Colts-Patriots Fake Punt Disaster Results In Fabulous NES Tecmo Bowl Humiliation

It's usually assured that any Sunday night football game is going to have a certain draw to it, but the one that went down this past Sunday night (10/18) between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots had the makings of being an epic slug fest of rivals.

Ahem. I am a huge Colts fan, and that's a little interesting when HotHardware's Paul Lilly and head honcho Dave Altavilla are major Patriots fans. In fact, given my geographical location (east coast Canada), many that surround me are Pats fans, so when this matchup goes down, things get tense. Sometimes they also get exciting. Other times, they may get downright embarrassing. So embarrassing, for example, that I just want to hide under a fuzzy fall blanket and wait for it to all blow over.

You see, as the third quarter was winding down in this game, the Colts' offensive strategy turned downright bizarre. Needing just a bit of distance on the 4th down with 3 yards to go, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck prepared for a snap near the center of the field, with safety Colt Anderson standing just behind him. All the while, the rest of the Colts defense was a good distance away, like in the next zip code. The team was trying a trick play, and a poorly executed one at that apparently.

Before anyone could even raise their hand to their head to scratch it, the Colts were sacked, lost yardage, and subsequently gave 1st down to the Patriots due to their illegal formation and turning over the ball on downs. The Patriots unsurprisingly declined the penalty. 

NBC's Cris Collinsworth couldn't have put it better when he said, "What... the heck?"

It was a sad moment for the Colts to make such an idiotic play in an otherwise relatively strong showing. The Patriots, after all, had a vendetta out on the team for kickstarting the whole "deflategate" thing. Was such an embarrassing play really needed at such a game? Make no mistake; this is a play that's going to go down in the history books as one of the most pathetic ever. Top ten lists are going to rank this one high.

It's also one that's being picked up all over the internet, much to the chagrin of Colts fans everywhere. As painful as this is, though, I can't help but give some major props to Sports Illustrated for recreating this disastrous play in the NES classic Tecmo Super Bowl. Seriously, just watch:

Oy. The emotions that flow through me. If not for that play, the Colts could have had a chance. Instead, Colts fans are left with humiliation, and the only bragging right being that we didn't lose as bad to New England as we did last year.

Sigh.