For the Indianapolis Colts, the loss to the rival New England Patriots, yet again, in the first matchup between the teams since the Colts' 44-7 beatdown at the hands of the Pats in last season's AFC Championship Game - the game that also brought the Deflategate scandal into being - was bad enough. The moment late in the third quarter, when the Colts audibled into an odd fake punt formation, resembling something like the "swinging gate" sometimes employed by opportunistic college head coaches to catch an unsuspecting defense napping on extra points, on fourth down, promptly lost two yards and the entire stadium simply stood, jaws slack with disbelief while Pagano shouted the words "why did you snap that?" at special teams ace Griff Whalen, things got exponentially worse.
And while it's unlikely that that one moment, even in conjunction with the eventual loss at the hands of the Pats, another dismal performance against another elite team, will finally be the catalyst that causes Colts owner Jim Irsay to pull the plug on the Chuck Pagano era in Indy, it sure seems to be giving the notoriously volatile Irsay reason for pause.
Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, citing two Indianapolis sources, revealed midday Monday that Pagano's decision to employ the formation during a crucial moment of a crucial game against a conference rival now has the Colts head coach in "pretty deep hot water" with Irsay. And while those Colts sources didn't indicate to Cole that Pagano could be on the outs in Indy, other NFL executives indicated that Pagano's decision-making, which put his players "in position to fail," could in turn have Pagano, already in the final year of his deal and facing an odd front office dynamic with general manager Ryan Grigson and the impatient Irsay, "usher[ed] out" of Indianapolis after the season.
