"I dont know what youre talking about. That happens all the time, Belichick said Monday on a conference call with the media. You come in on the punt team, and eligible guys are reported as ineligible. They come in as guards and tackles on the punt team. The center most of the (long snappers) numbers in the NFL are eligible players that report as ineligible, then they cover punts.
We see that on offense, we see it a lot in special tams and the punting game. Not so much on field goals because you have your linemen in there protecting. Id say it happens in every game on the punt team. Youre allowed to do that. We did it. I dont really understand what the question is. If its about the rules, you should talk to the NFL rules people. Let them tell you about it.
Belichick said he saw an NFL team use a similar set, inspiring the Patriots to use their own.
Its a play that its a situation that I saw another team use, kinda, Belichick said. We talked about it, thought about ways to put some pressure on the defense with that type of concept to defend more receivers on the field than were actually eligible to make them ineligible instead of making the ineligible guys eligible, to go the other way around. We came up with a few ideas.
The origin of that play was from the NFL. What they did wasnt it sparked some ideas. Thats what we did.
Perhaps Belichick is referring to a set that the Jacksonville Jaguars used multiple times when they split out two offensive linemen. The Jaguars kept five offensive linemen on the field, however.
The Patriots used four offensive linemen and made running back Shane Vereen ineligible on two plays and tight end Michael Hoomanawanui on one. On those plays, Vereen and Hoomanawanui still could catch passes as long as quarterback Tom Bradys throws went backward.
Yeah. I think you see it every week, Belichick said. Id venture to say I couldnt remember a time I havent seen an eligible receiver report as an eligible player in the National Football League Id say that happens every week.
