and that his players simply recognized the swinging-gate look and covered the inside.
We went over to the overshift and made sure we covered the inside part and we reacted well to it. So it was a heads up play by our punt return unit.
Bill Belichick, October 18, 2015
Two days later McAfee filled in the rest on the Bob & Tom Show in Indianapolis. The player who had practiced as the center all week was rookie safety Clayton Geathers, who was out of the game with a knee injury. Whalen stepped into a role he had never repped. During the week the Colts had also added a second option: if New England did not substitute, Anderson would get under center and use a hard count to try to draw the Patriots offside for five free yards. If that failed, nobody was supposed to snap the ball — the Colts would take a delay-of-game penalty and punt.
Whalen, McAfee said, never got that late addition. His playbook said that if the quarterback got under center, the ball should be snapped. Anderson got under center to sell the hard count, Whalen felt him there, and snapped it.
So this is a 100 percent miscommunication. It’s literally a miscommunication.
Pat McAfee, October 20, 2015
McAfee, now a broadcaster, has walked through the play again on The Pat McAfee Show, including on its fourth anniversary in 2019:
Why it was illegal before it was a disaster
The flag mattered less than the turnover, but it explains how unusual the look was. Under Rule 7, Section 5, Article 1 of the Official Playing Rules, an offense must have at least seven players on the line at the snap, with eligible receivers on both ends. With Whalen over the ball and the rest of the unit drifted off the line on the far side, Indianapolis did not have a legal formation — a five-yard foul that New England was happy to decline. For how those alignment rules work every week, read the WhyNFL guide Who can catch? Formations and eligible receivers.
What happened next
The Patriots needed six plays from the short field. Brady threw an 11-yard screen to LeGarrette Blount for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and it was 34-21. Luck answered with an 85-yard drive capped by an 18-yard touchdown pass to, of all people, Whalen with 1:19 left, but the extra point was blocked and Gronkowski recovered the onside kick.
| Player | Line |
|---|---|
| Tom Brady, NE | 23-of-37, 312 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT |
| Andrew Luck, IND | 30-of-50, 312 yards, 3 TD |
| LeGarrette Blount, NE | 16 carries, 93 yards, 1 TD rushing; 1 TD catch |
| Danny Amendola, NE | 7 catches, 105 yards |
| T.Y. Hilton, IND | 6 catches, 74 yards, 1 TD |
New England moved to 5-0 and went on to a 10-0 start. Indianapolis fell to 3-3, finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs by one game behind Houston in the AFC South. The league’s own Top 10 series later ranked the play sixth among the worst plays in NFL history. Pagano coached the Colts through 2017 before he was fired.
The rivalry’s other rule legacy
The Colts-Patriots rivalry has a habit of showing up in the rulebook. After New England’s physical secondary frustrated Peyton Manning’s receivers in the 2003 AFC Championship Game, the competition committee — with Colts president Bill Polian among its members — made illegal contact a point of emphasis for 2004. That season Manning threw 49 touchdown passes. For how illegal contact, defensive holding and the far more common offensive holding work in 2026, read the WhyNFL guide Holding and illegal contact explained.
This Sunday the Colts host the Tennessee Titans and the Patriots host the New York Jets. Expect both punt units to line up the normal way.
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