10 players
 

So I never played organized football or anything, what are the operational aspects involved that resulted in us having 10 players on the field?

When they call a defense, do they hold up signs or somesuch so the right personnel gets on the field?

There were 10 guys on the field, each of which could have called a timeout, and Steichen who could have called a timeout.

I cant imagine that Franklin wasn't looking around and saying, "oh hey, this looks weird..."

How does it actually work such that a mistake like this happens?

It was a cluster of major proportions, but good things seldom happen when your Cornerback falls down and goes boom.

This is a good point. Unless it was one of the safeties missing, it wouldn’t have mattered. It was just bad luck.

That’s the risk of a defense like Anarumos. Still preferable to Bradley.

It is fucking inexcusable. Totally on Anarumo. Like him but this should never happen.

Ultimately, I don’t think you can blame Anarumo. He called the defensive scheme, and he can be excused for thinking that everyone who should have been involved made their way onto the field.

It’s not too much to expect, though, that one of the defenders might have looked around and asked himself: where’s Fred? Isn’t there supposed to be someone over there playing Safety?

Franklin is supposed to count the defense on every play.

Also, the way it works is that there are various personnel packages, so when one of those is called, the guys who are part of that package are supposed to know and will be on the field.

Either the call was not communicated effectively or someone wasn't paying attention.

I haven't watched a replay - what position was missing from the play?

Anarumo is the coach. He is supposed to set up things so this cannot happen. His preparation failed. Not the end of the world but certainly his responsibility

Franklin was too busy trying to time up his blitz to count, I guess.

I counted 5 DB's on the play. Which is what you would expect on 1st and 10 from the opponents 10 yd. line. So it had to be a LB, unless they were playing dime?

I played high school football. It was up to our captain to count the players on the field. Our safety was the 2nd. line of defense as he counted as well.