One of the biggest plays in the game Saturday night in the AFC divisional round was a mistake by the Titans.
The Patriots were leading 14-7 in the second quarter and were set to punt from their own 14-yard line. Geneo Grissom was flagged for a false start, but the officials changed the call and instead called Titans safety Brynden Trawick for a neutral zone infraction. The penalty resulted in a first down and the Patriots took advantage by going the length of the field to score their third touchdown of the game to go up 21-7 and never looking back.Both during and after the game, some questioned the call, but Bill Belichick believes the referees got it right.
"I wasn't [surprised], because I thought that Trawick entered the neutral zone and Geneo reacted to him," Belichick said on a conference call Sunday. "We practice that play every week, and if it's that kind of a situation — fourth-and-less than five — and the player enters the neutral zone, then we want to react to it and force the penalty, not allow him to get back and reset and not have the opportunity for it. So I thought it was a heads-up play by Geneo to react to that. That's what he's supposed to do, and that's what he did. I thought we did the right thing. He definitely entered the neutral zone, at least from what I saw. I thought Trawick was in the neutral zone. So assuming we agree on that, if he did that, then the player on the offensive side of the ball, if he reacts to that, the penalty's on the defense."
Titans coach Mike Mularkey said he didn't get an explanation from the officials at the time.
"No, at that point, I got tired of the explanations I was getting. So no, I did not," he said after the game.
Even though the Patriots won 35-14, this was a very important play in the game and another example of teams beating themselves when playing the Patriots.
