Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said after his team's loss to the Patriots that Bill Belichick's bunch used formations that "nobody's ever seen".
According to Belichick, maybe he should start paying better attention.
The Patriots head coach held a conference call on Tuesday and he doesn't seem to get what all the fuss is about regarding what the team did to catch the Ravens off balance Saturday night and get them back in the game when they had four offensive lineman and split Shane Vereen out as an ineligible receiver.
 As a student of the game, Belichick coached a good game Saturday night against the Ravens to advance to the AFC Championship game. (USA TODAY Images) |
According to MMQB's Peter King, it's a formation he's seen Alabama's Nick Saban use and he seems to believe that Belichick may have garnered the idea from him considering the two are good friends. However, Belichick claims it's a play that he got the idea from after seeing something from another NFL team.
"It's a situation that I saw another team use, kind of," said Belichick on Tuesday. "Then we talked about it and thought about ways maybe to put some pressure on the defense with that concept of having more receivers on the field than were actually eligible. To make them ineligible instead of making an ineligible guys eligible, to go the other way around. We came up with a few ideas. I'd say the origin of that play was from the NFL. What they did wasn't [what we did], but it sparked some ideas, so we did what we did."
When asked whether or not he might hear from the league about being prevented from using those formations again, Belichick seemed annoyed and said that this happens frequently enough where it shouldn't be that big of a deal and that "you're allowed to do that."
"Like what? I don't know what you're talking about," said Belichick. "That happens all the time. You come in on the punt team, ineligible guys report as eligible. They line up as guards and tackles on the punt team, the center up to the center's numbers aren't eligible players that report ineligible. Then they cover punts. We've seen it on offense. We've seen it - particularly you see it a lot on special teams in the punting team. Not so much on the field goals because you have your linemen protecting there.
"I would say it happens in every game on the punt team. You're allowed to do that. We did it. I don't really understand what the question is. If you have a question about the rules, you just talk to the NFL rules people and let them tell you about it."
Belichick went on to say that as far as he knows, he can't remember a week going by where another team hasn't done it in some form.
"Yeah. I think you see it every week," said Belichick. "I'd venture to say I couldn't remember the last time that I haven't seen that; haven't seen an eligible receiver report as an ineligible player in the National Football League. I'd say that happens every week."
So there you have it. Harbaugh said it's never been done, while Belichick insists it happens each week. Either way it's a brilliant move that has the Patriots playing in the AFC Championship game next weekend.
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