Much has been made in the buildup to Super Bowl XLIX about the New England Patriots offense, and not just because quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski are two of the game’s biggest stars.
What has everyone talking about New England’s offense of late is its use of unusual formations intended to trick a defense. While it’s normal for teams, Seattle included, to bring an extra lineman on the field and declare him an eligible receiver, where the Patriots have added a wrinkle is by having a player who is normally eligible, say a running back, declare as ineligible for a play. The idea behind that is that if a defense isn’t paying close attention, it might end up covering an ineligible players while leaving an eligible one open, a scenario that led to a touchdown by tackle Nate Solder in the AFC championship game.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he has been in contact with the league, and that a new mechinism has been put in place for officials to signal when a player wearing an eligible number is ineligible for a play. You’ll note in the quotes below that Carroll said this is new, but the league later clarified that this went into place before the AFC championship game.
Here’s what Carroll had to say on the topic: “Right from the beginning of the week last week, after the Indianapolis game, some things popped up so I went right to call them in to find out what is going to happen about the mechanics of stuff. There was a mistake made in that game that was on a touchdown play, when a player came in, reported eligible and then stayed on for the next play and didn’t get off the field and they scored a touchdown on that play – that shouldn’t have happened. That’s something that could happen. The Colts got fooled on that play. On the next player reporting eligible it was a different player, so it got confusing and they miscovered the guy. We don’t want that to happen if we can help it, so we called in and asked about that. They came back with a very clear response about that. They’re going to have a new signal that designates when a player with an ineligible number will be eligible – that’s the same. But, when an eligible number is now ineligible, they’re going to make a new declaration to the players on the field so that you’ll clearly identify that. I know the league is absolutely committed to getting that right and doing that well. The Patriots have brought that to the forefront because they’ve been using some stuff like that lately. We’ve been preparing for it every day because we don’t want to be caught in mishandling on our end. It’s really on us to see it. The officials do what they do, but we still have to find it because it could happen like it did to the Colts. We’re very much in tune with it. It has just been part of the preparation so it’s not a big deal to us now.”
Asked what the signal was, Carroll said, “The new signal is the referee will point to the player that has the eligible number and he’ll signal that he is not eligible. That’s the new thing. They’ve never done that before.”
He demonstrated the move as he did it, which looked something like an incomplete signal, though with his hands down low by his knees. Either that or Carroll was trying to do The Charleston.
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