Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 1373: Deep in the Quagmire
This season, the Houston Texans' offense and defense are not top-notch, ranking in the middle of the league. Not bad but not outstanding either, just mediocre.

However, it was such a "mediocre team" that topped the AFC South, narrowly defeated the Buffalo Bills in overtime in the wild-card game, and swept the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round. It now stood on the stage of the conference finals, trying to become the first team to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs this season.

...Why?
There is no doubt that football fans should be asking this question: Yes, why, why the Houston Texans?
Watt faltered and missed most of the season. Even when Watt was on the court, his dominance was not as strong as before. Watson stumbled and his roller coaster performance was sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes effective and sometimes not. Although he has grown, he is not stable enough and is far from being able to shoulder the responsibilities of a team leader.

From all aspects, the Houston Texans are an ordinary team. They have lost all their brilliance and edges. It is not their turn to create a miracle. However, they created the best playoff record in team history this season, advanced to the conference finals for the first time, and ignited the frenzy in Houston.

However, a blessing in disguise, it was precisely this adversity that has made the Houston Texans where they are now.

In fact, the Houston Texans have had a rough season. Not only Watt, but multiple players in multiple positions have suffered injuries. Some have serious injuries that end the season, while others are minor injuries that require absences for two or three weeks. The situations are endless and have affected both the offensive and defensive teams indiscriminately in all aspects.

Although the rugby team is large, with 53 players, such widespread injuries still left the coaching staff at a loss.

At this time, Crennel stood up.

Crennel proved with practical actions that it was no accident that he led the Kansas City Chiefs to upset the Green Bay Packers who were chasing a winning season in the 2011 season. What he is good at is precisely relying on a group of blue-collar players and a group of small players to work together to disrupt the powerful opponents who are full of superstars.

It was precisely because the team was full of injured players that head coach O'Brien was at a loss. In a desperate move, Crennel proposed a bold rotation system:
Multiple players are allowed to rotate in each position. On the one hand, players are required to be familiar with the entire tactical manual; on the other hand, the coaching staff formulates targeted tactics based on the players' arrangements and combinations to ensure that the team's tactics are changeable while maximizing the personal abilities and potential of these blue-collar players.

Sometimes, the team starts with one lineup and ends with another, and then changes again in the next game.

This not only makes it impossible for competitors to accurately guess their strategies, but also ensures that the core competitiveness is always in the minds of the coaching staff; it also allows the players to put aside their reliance on big-name players, unite everyone from top to bottom, and give everyone the opportunity to show themselves, and the team atmosphere is unprecedentedly high.

In the entire team, except for quarterback Watson who firmly holds the starting position, all other positions remain mobile. Of course, the coaching staff still has a relatively stable starting lineup in mind, but injuries may occur at any time, and they must remain calm and complete adjustments quickly.

Every position can be rotated if necessary, including Watt.

The defense that stood in front of the Kansas City Chiefs this afternoon was completely different from the team that played in Week 6 of the regular season. There were familiar faces, not-so-familiar faces, and completely unfamiliar faces.

There are only three Pro Bowl players in the starting lineup, Watt is naturally one of them, and the other two are cornerback Johanthan-Joseph and safety Tashaun Gibson.

However, Joseph was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2011 and 2012, while Gibson was selected in 2014.

That's all.

It is no exaggeration to say that this defensive team has no superstar style. Even the three former Pro Bowl players have passed their prime.

However, it was this defensive group that was given new life under Crennel.

Perhaps, judging purely from the data, the Houston Texans' defense is only in the middle of the league; but they have shown their comprehensiveness and versatility, repeatedly playing a role in changing the game at critical moments, both in the wild card game and the divisional game, and this afternoon was no exception. At the start of the game, the Houston Texans' defense strategy was very similar to the opening tactics of the second half of the previous game by the Tennessee Titans:
Relying on front-line raids and frontcourt short pass zone defense to form layers of pressure and compress the Kansas City Chiefs' stretching space, the goal is not only to stop the Kansas City Chiefs' offense, but also to slow down the Kansas City Chiefs' rhythm, prevent Mahomes and Levi from smoothly joining forces to advance and "rush", find opportunities in the strong confrontation of positional warfare, and finally complete the task of striking out.

This tactic, although clumsy, can effectively control the Kansas City Chiefs' offensive damage value within a certain range and prevent them from losing blood quickly.

And, the Houston Texans have Watt.

Regardless of Watt's ability and condition, as long as he stands in the defensive lineup, he is a threat and no one can ignore his presence.

What's more, Watt did perform well in the opening stage this afternoon, with his unstoppable steps, flexible response and clean tackles, causing panic wherever he went, including Levi.

To be precise, Levi was not an exception, but rather the key target of defense. Less than four minutes into the first quarter, Levi's No. 23 jersey had become covered in patches, with green, brown and black smeared everywhere. The patches were like medals, showing traces of fierce fighting.

Four minutes later, the Kansas City Chiefs "just" advanced to the 22-yard line of the opposite half, and were repeatedly trapped in the quicksand and mud of positional warfare.

And, here we encounter a serious obstacle——

On second down and eight yards out, Levi was intercepted by Watt. This was Levi's first interception behind the line in the entire game, and the intensity of the confrontation between the two sides rose to a new level.

Afterwards, the Houston Texans' defense relied on an airtight pass defense to complete a strikeout, but Bradley Roby, the former Denver Broncos cornerback who just joined the team this season, fouled at a critical moment, and Kelce, who had no ball, committed a pulling foul, giving the Kansas City Chiefs a first attack.

The Houston Texans defense, which had already struck out, had to start from scratch. The Kansas City Chiefs, who escaped the disaster, quickly gained their footing. Mahomes' quick short pass found Kelce, who singled out Roby to complete the advance; but soon after, Watt finally completed the first sack of the game, forcing Mahomes to lose yards.

There was no breathing time, no room to blink, the Kansas City Chiefs fell into third gear again, the offensive and defensive confrontation in front of the end zone continued to heat up, and the bloody contest was breathtaking.

Three gears and eight codes.

The crisis has not been resolved yet, and the atmosphere is extremely tense.

At the critical moment, the referee's whistle broke the deadlock.

"Early move..." The whole audience held their breath, "Kansas City Chiefs, No. 10, five yards penalty..."

It wasn't a "cheating motion", Hill crossed the line of scrimmage before the snap, an early motion foul.

All of a sudden, the Kansas City Chiefs were in a third-and-13 situation.

(End of this chapter)