It wasn't the silent count as much as it was the "only work one side of the field" and "let's debut a defense we've tried to avoid in live scenarios to keep it secret" strategy that ended up doing them in.
And the flawed "play a backup Tackle who they subsequently cut halfway through the season" strategy. Come to think of it, it's almost like they were handicapping themselves on purpose.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro ~Hunter S.