Although the New England Patriots received criticism for what Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh called "substitution trickery," Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano doesn't believe Tom Brady and the Pats did anything wrong in last week's NFL divisional playoff game.
Harbaugh accused New England of trickery for the third-quarter play they ran, which featured an odd alignment that caused confusion among the Ravens defenders. Harbaugh wasn't shy about sharing his dislike of the play, but Pagano saw nothing wrong with it.
"They did nothing wrong as far as what was explained to me, nothing wrong in what they did," Pagano said Monday, via ESPN. "Again, we just have to make sure we cover all our bases and understand they do a great job and they use a ton of personnel groups."
Pagano said he called the league office Sunday morning to inquire about the play in case the Denver Broncos, whom his Colts visited later that afternoon, tried to run a similar play.
"They only had four linemen in on those plays, had three wideouts, two tight ends and a running back and a quarterback," Pagano said. "It made it difficult for the defense to get lined up, especially if you're in a man-to-man situation and you're trying to figure out who is eligible, who's not, who's on the ball, who's off the ball, all those types of things. You don't have a lot of time. Officials aren't going to slow the thing down and let you get lined up so to speak. We have to be prepared for everything obviously."
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels pulled the play out of his pocket during the third quarter with the Patriots down 14 points. The play entailed the Patriots lining up four offensive linemen and declaring a normally eligible receiver as ineligible, which had Baltimore's players unsure of whom to match up against.
The odd alignment led to Harbaugh storming onto the field and being flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the Patriots eventually marched down the field for six points on a touchdown 5-yard pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski.
When Brady heard of Harbaugh's comments, he fired back.
"Maybe those guys gotta study the rulebook and figure it out," he said. "We obviously knew what we were doing and we made some pretty important plays. It was a real good weapon for us."
New England hosts Indianapolis on Sunday at 6:40 p.m. ET.
