{"id":654001,"date":"2026-01-04T19:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T19:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/654001\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T19:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T19:38:17","slug":"the-colts-two-fake-punts-in-a-row-is-straight-out-of-madden-and-it-actually-worked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/654001\/","title":{"rendered":"The Colts\u2019 two fake punts in a row is straight out of Madden, and it actually worked"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">It\u2019s Week 18 of the NFL season, and the Indianapolis Colts are mathematically eliminated. The Colts got off to a hot start to become the most pleasant surprise of the early season as running back Jonathan Taylor garnered MVP buzz, but everything that has happened since has been a disaster: there was Daniel Jones\u2019 season-ending injury, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbnation.com\/nfl\/1088646\/sauce-gardner-trade-grades-for-colts-jets-after-nfl-blockbuster-deal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:bold trade for Sauce Gardner;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">bold trade for Sauce Gardner<\/a> that completely backfired, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbnation.com\/nfl\/1094413\/philip-rivers-comeback-colts-facts-daughter-nfl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:failed experiment of pulling Phillip Rivers out of retirement;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">failed experiment of pulling Phillip Rivers out of retirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">With nothing left to play for, the Colts decided to have a little fun in their season finale vs. the Houston Texans, and it resulted in a sequence that feels more suited for a video game than real life.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">On 4th-and-5 during the first quarter, the Colts ran a fake punt that worked to perfection, with punter Rigoberto Sanchez throwing a Mo Alie-Cox for 16 yards and a first down. That\u2019s just the start. Watch the play here:<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The fake punt worked so well that the Colts decided to run it again. That\u2019s right: Indianapolis ran a fake punt on first down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Colts kept their punt team on the field and ran a direct snap to the upback. It caught the Texans off-guard and resulted in a \u201ctoo many men on the field\u201d penalty, resulting in a free five yards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">As a lifelong Madden player, I\u2019ve definitely run consecutive fake punts before when I get bored. I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve ever seen that in a real NFL game, though.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Colts are breaking all the rules this year \u2014 trading two first-round picks for a cornerback, bringing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbnation.com\/nfl\/1094305\/philip-rivers-hall-of-fame-eligibility-colts-practice-squad-active-roster\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:44-year-old QB on the brink of the Hall of Fame out of retirement;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">44-year-old QB on the brink of the Hall of Fame out of retirement<\/a>, and now running consecutive fake punts. This wasn\u2019t the season Indianapolis hoped for, but at least it wasn\u2019t boring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Week 18 of the NFL season, and the Indianapolis Colts are mathematically eliminated. The Colts got off&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[60611,2005,2772,94882,7,253,2004,392,2381,1753,22388,6,32425,5004,7536],"class_list":["post-654001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indianapolis-colts","tag-chris-shepherd","tag-colts","tag-daniel-jones","tag-fake-punt","tag-football","tag-houston-texans","tag-indianapolis","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-indianapoliscolts","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-mo","tag-nfl","tag-phillip-rivers","tag-rigoberto-sanchez","tag-sauce-gardner"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115838524593397137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}