Titans' Vrabel doesn't say if 12-men on the field penalty was intentional
The Tennessee Titans pulled off a thrilling overtime victory against the Houston Texans on Sunday, and head coach Mike Vrabel may have helped his team win with an intentional penalty.
You won't hear that from him, though.
With the Texans leading 30-29 and just over three minutes remaining, the Titans were called for having 12 men on the field. While that may have seemed like a slip-up, gifting the Texans a first down, it allowed the Titans to stop the clock without using a timeout.
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
The Texans went on to score a touchdown on the drive, but the penalty saved the Titans at least 40 seconds, which would end up being crucial. Tennessee scored the game-tying touchdown with just four seconds remaining.
Vrabel remained coy when asked if the penalty was intentional on Monday.
"We have to do a better job on penalties and be better in all areas," he said, according to Jim Wyatt of Titans Online.
The Titans head coach has demonstrated his clock-management skills in the past, opting to take multiple delay of game penalties to burn time during last year's playoff win over the Patriots.
#NFL owners will vote to eliminate the loophole which allows teams to manipulate the game clock by committing multiple dead-ball fouls
— Gabriel Schray (@schrayguy) May 21, 2020
Bill Belichick did it to the New York #Jets last year, then Vrabel and the #Titans returned the favor in the playoffspic.twitter.com/vPRlNX3pbk
With the victory on Sunday, the Titans remain perfect on the season at 5-0.