Chapter 1334 Aggressive
Leading and winning are two different things.

Being able to win and daring to win are two different things.

In the past twenty years, there have been more than one or two teams that have the ability and strength to challenge or even defeat the New England Patriots. They have even pushed the New England Patriots to the brink of the cliff in the game. But with victory in hand, whether they have the determination and courage to cross the finish line is another matter.

Super Bowl XLIX, a game on the Seattle Seahawks’ one-yard line.

In Super Bowl 51, the Atlanta Falcons led by 25 points in the third quarter.

These are all cases right before our eyes.

The same is true now. The Tennessee Titans once completely suppressed the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs with an unparalleled performance of “28:0”. Not to mention others, Vrabel himself probably couldn’t believe that they could make the Kansas City Chiefs, who had won all the regular season games this season, so embarrassed.

Now, the question is, does Vrabel have the courage and guts to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in one go and run full speed to the finish line?

Answer?

Maybe we need to put a question mark and give Vrabel some time to catch his breath.

For Vrabel, everything happened too fast and too quickly, like a torrent, rushing at him in an instant. He needed some time to sort out his thoughts.

How did all this just happen?
From “28:0” to “28:14”, it seemed that before we could even blink, the Kansas City Chiefs had already caught up in an unstoppable manner. What should we do now?
In this regard, with only seven years of coaching career and a lack of experience as a head coach in his second season, Vrabel lacked a corresponding strategy in his mind. Vrabel couldn’t help but think about what Belichick did when he was with the New England Patriots.

Stand firm!

Vrabel knew that they needed to wait for halftime, return to the locker room to sort out their thoughts and adjust their strategy. This was not the best time to calm down and review the game; but he still needed some breathing space.

And, most importantly, slow down the pace and get back to what the Tennessee Titans do best.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been increasing their tempo, both on offense and defense, and this has been more evident on offense, as has been the case with the past two waves of offense. The defending champions’ offense appears light, agile, efficient and strong, with the two touchdowns taking less than three minutes in total.

There is no doubt that the league’s most feared Kansas City Chiefs offense is on the mend.

However, the Tennessee Titans are not always good at one-shot offense, especially with Henry shining this season, positional warfare is their strong point.

Slightly different from Romo’s perspective in the live broadcast room, Vrabel believes that there are two different solutions to the dilemma before him:

Should he continue to follow the rhythm of the Kansas City Chiefs and fight to the end, using his own weaknesses to overcome others’ strengths; or should he give up the battle of volition and return to his own strengths?

This is not a difficult decision.

The key spirit inherited from Belichick is to not be afraid to win ugly, because a win is a win, and as time passes, no one will remember how those games were played. The only thing people remember is winning or losing, and success or failure. The win is worth remembering.

Therefore, Vrabel has no burden at all. He doesn’t care about things like being fair and honest, or winning or losing head-on.

“Derek!”

In just a short moment, Vrabel temporarily regained his focus and calmness, turned around to find Henry’s figure in the crowd, and looked over at him earnestly.

“How are you feeling?”

Henry is a little tired——

He continued to burn and explode at 120% for more than one and a half quarters, carrying the entire offensive team forward almost single-handedly. It is normal to feel tired. The double test on the physical and mental levels is draining his soul.

But since entering the league four seasons ago, Henry has been waiting and looking forward to such a moment, to step up at the critical moment, to carry the team forward with his own feet, to break through the shackles and win, just like the time when he was in the red tide. Now, the opportunity has finally appeared.

He will not give up, he will not surrender, his pride and dignity will not allow it, his fighting spirit and blood are boiling.

“Very good,” said Henry.

Vrabel looked into Henry’s eyes. “It’s only the second quarter, and we still have the whole second half, so are you sure it’s okay?”

Fighting spirit was burning. Henry straightened his chest and said without hesitation, “Of course.”

Vrabel patted Henry on the shoulder, “Okay. Remember the fourth quarter of our last wild-card game? That’s what we’re going to do next.”

The tactic of “drag” is not only to delay the game, maintain the score advantage, consume time, and buy Vrabel space to think and enter the halftime break; it is also to slow down the pace, force the game into the quagmire, disrupt the rhythm of the Kansas City Chiefs, and regain the rhythm that the Tennessee Titans are accustomed to.

Kill two birds with one stone.

In Vrabel’s view, this is the best strategy. He doesn’t worry about the abuse from commentators and netizens, saying that his game is too dirty and ugly. As long as the Tennessee Titans can beat the Kansas City Chiefs, everything is worth it.

Following the New England Patriots, will they upset the Kansas City Chiefs again?

This is a good news headline.

But Vrabel’s ambitions go beyond that. He is also preparing to complete a three-game winning streak and defeat the Houston Texans in the conference finals.

Let people see the miracle of the sixth seed. When the Tennessee Titans stand on the Super Bowl stage, the entire North American continent will be crazy about it.

Then people will realize that his decision tonight was not ugly, but victorious wisdom.

Exhaling lightly, Vrabel folded his hands over his chest and held his head high. Amid the chaos and stalemate, he regained his confidence.

However, three minutes and seventeen seconds later, the smile froze on Vrabel’s lips, his face was filled with astonishment, and a hint of panic appeared in his eyes.

Everything happened just as Vrabel expected. Just like the fourth quarter of the previous game against the New England Patriots, the rhythm of the entire game was disrupted due to fouls and time delays. In addition to the constant yellow flags, the conflicts between the offense and defense on the court began to increase, and the game was interrupted all the time.

Judging from the time the game took, it was “three minutes and seventeen seconds”, but in reality, this game went back and forth for nearly ten minutes, over and over again.

For the Tennessee Titans, they gradually regained their stability and launched positional warfare mainly with ground offense.

But there is a variable here.

Obviously, Reid watched the wild-card game tape and prepared for it, and the Kansas City Chiefs defense responded very promptly in the positional battle.

The “human wave tactics” piled up layer by layer to continuously create pressure in the frontcourt. Not only did Tannehill’s short pass offense face the pressure of the zone defense, but Henry’s ground offense also encountered layers of obstruction. The Kansas Chiefs completely gave up the backcourt defense and went all out to move forward.

Aggressive and unyielding.

In the end, the Tennessee Titans only got two first downs, and then-

strike out.

(End of this chapter)