Pat McAfee Offers Brilliant Breakdown Of Patriots’ Blocked Field Goal
Pat McAfee might have a reputation as a fun-loving guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously, but the former All-Pro punter sure knows ball.
So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he appears to have cracked the code on a jaw-dropping Patriots special teams play.
New England ultimately fell short Sunday night to the Miami Dolphins despite the fact that Brenden Schooler turned in the special teams play of the season through two weeks. The Patriots special teamer helped his team get back in the game at Gillette Stadium after coming in “motion” to get a running start that helped him block a field goal in the second quarter.
It was clear at the time of the play that Schooler and the Patriots had some sort of tell from the Dolphins that helped time up the play. McAfee took things to the next level upon seeing the All-22 film, and he was ready to break it all down Monday on his ESPN show.
Schooler hinted at something but didn’t give specifics following the game.
“They dialed up a really good scheme for that block,” he said. “Saw a weak point on their field-goal operation, and we worked it during the week and felt pretty confident about it going into the game.”
Schooler’s play, according to McAfee, largely came from something the Patriots saw from the holder — not the long-snapper. As McAfee explained from the film, something as simple as a deep breath was enough to tip off Schooler.
Oh, and the Miami holder? That would be punter Jake Bailey, who spent the first four seasons of his NFL career under the watchful eye of Bill Belichick and the Patriots coaching staff.
Check out the breakdown below.
It’s obviously incredible attention to detail. Unfortunately for the Patriots, though, it wasn’t enough, as they couldn’t quite keep pace with Miami’s offense. In the process, they also burned a valuable piece of information … assuming Bailey is able to fix his tell.