We’ve seen Mike Vrabel pull out a rulebook loophole once already this year -the same one his former coach, Bill Belichick has used — to help his Tennesee Titans win a playoff game
And thanks to some very smart people on Twitter, we may have seen Vrabel pull off an incredible move to help the Titans win on Sunday.
Here’s the situation: with the Titans down by one to the Texans and 3:25 left in the fourth quarter, Houston has a 2nd and 1 at the Titans’ 25-yard line. The clock is ticking.
It looks like Vrabel sent out safety Josh Kalu without substituting another player, then he might have sold it a little bit from the sideline that he was irate there were too many men on the field. The whistle blew, giving the Texans the first down they probably would have gotten anyway. But! IT STOPPED THE CLOCK!
Mike Vrabel is outstanding
1. he rushes in 46 late (12th man on D)
2. 33 is WTF
3. penalty for 12men
4. Vrabel fakes upset & brings 46 offWHY?
-penalty stops clock
-time > yds
-knows HOU will scoreResult:
– w :04 left, TEN scores tying TD
– move saved 40 seconds & won game pic.twitter.com/wikWKtGuJD— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 19, 2020
Here is the sequence. It’s 2nd and 1. Odds of Houston converting either on this down or the next is astronomical. Joseph is confused looking to the sideline and Vrabel is telling him “it’s ok” and then does a sales job to make sure the ref sees it. https://t.co/ZFJzQJC5II pic.twitter.com/EWuOhk5J4U
— Mike Herndon (@MikeMiracles) October 18, 2020
What happened after that? The Texans scored with 1:50 left, and Ryan Tannehill tied it up with a pass to A.J. Brown with four seconds left. Derrick Henry then won it in overtime.
Some of that is thanks to the time Vrabel saved with that move, and it appears as if this isn’t the first time he’s done that:
Vrabel drew the SAME intentional 12th man penalty in the SAME situation in 2018:
running clock
still had 3 timeouts
opponent had 2nd & shortthe Titans:
-stopped the clock
-gave up the first down
-forced a punt
-drove the length of the field
-scored a touchdown
-won the game pic.twitter.com/deUohbbhot— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 19, 2020
Serious brilliance.
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