Brendon Ayanbadejo on Patriots’ hurry-up offense: ‘It’s a gimmick’
Brendon Ayanbadejo and the Baltimore Ravens’ defense ought to have their hands full next week in the AFC championship game against the Patriots.
Ayanbadejo, uh … doesn’t seem all that worried.
The Ravens’ linebacker took to Twitter during Sunday’s New England-Houston game to rip on the Patriots’ hurry-up offense (among other things), which caught the Texans off-guard on numerous occasions.
New England does some suspect stuff on offense. Can’t really respect it. Comparable to a cheap shot b4 a fight
— Brendon Ayanbadejo (@brendon310) January 13, 2013
Are you watching the game pats vs texans? If so you see the hurry snap offense catch em b4 they set up. It’s a gimmick.
— Brendon Ayanbadejo (@brendon310) January 13, 2013
Their offense is good enough to be successful with out that
— Brendon Ayanbadejo (@brendon310) January 13, 2013
You know the same organization that did spygate and cut a guy the day b4 the Super Bowl
— Brendon Ayanbadejo (@brendon310) January 13, 2013
Ayanbadejo also added: “18-1″, a reference to the 2007 Patriots, who were undefeated prior to a Super Bowl loss to the Giants.
The 36-year-old Ayanbadejo was a member of last year’s Ravens team that dropped a heartbreaking 23-20 AFC title game to the Patriots. Baltimore picked off Tom Brady twice in that contest. Ayanbadejo had two tackles in that game, while seeing limited action.
Ayanbadejo apologized for his tweets on Monday morning, offering the following:
I made selfish comments on twitter last night that reflected poorly upon myself, my teammates, and the organization. For that I apologize.
— Brendon Ayanbadejo (@brendon310) January 14, 2013
If I was the Patriots, I"d ask for him to be drug-tested this week. From the sound of those posts, he had probably been smokin' spliffs all day.
If Brendon did write the first four tweets, someone else wrote the apology.
@MichaelUrciolo1 Absolutely. That Wonderlic single-digit wonder didn't write that 'apology.'
Why do they always talk crap real tough and then in the end apologize for what they said like little punks. ''Damn can't somebody please stand behind what they say and mean it ?''
If you have a problem with the hurry-up offence, then you can't defend against it fool!
He just tipped Baltimore's hand.
Next morning apologies: That what happens when you sober up and somebody tells you what you wrote.
Why apologize? I'm a Pats fan and none of that seems disrespectful; it just seems stupid to say those things. How is a hurry up offense suspect or cheap? If the Texans D, which was lauded as the death of Tom Brady before the game, isn't paying attention and the Pats follow the rules then all is fair. Didn't realize this had changed from a knock out fight to gentleman's tea.
@_TheChad_ Its suspect and illegal because they are never set when they snap the ballm his point has some merits that have been pointed out by several other people. It's not the hurry-up, its the Brady hurry-up, the snap the ball before his own team gets all the way to ball, which unfortunately is an illegal formation. Their is a reason for the rules. BTW- I could careless about the Pats
Bryan, you are completely off base. What the Patriots do is completely legit. You need to re-read the articles of Rule 7.
The only rules pertaining to the defensive line's setup at the snap is that they can't be in or past the neutral zone.
If the ball is set by the ref, the offensive line is set for one second and the other players are at least one yard off the line, then the ball can be snapped.
It's completely idiotic to expect that the offensive line will be nice and wait for everyone on the defense to get into proper position. This is football - a simulation of war. It's not some 19th century English tea party held for Earls who inquire as the availability of Grey Poupon.
@FeliciaFitzgerald BTW- My original comment was meant to convey that they run the play before the OFFENSIVE team is set, which is against the rules. If the defender's are too stupid/slow/etc. to line up before the play that is there fault, as long as the offensive team is still playing by the rules
@FeliciaFitzgerald I could care less if the defense was set, but many times the ball is snapped without the 0FFENSE or the officials being set. If they get away with it, its fine, like the previous commenter said, "thats why they have refs," plus my team rarely plays the Pats (I'm a Falcons guy), so it really doesnt matter to me, but to say that they do things "by the book" in their hurry-up is not correct.
Btw- Several teams in college that have a hurryup component do this same thing, and it is also against the rules, but nobody flags it. The best example of this, is when a team completes a medium-long range pass (12-20 yds) and runs up to the ball and runs a quick dive play. NO ONE IS EVER SET when that sequence happens, whether it be Broncos, OU Sooners, Patriots, Oregon, and any number of other teams.
@BryanCustard @_TheChad_
That's why they have the refs. If refs see it they call it and if you think other team is getting away with something, point it to refs. Football rules clearly state that 7 players (IIRC) have to be set on the line before the play and the ball can only be snapped once refs are in position and ref gives the signal to go ahead. I believe this is what Pats did in the game and calling Pats offense a gimmick simply shows up opposing defense's incompetence.
@BryanCustard @bbc @_TheChad_
In that case the blame should go to refs for allowing it to happen and not Pats. It's akin to defense getting extra physical when they see refs will not call PI or Defensive Holding. You adjust how you play as to how refs are calling the game and every team does that, or if they are smart enough should do so.
@bbc @_TheChad_ I know the rule, I think we may have to agree to disagree on whether the Pats actually follow it lol, below I provided the most notorious scenario in which the rule is defied. By no means do I think this is gimmicky, or do I think that the Pats are not a very efficient offense when in their hurry-up, but their are definitely times when their are not 7 offensive players set at the time of the snap so to say its completely legal is simply not true, IMO.