Patriots run fake punt to perfection (Video)

The New England Patriots didn’t feel like punting on the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon. Instead, they ran for a first down with Nate Ebner on a fake.

To say that the New England Patriots have dominated the AFC East for the last decade plus would be a gross understatement. Their three rivals in the Buffalo Bills, the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets have been largely incompetent during the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era in Foxborough.

Often times, New England’s AFC East rivals lose the game before even arriving at Gillette Stadium. It doesn’t help that a hapless Miami team had no interest in preventing the Patriots from advancing the football on a fake punt.

New England usually has a trick play or two up its sleeve heading into a ball game. It didn’t take long, but they caught the Dolphins cat napping. Former rugby sevens player Nate Ebner takes the snap and runs to the right near the sidelines for an easy first down.

Belichick has some serious guts in calling this play. New England was in a fourth and nine from its own 26-yard line. It was quite the gamble for the Patriots, but it certainly paid off. To be fair, can any opponent expect a fake punt within the first minute of a game? Well, against New England, you should expect anything and everything.

New England is running away with the AFC East as it usually does. The Patriots are 8-2 on the year with the Bills three games back at 5-5 with six remaining. Miami is four games back of the Patriots and is probably out of the AFC playoff picture already.

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New England is just having fun with this one. Toying with the Dolphins has been one of Belichick’s favorite pastimes since 2000. It’s so easy, so why not put the ball in the hand of a former rugby player’s hands to see what happens. Great design and even better execution for New England on this excellent fake punt.