Patriots embarrassed in 41-17 blowout loss in Kansas City
By John Pinto
Comment Contributor
The start of this game was oddly similar to the start of last week’s matchup with the Oakland Raiders. This time around, the Patriots defense couldn’t save the day as Jamaal Charles and the Chiefs offense were dynamic in both the passing game and the running game.
Alex Smith had a 144.4 passer rating for the Chiefs, throwing for 248 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Chiefs also almost had two 100-yard rushers. Charles had 92 yards on the ground and a touchdown in his first game back from an ankle injury, while his backup Knile Davis ran for 107 yards.
Charles also caught two short touchdown passes, but the really impressive player in Kansas City’s passing attack was tight end Travis Kelce. Kelce caught 8 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown, looking like the heir apparent to Tony Gonzalez.
Tom Brady had a 59.9 passer rating, throwing for 159 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He also fumbled twice. Also, the running game never really got going for the second week in a row.
The bright spot for the Patriots offense came from former Carolina Panther wide receiver Brandon LaFell, who caught 6 passes for 119 yards, including a 44 yard touchdown where he caught a five-yard pass and broke free from two defenders to give the Patriots their first points of the game with 3:26 left in the third quarter.
The Patriots defense, the heroes of last week’s win at home against the Raiders, allowed an astonishing 303 yards in the first half, which is the most yards ever allowed in the first half since Bill Belichick became the head coach in 2000.
The Chiefs dominated time of possession in the first quarter, keeping their offense out on the field for 11 minutes and 42 seconds. Brady threw for only 72 yards in the entire first half, resulting in a 17-0 shutout at halftime.
The Patriots offense just looked flat-out terrible and offensive line woes played a part in it. They played rookie Bryan Stork at center, another rookie Cameron Fleming at right guard, and moved team captain Dan Connolly to left guard. They struggled all night to protect Brady from the Chiefs pass rush tandem of Justin Houston and Tamba Hali.
The offensive line was so bad that it forced head coach Bill Belichick to make an adjustment to the offensive line in the second quarter. Hali blew past Patriots left tackle Nate Solder halfway through the 3rd quarter, getting to Brady and forcing a huge fumble, which Kansas City recovered.
That was the Chiefs first takeaway of the season and it eventually resulted in one of Jamaal Charles’ receiving touchdowns.
Later, at the beginning of the 4th quarter, less than one minute and 30 seconds after the Chiefs scored to put them up 34-7, Tom Brady was intercepted by Kansas City free safety Husain Abdullah, who promptly returned it 39 yards for a touchdown.
After the pick-six, with the game well out of reach, Brady came out of the game and was replaced by rookie second round pick Jimmy Garoppolo, who shockingly lead the offense down the field and threw a touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski in his first action in the NFL. Future QB controversy, anyone?
Ladies and gentlemen, this seems like it should just be a Chiefs article because, the truth is, the Patriots didn’t do much to be worth noting.
They were outplayed in every aspect of the game and Belichick can only hope this isn’t the case next week when the 3-0 Cincinnati Bengals come to Foxboro on Sunday night, Oct. 5th at 8:30 p.m. The game will be aired on NBC, which is channel 26.1 on the BSU campus.
