Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 221: Momentum
"Hush, rookie!"

"Shh!"

The crude and bloody curse words mixed with boos burst out from Gillette Stadium, surging towards Levi who was standing on the sidelines with a ferocious look.

Although this is always the case on the road, the firepower focused on Levi today was particularly fierce, and it reached its peak again with Levi's touchdown.

Levi looked calm, these attacks just proved his excellence.

But Justin Houston couldn't stand it.

The linebacker, who was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 2011th overall pick in the third round of the draft, has now grown into the team's defensive leader.

He has been selected to the Pro Bowl for four consecutive years since the 2012 season.

Last season, Houston tore his knee ligament and missed most of the season. He did not return until the eleventh week of the regular season, but he never found his form.

New season, new beginning.

Houston is ready to make a comeback, starting with the defending champions.

Levi is a rookie, yes, this is a fact, there is no need to deny it, even now, the Kansas City Chiefs still half-jokingly call Levi a rookie, including Mahomes and other rookies are no exception.

But it is one thing for them to shout themselves, and it is another thing for their opponents to humiliate Levi.

Houston didn't like it. When was it the turn for others to point fingers at their Kansas City Chiefs rookie? What's more, Levi had just been slapped in the face.

"Bros."

Seeing Brady gathering together, Houston also gathered his teammates.

"Hey, listen, it's tough, it's very tough, but we're still fighting."

"The rookie just gave us old guys a good lesson. He ran the ball three times and ran 75 yards. The pats couldn't stop him at all. The defense was useless. The rookie won the lead for us."

"Now, it's our turn."

The words are simple and clear, but powerful.

Pats is the nickname of the New England Patriots fans for their team. It comes from the abbreviation of the pronunciation of Patriots, but over time, it has gradually evolved into people's abbreviation for this team.

Cornerback Marcus Peters also nodded repeatedly. "Listen, Gillette Stadium was enraged, but it took out all its anger on the rookies who had no ability to resist. Next, we should shut them up and let them know that rookies can't be bullied by just any Tom, Dick or Harry. I haven't even had the chance to bully them yet."

Like Houston, Peters has been an orthodox chief and has been firmly united with the team since entering the professional league in the 2015 season.

His words made everyone burst into laughter.

Safety guard Eric Berry, who is the undisputed leader of the entire defense, nodded slightly, "We should also show our abilities, otherwise we will not be able to hold our heads up in front of the rookies when we go back to training."

The Kansas City Chiefs are the kings of passing offense. Even though they have had top running back Jamal Charles in the past few seasons, their ground offense is still not ranked high. But just now, Levi used three consecutive running balls to get three first-down conversions and ran long distances into the end zone.

The momentum instantly reached its peak.

The defensive team playing away from home also had murderous intent in their eyes.

Belichick immediately noticed the subtle change in momentum.

The New England Patriots have just taken the initiative on the defensive end in the hope of extinguishing the momentum of the Kansas City Chiefs; however, they did not succeed, and as one side gains strength while the other loses strength, the Kansas City Chiefs' defense must be in high spirits, and they will be under tremendous pressure next.

Belichick is all too familiar with this situation.

Therefore, the New England Patriots adjusted their offensive strategy slightly at the beginning, trying to use ground offense to complete some advances in the first or second gear, not only to relieve pressure on Brady, but also to limit the high morale of the opposing defense, slow down the rhythm, and finally rely on Brady's pass to complete the first attack conversion. It must be said that Belichick is indeed an old fox, with an excellent grasp of the game context, and can calmly plan and control the rhythm.

However, what Belichick cannot control is the players' on-the-spot performance.

On first and second down, the New England Patriots' running backs encountered a fierce blockade and suppression from the Kansas City Chiefs' front-line defense, so that Brady had to face a difficult situation of third and sixth yards.

For the first time, Brady showed his big heart. He completed the pass before encountering the crisis of being sacked, stuffed the football into the arms of tight end Gronkowski, and relied on Gronkowski's personal ability to force the ball forward and completed the first attack conversion thrillingly.

"what!"

Brady also showed some bloodiness.

Whether it was Levi's tough performance that caused the score to be completely deadlocked, or the defense team increased its intensity to create pressure, Brady could feel the change in the atmosphere of the game, which was obviously not expected in the pre-match preparations -

The Kansas City Chiefs are tougher than expected.

Of course, Brady's state was also aroused, and murderous intent burst out of his eyes.

But the second time, Brady quickly realized that the situation was becoming more and more difficult, and the Kansas City Chiefs were actually bursting out with more amazing energy.

On first down, the running ball was intercepted at the line of scrimmage.

On second down, the Kansas City Chiefs used only four rushers, three defensive linemen and... a cornerback, an unconventional strategy.

Generally speaking, when there are multiple pass rushers, linebackers will join the defensive front line; but in the past two years, especially after the Seattle Seahawks' explosive team completely changed the league's definition of defense, there are more and more big cornerbacks, and defensive tactics that rely on cornerbacks to raid the quarterback have also become popular.

This time, the Kansas City Chiefs used this tactic without warning, completely catching Brady off guard. Peters was like a tiger descending from the mountain, completing the capture, and Brady had no chance.

The situation suddenly became critical.

In the third-down 14-yard situation, Brady tried to steal a long pass to resolve the crisis, but found that the Kansas City Chiefs' zone defense was highly focused and could not find the target for the pass. What was worse was that the pass was slightly delayed, the pocket was torn, and Houston cut into the pocket.

The Kansas City Chiefs used a "3-4" defensive formation, with only three defensive linemen, three! As a result, facing the five offensive linemen of the New England Patriots, Houston actually tore the pocket, which made Brady particularly angry.

But there is no time to be angry now. Brady finally found an opportunity to try to complete a long pass before Houston completed the sack or collision.

He found his top receiver --

After wide receiver Julian Edelman, who performed countless miracles last season, was ruled out for the season due to injury, Amendola is now Brady's top passing target.

However, to be honest, Amandola, who was an undrafted rookie at the time, still lacks personal ability, especially when passing the ball in third gear with large yards, his route running is often easily discovered by opponents in advance.

Just like this time.

Safety guard Berry only stared at Amendola, saw through Amendola's running route one step ahead of time, and stuck to the position when he saw the falling arc of the pass, not only creating interference, but also almost stealing the ball -

If Amendola hadn't committed a foul and disrupted Berry's center of gravity at the critical moment, Berry would probably have gotten the first interception of the game.

Just a little bit.

Although he missed the interception, Berry still accurately defended Amendola.

Brady's 35-yard sneak pass ended incomplete.

strike out!

The situation suddenly changed and the initiative shifted to the Kansas City Chiefs.

(End of this chapter)