Throughout the Patriots’ history under Bill Belichick, there’s been a lot of subterfuge right up to — and at times, far past — the NFL rulebook. We know this is a team that will do just about anything to win. At times, it’s almost admirable.
At other times, it’s really not.
With 10:50 left in the third quarter of their eventual 24-17 win over the Bills on Saturday that sealed their 11th straight AFC East title, the Pats had second-and-8 at the Buffalo 33-yard line. Tom Brady threw what he thought was a touchdown pass to tight end Ben Watson, but the play was nullified by an offensive pass interference call on receiver Julian Edelman.
The ref threw a Revive at Julian Edelman đđ#BUFvsNE pic.twitter.com/qnPPaGXBT6
— Tony Clements (@TonyClementsTC) December 21, 2019
Edelman slammed into Bills safety Jordan Poyer with one of the pick plays the Patriots love to run, and get away with more than they should. Right after contact, Edelman went to the ground as if he’d been shot.
âI was trying to sell it,â Edelman said after the game of the ‘injury.’ âHopefully, they didnât see it.â
âOh, you mean Lazarus?â teammate Matthew Slater said. âHe was kind of funny the way he laid out there. But Edelman came back from the dead.â
As it turned out, the ruse benefited nobody. Edelman had to sit out a quarter of the game while he was tested under the league’s concussion protocol. The penalty stood, and the touchdown was negated. The drive ended in a Nick Folk 51-yard field goal, giving the Patriots a 13-10 lead.
On Edelman’s first play back from the bench, with 9:01 left in the game, he did manage to shake it off and come up with a huge 30-yard reception on what would be the game-winning drive. Edelman’s motion gave Tom Brady a zone coverage indicator, Edelman ran a simple slant, bounced off contact to get upfield, and got his team to the Buffalo 29-yard line.
It was a remarkable, uh, “recovery.”
Edelman wouldn’t be the first player to fake an injury, of course. Then-Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders was fined $15,000, and his team $35,000, for faking a leg injury against the Bengals in 2012.
After Giants safety Deon Grant went down with a false flag to try and stop the Rams’ no-huddle offense in 2011, the NFL sent out this memo:
Clubs are reminded of the following league policy which is stated in a Supplemental Note to Rule 4 (Game Timing), Section 5, Article 4, on page 19 of the Official Playing Rules:
“The Competition Committee deprecates feigning injuries, with subsequent withdrawal, to obtain a timeout without penalty. Coaches are urged to cooperate in discouraging this practice.”
The Competition Committee has reviewed this issue several times, but has been reluctant to propose a specific rule, since assessing a charged timeout for every injury timeout would deprive a team of timeouts for strategic purposes. It also could encourage injured players to remain in the game at risk to themselves to avoid incurring a charged team timeout. To avoid the necessity of a rule with many unattractive qualities, teams are strongly urged to cooperate with this policy. We have been fortunate that teams and players have consistently complied with the spirit of the rule over the years and this has not been an issue for the NFL. We are determined to take all necessary steps to ensure that it does not become an issue.
Going forward, be advised that should the league office determine that there is reasonable cause, all those suspected of being involved in faking injuries will be summoned promptly to this office in New York to discuss the matter. Those found to be violators will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action for conduct detrimental to the game. Discipline could include fines of coaches, players, and clubs, suspensions or forfeiture of draft choices.
One of the reasons the league has always found it difficult to discipline players for this kind of thing is that it’s hard to know at the time if a player is actually hurt or not. But in this case, with Edelman admitting it, and Slater adding his own take, there’s no question that the league should take action. Head injuries aren’t a laughing matter, as if anyone should actually have to say that, and Edelman’s actions in this case were far beyond the pale.