The Titans used Bill Belichick's clock trick against him to help seal their upset win over the Patriots
- Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel used Bill Belichick's trick against him to help pull off the upset against the New England Patriots on Saturday night.
- Facing fourth-and-four in Patriots territory, Vrabel elected to punt, but first took a delay of game penalty and an intentional false start to drain some precious time off of the clock.
- It's a trick that the Patriots used earlier in the season against the Jets, with Belichick explaining at the time, "It's a loophole that probably will be closed, and probably should be closed, but right now it's open."
- In the end, the extra time that Vrabel and the Titans were able to tick off the clock proved invaluable, as Tom Brady and the Patriots offense were later left with just 15 seconds to attempt to pull off a miraculous comeback.
- Brady threw a pick-six that all but ended the game, and the Titans walked away winners.
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The Tennessee Titans pulled off the first upset of the NFL postseason, marching into Foxboro to take down the New England Patriots 20-13 on Saturday night.
One of the key moments of the game came in the fourth quarter when Titans head coach Mike Vrabel used one of Bill Belichick's own tricks against him to drain what proved to be critical seconds off of the clock.
The Titans held a 14-13 lead and were facing fourth-and-4 from the Patriots 36-yard line with 6:39 left to play. While some teams might opt to go for it so deep in enemy territory, Vrabel brought out the punt team and decided to play for field position instead.
But rather than merely snapping and punting the ball, Vrabel and the Titans took a delay of game penalty, draining the clock as far as they could to move their punt attempt back five yards. When the ball was reset, the clock began to tick again.
Again, the Titans looked set to punt, but Wesley Woodyard took an intentional false start just before the play clock expired, moving the team back five more yards but keeping the clock running.
From there, more chaos ensued, with the Patriots being drawn into a neutral zone infraction before the Titans finally kicked the ball with 4:44 remaining in the game.
It's a trick that takes advantage of what could be considered a loophole in the NFL rulebook. While the Titans would have been penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct had they taken two consecutive delay-of-game penalties, by having Woodyard jump for a false start at the last second, Tennessee gets the same effect out of a different infraction.
Ironically, it's a trick that Belichick brought to the forefront of football viewers' minds earlier in the season when he used the same loophole against the Jets in a blowout win.
"It was just the way the rules are set up," Belichick said after he was asked about the rule back in October. "We were able to run quite a bit of time off the clock without really having to do anything. It's a loophole that probably will be closed, and probably should be closed, but right now it's open."
Chances are, Belichick wishes the NFL had closed the loophole sooner rather than later.
After the Patriots took back possession, the Titans defense was able to quickly force them into another punt with just 3:10 remaining in the game.
Behind running back Derrick Henry, who finished the game with 182 yards on a whopping 34 carries, the Titans were able to drain another three minutes off the clock before being forced to give the ball back.
Had Vrabel punted during the wild sequence, Tom Brady and the Patriots may have had more than a minute remaining to drive the field for a game-winning score.
But thanks to his knowledge of the rulebook, Vrabel drained an extra bit of clock, and Brady was left with just 15 seconds to pull off a miracle.
Brady threw a pick-six on his first pass attempt to seal the victory for the Titans.
The NFL will likely figure out a way to close this loophole in the coming offseason, but on Saturday, it proved the difference in keeping Brady from pulling off one last miracle to keep the Patriots season going.
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