Chapter 1373: Chapter 1372: Deep in the Quagmire
This season, the Houston Texans’ offense and defense were not top-notch, ranking in the middle of the league. Not terrible, but also not outstanding, truly mediocre.
However, it was this kind of “mediocre team” that topped the AFC South, narrowly won the wild-card game against the Buffalo Bills in overtime, and unexpectedly swept the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round, standing honorably on the stage of the conference finals, attempting to become the first team this season to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs.
…Why?
No doubt, football fans must be asking this question: Yes, why, why the Houston Texans?
Watt was limping and missed more than half of the season’s games. Even when Watt was on the field, his dominance was not what it used to be. Watson’s performance was like a roller coaster, sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes effective and sometimes not. Despite some growth, he was not stable enough and far from being able to shoulder the responsibilities of a team leader.
From all aspects, the Houston Texans were an ordinary team, losing their shine and edge. It seemed they were not qualified to write miracles, yet they managed to create the team’s best playoff performance in history this season, reaching the conference finals for the first time and igniting Houston’s fervor.
Yet, a blessing in disguise, it was precisely this adversity that positioned the Houston Texans where they are now.
In reality, the Houston Texans had a tumultuous season this year. Not only Watt, but also multiple players in various positions suffered injuries, ranging from season-ending serious injuries to mild ones causing two or three weeks of absence. The situation was ever-changing and indiscriminately affected both the offensive and defensive groups.
Despite the football team being large, with as many as fifty-three players, such widespread injuries still left the coaching staff at a loss.
At this time, Crennel stepped up.
Crennel demonstrated with real actions that leading the Kansas City Chiefs to an upset victory over the Green Bay Packers in their pursuit of an undefeated season in 2011 was not a fluke. His strength lies in relying on a group of blue-collar players, a group of underdogs united to disrupt the formidable opponents filled with superstars.
Because of the many injuries, head coach O’Brien was also like a clever housewife forced to cook without rice. Desperately, Crennel proposed a bold rotation system:
Each position allows multiple players to rotate. On one hand, players are required to be familiar with the entire playbook; on the other hand, the coaching staff formulates targeted tactics based on player combinations, ensuring the team’s tactics remain varied while maximizing these blue-collar players’ individual abilities and potential.
Sometimes the starting lineup would be one set of players, and by the end of the game, it would be another, with different lineups in the next match as well.
This not only made it difficult for opponents to accurately gauge their strategy, maintaining the core competitiveness in the coaches’ minds, but also encouraged players to let go of reliance on big-name players. Everyone united from top to bottom, and each had a chance to showcase themselves, raising team morale to an unprecedented high.
In the entire team, aside from quarterback Watson firmly holding the starting position, all other positions remained flexible. Of course, the coaching staff still had a relatively stable starting lineup in mind, but with injuries potentially occurring at any moment, they had to remain calm and make quick adjustments.
If necessary, every position could be rotated, including Watt.
This afternoon, the defensive group standing in front of the Kansas City Chiefs had completely transformed from the team in the sixth week of the regular season, with familiar faces, not-so-familiar faces, and completely unfamiliar faces.
In the starting lineup, there were only three Pro Bowl-level players, with Watt naturally being one of them, and the other two being cornerback Jonathan Joseph and safety Tashawn Gibson.
However, Joseph’s Pro Bowl appearances were far back in 2011 and 2012, while Gibson’s was in 2014.
That’s all.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the defensive group in front of us lacks the aura of superstars. Even the three former Pro Bowl players have already passed their peak.
Yet, it was this defensive group that found new life in Crennel’s hands.
Perhaps, purely from a data perspective, the Houston Texans’ defensive group was only mid-level in the league; but they showed their comprehensiveness and versatility, repeatedly playing the game-changing role in critical moments. It was true in the wild-card game, the divisional round, and today was no exception.
At the start, the Houston Texans’ defensive strategy was very similar to the opening tactics in the second half of the previous game against the Tennessee Titans:
Relying on frontline raids and short pass zone coverage in the front field to create layered pressure, compressing the Kansas City Chiefs’ comfortable space, not only aiming to stop the Chiefs’ offense but also to slow down their rhythm, not allowing Mahomes and Li Wei to effortlessly push forward as a team, looking for opportunities in the face-off of positional warfare, finally completing the task of a three-strike out.
This tactic, although clumsy, effectively kept the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive damage within a certain range, preventing rapid bleeding.
Moreover, the Houston Texans had Watt.
No matter Watt’s ability and state, as long as he was lined up in the defensive group, he was a threat, and no one could ignore his presence.
Furthermore, in the opening phase this afternoon, Watt indeed performed excellently, advancing like a hot knife through butter, adapting to fill gaps, and making crisp tackles, creating havoc wherever he went, including Li Wei.
To be precise, Li Wei was not an exception; rather, he was a key focus target. Less than four minutes into the first quarter, Li Wei’s number 23 jersey had already become a mess, smeared with green, brown, and black, with patches like medals, showing marks of fierce combat.
Within four minutes, the Kansas City Chiefs “had only” advanced to the 22-yard line of the opponent’s half, repeatedly falling into the quagmire of positional warfare.
And here, they encountered serious obstacles—
Second and eight, Li Wei was stopped by Watt, marking the first time in the entire game that Li Wei was tackled behind the line, taking the intensity of the back-and-forth contest up a notch.
Subsequently, the Houston Texans’ defensive group relied on airtight pass defense to complete the three-strike out, but Bradley Roby, a former Denver Broncos cornerback who just transferred to the team this season, committed a key foul when defending the position against Kyle, committing a holding foul against Kelsey, giving the Kansas City Chiefs a first down.
The Houston Texans’ defensive group, which had already completed the three-strike out, had to restart from zero as the Kansas City Chiefs, having dodged a bullet, quickly regained footing with Mahomes’ quick short pass finding Kelsey. Kelsey, challenging Roby, made progress; but then Watt finally achieved the first sack of the game, forcing Mahomes to lose yards.
No breathing room, no time for blinking, as the Kansas City Chiefs again found themselves in third down trouble, with the offensive and defensive battle at the edge of the end zone intensifying, creating a stifling knife-edge competition.
Third and eight.
The crisis was still unresolved, and the air was tense to the extreme.
At the critical moment, the referee’s whistle broke the deadlock.
“False start…” The whole audience held their breath, “Kansas City Chiefs, number ten, penalized five yards…”
It wasn’t “Cheating Motion,” Hill had moved past the line of scrimmage before the snap, false start violation.
Suddenly, the Kansas City Chiefs found themselves in a third and thirteen yards predicament.