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Just to point out the obvious:
This ball thing is terrible and the Patriots must be punished severely!
http://espn.go.com/blog/minnesota-v...of-game-ball-incident-during-panthers-vikings
Using 4 lineman formations is deception, and Bill was basically cheating. This has never happened before!
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-england...ther-nfl-team-used-four-offensive-linemen-set
This ball thing is terrible and the Patriots must be punished severely!
As both teams dealt with the freezing temperatures, Fox cameras showed sideline attendants using heaters to warm up game balls, which is against league rules. NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said Monday morning on NFL Network that officials warned both the Vikings and Panthers not to heat up the balls during Sunday's game, and would remind teams this week not to heat game balls.
"You can't do anything with the footballs in terms of any artificial, whether you're heating them up, whether it's a regular game ball or kicking ball, you can't do anything to the football," Blandino said. "So that was noticed during the game, both teams were made aware of it during the game and we will certainly remind the clubs as we get into more cold weather games that you can't do anything with the football in terms of heating them up with those sideline heaters."
http://espn.go.com/blog/minnesota-v...of-game-ball-incident-during-panthers-vikings
Using 4 lineman formations is deception, and Bill was basically cheating. This has never happened before!
And while we don't know for sure which NFL team Belichick was referring to, we did come across a play that may have been a root of their motivation. Back in Week 6, the Detroit Lions traveled to Minnesota to play the Vikings. At 8:59 of the third quarter, Detroit deployed a personnel group that actually featured six offensive linemen, but the formation is nearly identical to what the Patriots did on Sunday with their four offensive linemen set.
The Lions flexed an offensive lineman out between two receivers, similar to what the Patriots did with Shane Vereen. In both cases, these players were ineligible receivers based off of alignment (note: any player that aligns on the line of scrimmage but is covered up by another receiver is ineligible).
On the other side of the formation, the Lions had two receivers aligned outside but off of the line of scrimmage, making the right tackle an eligible receiver, much like Michael Hoomanawanui was for the Patriots while on the left side of the line.
As far as route concepts go, much like the Patriots did, the Lions sent four of their receivers vertically up the field (including the right tackle on a seam route, a la Hoomanwanui) and kept the ineligible receiver behind the line of scrimmage.
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-england...ther-nfl-team-used-four-offensive-linemen-set