Fake Injury Changed NFL History

On Monday Night Football this week, the New York Giants defense Deon Grant came up with a fake injury to stop the high-flying offense of Sam Bradford and the Rams. Not a big deal? It doesn't mean anything because it is part of the game. Really? With playoff teams sometimes seperated by one game or sometimes a tie-breaker any advantage is huge. A fake injury may have changed the course of history less than a decade ago..

Let's go back eight years to 2003 when the 9-2 New England Patriots came rolling into the RCA Dome to face the 9-2 Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots came out swinging against the Colts and built a 31-10 lead in the third quarter. The Colts responded with 21 unanswered points, 14 coming off two Tom Brady interceptions to tie the game at 31 in the fourth quarter.

With the Colts trailing 38-34, the Colts began to march down the field and had the Patriots on the ropes with their fast-paced no-huddle offense. The Colts hurried to the two-yard line with a first and 10 when Willie McGinest had a leg injury. This gave the Patriots a time out, of which they had none and it gave them time to huddle up and talk about how to stop the Colts. On the fourth and one play from the one -yard line, Willie McGinest busted through the Colts offensive line to stop Edgerin James at the one-yard line to perserve a four-point Patriots win. In celebration, Willie McGinest sprinted down the field faster than Ben Johnson and his steroids in the 1988 Olympics.

Not a big deal? The Patriots would go onto finish the year at 14-2 and the Colts would finish at 12-4. If the McGinest doesn't stop the clock and the Colts momentum with a fake injury, the Colts finish with an identical 13-3 record and would have had the AFC title game at the RCA Dome because they would have owned the tie-breaker over the Patriots. Would the Colts have beaten the Patriots in Indianapolis in the AFC Championship game and gone on to their first Super Bowl? Who knows, but the Patriots would've had to play Peyton Manning indoors instead in Foxbourgh. A fake injury gave the Patriots a very real Super Bowl win.