“Belichick playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers” -Gronk Minutes ago a Rob Gronkowski short showed up in my feed. I wanted to search what he was talking about and it’s these two plays to “Ho Man”.

The rules are the offense must have 7 players on the line of scrimmage. The two outermost players at the line of scrimmage are eligible. All ineligible guys must be covered up by an eligible receiver. Anyone wearing 50-79 and 90-99 are automatically ineligible and have to report eligibility to the referee and anyone who is an eligible number (1-49, 80-89) must report ineligibility. Patriots are trying to force the illusion of 6 eligible receivers when only 5 were eligible. It's pretty clever overall until the NFL decided that creativity would be illegal.

im a die hard ravens fan, and as much as it hurts to say this I have to say....well played patriots.

I really admire New England's tactical genius through the use of this formation and employing it in a no-huddle attack. Brilliant.

I guess the Patriots shouldnt run play action plays anymore either because they're "deceptive" lmao what a joke

Don't know if anyone saw highlights of this game on NFL Turning Point but this ineligible receiver gimmick was used twice before. Detroit Lions used it against Minnesota Vikings in Week 6 of the regular season (Stafford got sacked), and Alabama used it against LSU in college (resulted in a TD). Nobody made a big deal of it either time. John Harbaugh made this out to be much more than it was, because Belichick caught him totally offguard and made him look bad in the process.

“Deceptive”??😂 I mean I wasn’t aware the opposing team was supposed to help your defense understand what they’re doing

Four in the backfield, seven on the line of scrimmage, left tackle position filled with #47, who is uncovered, and therefore, eligible. Simple, brilliant. Lots of moxie just to run this play, but it wasn't rocket science.

As an actual football player. This was a smart move. This is a classic strategy, just taken to the next level. An NFL coaching staff should be able to recognize it. I'm a Colts fan so definitely not on the Patriots side, but as a football player, this is a brilliant (and simple) formation.

I love Daryl Smith pointing at Hooman in the last 2 seconds of this clip... he's like "Hey ref, he's not allowed to catch the ball off the line, right?!"

This might be one of the only examples of “use this one weird trick” that actually works.

Anyone here after watching RG3's clip? 😅

When looking at the play from above as the camera angle shows, it's obvious that this isn't a normal formation because the two "receivers" on the right are on the line and the two receivers on the left or off the line. However it's gotta be difficult at field level in real time to figure out what's going on.

dont be mad Bill knows the rules better than anyone else and will do anything he can to win. what he did was legal. it is up to the NFL to make the rules and the pkayers to play by them. Plus who actually thinks the ravens are the better team???? their qb and coach are trash

It's the defense's job to recognize the offensive set. Simple. Hey coach, there's something called a time out to talk to your players too.

Also the delay of game on the punt was legal, why was Bellichick so angry vs the titans?

Came back here after the Detroit Lions botched 2 point conversion attempt against Dallas

I am a Ravens fan and this was not illegal, it was just Belichick out coaching the overrated Harbaugh, Ravens need to get rid of him

Didnt help matt elam didnt wrap up on julian edelman and i think marlon brown was open on the harmon interception. Maybe flacco was hoping he would try to jump for it

As a Ravens fan I agree this is brill.

Can you record this unedited? And record the part where Collinsworth points out the ref yelling don't cover 34

its only trickery to a defense that isnt paying attention. the referee announces if a player is ineligible. so dont cover that guy. problem solved, harbaugh

Everyone would love this if their team were the ones who succesfully pulled it off. This is one of those things people dont like to be on the receiving end of, but would absolutely do it if they had thought of it first.

I'm a Ravens fan and I'm still pretty salty about this. I do want to know though, does the referee tell the defense that a lineman is eligible before the play or were the Ravens just supposed to figure it out on the fly? If it's the latter then I'm glad they got rid of the rule. It just seems so stupid to have a rule that says guys with certain numbers can't receive the ball unless they secretly check in with the ref before the snap.

why was this taken down from NFL? No full game? Salty ravens...

This was fbrilliant by the Patriots. If the NFL changes the rules then so be it but it's not illegal or dirty and if I were a Patriots fan I hope they do this on every play until someone figures out how to stop it.

On the second play, #34 is uncovered. I thought he was supposed to be an ineligible receiver??? Or did he become eligible on the second play and #47 became ineligible? Because on the second play #34 stays back again and the guy in the left tackle's spot goes out for a pass. I think the second play was illegal formation. It is okay if the ineligible guy lines up in the slot because he has to be covered by an end, but on the second play he was not.

My issue is that 2 lineman are not line up within 1 yard of the line of scrimmage (as is always the case). 63 & 76 both line up more than 1 yard off the ball. Because the rule is that the last person on the line (within 1 yard) is eligible it makes it difficult to tell who is technically on the line. If you're going to allow teams to do these types of formations then you have to better police how close everyone lines up to the actual line of scrimmage. 76 & 11 are lined up about the same distance off the line and 11 is technically in the backfield while 76 is a lineman blocking. I know these aren't the 2 players in questions but there's not a clearly defined 7 on the line to tell who the last 2 "eligible" players are. Obviously the other 4 players not on the line are eligible.

Defining moment in the 2nd dynasty I'd say this is the Tuck rule Game of the 2nd patriots dynasty.

Hahaha yes but did he check in, cuz I’m looking at that lions cowboys game this year in 2023 and referring back to this, cuz I don’t remember him checking in as an eligible receiver. At least not the way the lions had to supposedly. Guess the rules were different for Brady 😂

Coming from the team that got schooled by the Wildcat, I give McDaniels credit on this one. But clearly an exploitation that will need to be corrected for (with rules) before the 2015 season. I don't know how well it will work if teams are expecting it. But maybe it doesn't matter. It worked here. Perfectly legal. Well done!

I’m honestly honored that belichick had to go that deep in the trick bag to finally earn a win in the playoffs vs Baltimore’s practice squad. Says a lot about how tough January joe plays the pats.

Is anyone else here after the Cowboys vs. Lions debacle?

Play calls on both. "Baltimore" and "Raven" .

Ravens fans still complaining about this

I wanted this formation in Madden

Great game! Hats off to the Pats. Now kick Seattle's ass please. They are so cocky they make steelers fans look like the angels. Russell Wilson is awesome though.

If so powerful why cheat

Goes to fucking prove that NE will find anyway to find a loop hole to win. Because they can't do it legit.

I enjoy how Pats fans think the NFL is out to hurt their team, yet also get mad at people who call the NFL out for being corrupt lol

A

This was a BS play. The Pats were trying to take advantage of their left tackle wearing #47. Even though he wasn't covered up, this play should've been ruled illegal. The five offensive linemen are supposes to wear numbers 50-79. Otherwise, I would have my center wear number 15, my guards wear #22 and 25 and my tackles wear #28 and 30. This way everyone on my offense could be eligible depending on our formation.

The way the ineligible players were announced is not legit. It's rushed. The official barely announces it. Whenever I've seen this done, it's awkward, not fluid like you see here. Harbs doesn't call a timeout because it's the beginning of the 3rd and he has a game plan of his own. Ergo: Pats cheated.

It's legal, but a really cheap way to play. Honestly I think they shouldn't be allowed to snap it until everyone knows which WR is ineligible. I know they had to announce whenever a lineman was ruled an eligible receiver. It should be the same for this. It's blatantly exploiting an obscure rule and not the least bit sportsmanlike.

The shit the Patriots have gotten away with and people still call them great smh

Oh man I remember this formation I can't believe they got away with it. And they busted it out at the end of the season cuz they knew it wouldn't fly. They studied the rules and came out with something that very borderline passed as a formation. At the time from the rule book it technically wasn't cheating but it was shady as hell and costed teams like the Ravens big games against them during the time. Pat on the back for deception Patriots good for you

It’s a bending of the rules and a sleazy interpretation of rule to save their season cause they couldn’t win straight up. Just like video taping practices

More cheating

How was this even legal in the first place. Only the pats get away with cheap parlor tricks like this , they could not beat the ravens.

Pats didn't cheat but NFL made sure they could break the rules as always. Not the Pats' fault but still a joke of a win

ravens are a better team and pats lucky again because they got the best coach in nfl history forget about tom brady hes just the qb of a well coached team!!!!!!!!!!!!!