Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 1303 Perfect Match
Brady, didn't take the Tennessee Titans seriously——

This is not speculation, but fact.

Normally, Brady rarely shows such an attitude; but this season, everything seems to be changing quietly.

Under heavy pressure, Brady's state of mind inevitably changed. He really did not take the small Tennessee Titans seriously.

reason?

First of all, the New England Patriots have only missed the AFC Finals once since 2010, which was the 2017 season when they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round.

Secondly, the last time the New England Patriots lost to the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium was in 1993, when the Tennessee Titans were still the famous traditional powerhouse Houston Oilers. For a full years since then, the New England Patriots have remained undefeated against the Tennessee Titans at home.

Finally, judging from the data this season, the New England Patriots have restrained the Tennessee Titans in all aspects:

This year, the Tennessee Titans' position in the league is tenth in offense and twelfth in defense, with both statistics hovering in the middle.

Among them, the passing offense ranks 21st and the running offense ranks 3rd. In other words, this is a typical running team, and running back Henry is the key to the team. The passing defense ranks 24th and the running defense ranks 12th. It is obvious that this is a team with weak second-line passing defense.

The New England Patriots' offense ranked seventh and their defense ranked first.

Among them, the passing offense ranked seventh and the running offense ranked twelfth, which means that Brady was facing the opponent's terrible passing defense; the passing defense was second and the running defense was sixth. Although the running defense was slightly inferior, they were ready to face the opponent's ground offense.

In other words, the New England Patriots can counter what the Tennessee Titans are good at, but the Tennessee Titans cannot match what the New England Patriots are good at.

that's all.

No wonder "Inside the League" overwhelmingly believes that the New England Patriots can defeat the Tennessee Titans and advance to the next round with their heads held high.

Apparently, neither did Brady. Belichick and Brady saw no other possibility for this game, and they refused to accept any other outcome.

Just so confident.

The Tennessee Titans understood this very well. The team was united from top to bottom and arrived at Gillette Stadium hand in hand with the determination to die.

In the pre-game interview, the reporter asked running back Derrick Henry whether he had spoken to Levi and learned from him. Henry answered in the affirmative.

"Yes, we talked over the phone, and the professor shared some of his experiences and feelings. I responded like a good student. I guarantee that I never took classes so seriously when I was in college."

Amidst the laughter of the audience, Henry said calmly, "Indeed, I knew we were facing a very strong and excellent team; but now we know that they are not invincible."

Without further ado, people understood:
The Kansas City Chiefs' victory over the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in the first week of December made people realize that Foxburg is no longer an unbreakable fortress in the cold winter.

This is how the game unfolds.

After supporting Tannehill as the starting quarterback, Tennessee Titans head coach Vrabel once again proved his tactical wisdom. Facing the tactical master Belichick at Gillette Stadium, Vrabel still seized the small gap in "people" and tailored a set of tactics for the Tennessee Titans, putting on a good show in front of Belichick in Foxburg.

The answer lies in Derrick Henry.

Gillette Stadium in January was freezing cold and windy, which was a nightmare for traditional pocket quarterbacks. Vrabel took advantage of the situation and the Tennessee Titans' offense focused entirely on Henry, holding high the banner of ground offense and fighting a classic battle.

Henry, who had never been given a chance to perform in the first two seasons with the Tennessee Titans, spent four years honing his skills and finally showed all his energy and talent in this wild-card game. His subversive attitude allowed the entire NFL to experience his abilities in all aspects for the first time.

34 carries for 182 yards and a running touchdown.

The point is, the average ground advance was 5.4 yards per carry.

Unstoppable!

Throughout the game, the New England Patriots were helpless in the face of Henry's head-on breakthrough and ground running. This was a 100% strength ball, with no tricks or cooperation, all relying on personal ability. Henry, who turned on the super god mode, completed a game in which he was able to kill gods and Buddhas.

The New England Patriots defense, which ranked first in the regular season, was torn apart and lost its way by Henry.

In terms of scoring, Henry only had one running touchdown, but Henry's role in the game was far more than that.

Henry helped the team advance, control the rhythm and consume time at key moments and in key shifts many times. Vrabel formulated tactics completely around Henry, which not only gave full play to Henry's personal abilities and shared the pressure of passing offense, but also won the initiative to control the rhythm.

In the fourth quarter, Vrabel repeatedly used Henry to consume playing time, and exploited loopholes in the rules to deliberately delay the game, cunningly slowing down the pace of the game, using Belichick's playing style against Belichick, causing the New England Patriots to have to continue racing against time.

Henry, the only superstar——

Throughout the game, the Tennessee Titans advanced a total of 272 yards, and Henry completed 204 yards by running and passing, accounting for 75% of the team's offense.

Of course, relying solely on the Tennessee Titans' offense is not enough to defeat the New England Patriots. After all, the Tennessee Titans are not the Kansas City Chiefs. If you want to take a victory away from Gillette Stadium, how to defend Brady is also a heavy task. Vrabel handed in a perfect answer.

The absence of tight end Gronkowski, the lack of wide receivers with deep strikes, and the offensive line plagued by injuries meant that Brady's offensive tactical options were limited. The Tennessee Titans used zone defense combined with pass rush pressure tactics to continuously pressure Brady layer by layer.

At the critical moment, the New England Patriots' running backs were completely silent. Michel, who shined last season, almost disappeared in this game. He stumbled and was unable to help Brady share the pressure, which in turn caused the passing offense to be caught up in the storm of pressure from the opponent.

Then, the last straw that broke the camel's back was Brady himself.

At the age of 42, not only can his physical functions not keep up with his tactical awareness, but his observation vision, on-the-spot judgment, etc. are also not as sharp as when he was young.

Brady has been trying to prove that "veterans never die", but in the end, age caught him. In the counterattack moment before the end of the game, Brady's best and most skilled golden time, this time Brady surrendered an interception and watched his opponent complete the interception and return it for a touchdown.

Fall into the abyss.

(End of this chapter)