Mike Vrabel Talks Bill Belichick's Anger at Titans' Use of Clock Loophole

Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel was aware how unhappy Bill Belichick was with his tactic of using a loophole in the rules to run extra time off the clock late in their 20-13 victory over the New England Patriots in January's AFC Wild Card Game. 

Appearing on the Helliepod podcast, Vrabel noted that Titans assistant John Streicher alerted him to Belichick "losing his mind" on the sideline when they took two dead-ball penalties in the fourth quarter:

The Titans were leading the Patriots 14-13 and facing a fourth-and-five with 6:39 remaining. According to the NFL rulebook, the game clock continues to run if either team commits a penalty and there is more than two minutes remaining in the first half or five minutes remaining in the second half. 

Tennessee took a delay-of-game penalty and Wesley Woodyard committed a false start to keep the clock running. Patriots cornerback Justin Bethel committed a neutral zone infraction that allowed the Titans to run an additional 23 seconds off the clock. 

Belichick used the same loophole in the rules during the regular season in the Patriots' 33-0 win over the New York Jets in Week 7. 

Instead of getting the ball back with around six minutes to play, the Patriots got the ball at their own 11-yard line with 4:44 left in regulation. They went three-and-out and took 94 seconds off the game clock, giving possession back to Tennessee. 

The Titans rattled off an eight-play drive that took almost three minutes off the clock. The Patriots got the ball back at their own one-yard line with 15 seconds left, but Tom Brady's final pass for the organization was intercepted by Logan Ryan and returned for a touchdown to seal the win for Tennessee.