New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick used a rather unusual tactic to mess with the Pittsburgh Steelers just before the half on Sunday.
With the clock running, Belichick cleverly faked going for it on 4th-and-1 near midfield with under a minute left. However, he immediately yanked his offense on the field with the clock still running and brought on the punt team, leaving the Steelers a bit befuddled — and with no one deep.
Belichick had Tony Romo in awe on the broadcast
(via @thecheckdown)pic.twitter.com/SHtduyyk22
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 16, 2018
It’s not really clear why Steelers coach Mike Tomlin didn’t call timeout upon realizing that New England intended to punt, as the Steelers didn’t get their own return team on the field. It may be that Belichick was trying to goad Tomlin into using a timeout upon seeing the punt team, after which Belichick would have sent his offense back on the field to go for it after running some time off the clock and minimizing some of the risk.
Either way, after not having the best week last week, it’s good to see Belichick back to his manipulative best.
