The Best Patriots Trick Plays of the Brady-Belichick Era

With April Fool’s Day Approaching, we bring you the best Patriots trick plays from the Brady-Belichick era. They’ve turned around games, helped win Super Bowls, and kept Patriots fans smiling for 16 years now. Like going to a concert, and hearing your favorite songs, fans have come to know and love some of these trick plays, as the Patriots go back to them time and again. You’ll see the play, and say, hey, I remember that one from 2001.

So here’s a few of our favorite Patriots trick plays from over the years. They’re broken down by category, as it’s fun to see the way these plays are brought back over and over again, sometimes, as many as 14 years apart.

If we missed any, please let us know in the comments below.

We’ll start with an honorable mention.

Honorable Mention: The Fake Kneel Down

It’d be higher had it scored, but it did look cool. Unfortunately, it did end with a minor injury for Dion Lewis. He’s fine now, or this wouldn’t have even been listed here. And where did the Patriots get the idea for the play… the Boca Raton Bowl of course.

#8: The Jet Sweep

We love this play. But when you run it as often as the Patriots do, is it really a trick anymore? The Patriots have run Julian Edelman 39 times over the course of his career – and seemingly all of them have been big plays.

There was this one-yard 4th down conversion in the game against the Colts in 2015. (Which also featured the worst trick play in NFL history, which you know you’re going to click on, for the laugh.)

Only one word to describe this play: Incredelman. #NEvsIND http://t.co/cPaJq9NsSL

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 19, 2015

#7 The Flea Flicker

There was this triple-pass flea flicker in 2007 against the Steelers in the Anthony Smith victory guarantee game.

Brady to Moss.
Moss back to Brady.

Brady to Gaffney….for a BEAUTIFUL flea flicker TD! #PITvsNE https://t.co/EzblCeawQQ

— NFL (@NFL) January 21, 2017

There was the Brady to Moss flea flicker in the 59-0 rout of the Titans in the snow in 2009.

They ran it for Chris Hogan against the Ravens earlier this year, and again in the 2017 AFC Championship Game, they got the Steelers on the flea flicker… again.

🚨 Trick Play Alert 🚨

Tom Brady with the Flea Flicker touchdown pass to @ChrisHogan_15! 💥

What do the @Patriots have in store for #SB51? pic.twitter.com/PozHFF6Vxc

— NFL UK (@NFLUK) February 4, 2017

Of course, it doesn’t always work. It does seem to be a play that the Steelers fall for quite a bit.

Our next trick involves a future Hall of Famer catching the opponent completely off-guard.

#6 Vinatieri Touchdown Pass

It may seem odd in hindsight, but the Patriots actually went into their game on November 8th, 2004 at the St. Louis Rams in trouble. They were coming off their first loss in 23 games, but were doing so with an extremely beat-up secondary. This was the game that Troy Brown made his debut on defense, when Asante Samuel went down early in the game.

But the trick play we’re talking about here is Adam Vinatieri’s touchdown pass. With the Patriots up 19-14, early in the second half, the Patriots lined up for a field goal on the Rams four-yard-line. Brown reported as eligible inside the numbers, then wandered towards the sidelines. No Rams went with him, the ball was snapped directly to Vinatieri, who javelin-ed the ball over to Brown for a touchdown. The Pats would go on to a 40-22 rout of the Rams.

The Rams, by the way, would make the playoffs that year at 8-8, and they haven’t been back since.

The next trick play on our list also features a player doing something they’re not known for.

#5 Pass Catcher Tom Brady

Tom Brady has thrown over 9,500 pass in the NFL. He’s caught two, and they’ve both been memorable.

The first came in the last regular season game ever played at Foxboro Stadium. They were playing the Miami Dolphins, who they trailed by a game for the division lead. With a tie score late in the first quarter, the Pats had the ball 3rd-and-one at the Dolphins 43-yard-line. In what would be a precursor to the direct snap play (more on that later); Brady pretended that the ball went over his head, and Kevin Faulk took the snap. He ran to his right, as Brady went left. Faulk lofted a pass to Brady, and the quarterback took the ball to the Dolphins 20-yard-line. The play led to an Antoine Smith touchdown, and an eventual 20-13 win, and the rest is history

The Patriots ran a play again in 2015, in the second half against the Eagles. This time, it was Danny Amendola throwing to Brady, off a double reverse. Brady walked toward the sideline as if to talk to his coaches, and the ball was snapped to James White (more on him later, too.) White handed to Amendola, who found Brady for a 36-yard pickup.

Our number four trick play is also about a player doing something that you wouldn’t expect.

#4 Tight End Mike Vrabel Just Catches Touchdowns

Honorble mention to Nate Solder’s touchdown catch against the Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship Game, but Mike Vrabel has been the best ineligible reporting as eligible for the Patriots.

Coming to the Patriots as an unheralded free agent in 2001, the linebacker Vrabel racked up 48 sacks for the Patriots over eight seasons. His hit on Kurt Warner led to Ty Law’s interception return for a touchdown in Super Bowl XXXVI that gave the Patriots a 7-3 lead. During his time in Foxboro, he was seemingly everywhere on defense.

But it’s his offensive record that may never be broken. He’s caught 12 passes in the NFL, and all of them have been for touchdowns. He’s never actually been tackled. His first catch came in 2002 at San Diego. In what would be a pattern, Brady goes play action, and nobody covers Vrabel. The Patriots wound up dropping that game to the Chargers.

The next time they ran a play for Vrabel, they wouldn’t lose, it was in the Super Bowl against the Panthers. Trailing Carolina 22-21, late in the fourth quarter, Brady faked to Antoine Smith, and then found Vrabel in the front of the end zone to put the Patriots up 27-22. They’d convert the two point conversion with another trick play (we’ll cover that one later).

Vrabel had two more touchdown catches in the 2004 regular season, against the Rams and 49ers. And seemingly the Eagles must have really not been paying attention to any of this, as they left him again free in the end zone in Super Bowl XXXIX. For the second straight year, his touchdown catch gave the Patriots a lead in the Super Bowl.

Mike Vrabel’s Receiving Statistics

Oh yeah, speaking of throwing the ball to unusual targets, there was that time that Bryan Cox caught a pass.

Next, we have a play that confounded a respected NFL coach, and had him scrambling for the rule book.

#3 The Eligible/Ineligible Receiver Play

The next of our Patriots trick plays was the play that infuriated and flummoxed the Baltimore Ravens in the 2014 divisional playoffs. This had John Harbaugh fuming, and intentionally drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to draw attention to this iniquity. He claimed the play was “unprecedented”, which means he must have missed the Alabama-LSU game in 2014 where they ran the play in question.

Of course, it probably didn’t help that the Patriots called the formations “Baltimore” and “Raven”.

What the Patriots did, was to have only four players on the field with ineligible numbers (50-79, 90-99); and have an eligible player report as ineligible. This, contrary to Harbaugh’s protests, happens quite regularly in the NFL – usually on special teams.

Shane Vereen reported as ineligible, but lined up out wide. He didn’t go out for a pass, and instead ran backwards. He was ineligible by announcement, but also by formation, as he was covered on the end by Julian Edelman. The Ravens covered Vereen. They didn’t cover tight end Michael Hoomanawanui, who Brady promptly found for a 16-yard completion. Baltimore again left Hoomanawanui wide open on the same play later in the drive.

This lead to a Rob Gronkowski touchdown several plays later, and an eventual Patriots victory.

The Ravens were so convinced that the play was horrible deceptive trickery that they obviously… ran their own version of the same play in 2015.

And of course, just to put something in the minds of future opponents, the Patriots ran a variation on the play using linebacker Shea McLellin in the Denver game in 2016.

For a complete explanation of the rules for eligible receivers, former Patriot Ross Tucker explains here.

Of course, the Patriots weren’t done confusing the Ravens; as our number two trick play shows.

#2 The Wide Receiver Pass

After the consternation that that Shane Vereen and Michael Hoomanui caused the Ravens by declaring to be ineligible earlier in the game, the double pass from Julian Edelman to Danny Amendola may seem a little bit like pouring on. Of course, if any deserves to have it poured on, it’s the Ravens. After twice trailing by 14 points to Baltimore in the 2014 AFC Divisional Playoffs, the Patriots were trying to battle back for a second time. They’d used the eligible ineligible play to get the Ravens off guard to get within

Might see this tonight? Brady swing pass to Edelman who throws a dot to ‘Dola 😴 pic.twitter.com/zGggGpeJfL

— Scott Stanwood™🎗 (@scott_stanwood) February 5, 2017

Patriots fans had first seen the play when David Patten hit Troy Brown on a 60-yard bomb against the Colts October of 2001. This was the game where Patten also caught a 91-yard pass from Brady… and ran for a 29-yard score on a reverse.

But… the play had been in mothballs for a long, long time. Ever since David Givens had thrown an interception against the Jets in 2003.

And so, we top off our list with a play that if done right can look like a magic trick.

#1 The Direct Snap

For the last of our Patriots trick plays, we go back to Super Bowl XLI. After Danny Amendola scored against the Falcons in Super Bowl XLI to cut the Patriots deficit to 28-18, the Patriots lined up to go for two. Running back James White lined up wide, and then motioned into the backfield next to Tom Brady. Patriots fans everywhere knew what was coming – like fans at a magic show who’ve seen the whole act before, but still love to watch the magician perform.

Center David Andrews snaps the ball low, Brady contorts after a seemingly wild ball, and White takes the snap and sneaks into the end zone. The play brought the Pats within one score, and brought back memories of all the other times they’ve run the play.

They remembered the Super Bowl against the Panthers when they followed up the Vrabel touchdown with a direct snap to Kevin Faulk for a two-point conversion to go up 29-22.

And what’s a fake play, without a fake of a fake? In the 2007 Divisional Playoffs against the Jaguars, they faked the direct snap play to Faulk, but Brady hid the ball behind his hip and found Wes Welker for a touchdown. ”I’m looking for my Academy Award on that play,” Brady said after the game.

Danny Woodhead ran the play against the Vikings in the Randy Moss Reunion game in 2010. If you click here, you can watch Bill Belichick break down the play.

Like fine wine, this play never gets old.