The New England Patriots had a 21-game home winning streak snapped against Patrick Mahomes II and the Kansas City Chiefs in a Week 14 showdown.
It is two straight consecutive losses now for the New England Patriots, who fell to the Kansas City Chiefs 23-16 in an AFC Championship game rematch at Gillette Stadium.
It started good for the Patriots who came out and scored on their opening drive and then intercepted Patrick Mahomes II with a chance to go up two scores early. As has been the case much of this season, the offense wasted an opportunity and the game turned with Tom Brady threw his own interception.
The Chiefs then went to score 23 unanswered points to go up in the game 23-7 early in the third quarter.
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The Patriots did show some fight by climbing back into the game with a chance to tie it in the last minutes of the game.
Overall, in this game it was the offense that let the team down again. The defense did give up 20 first-half points, but in holding Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to just 3 points in that second half to give Tom Brady the chance to will the team back was a minor victory for the team.
It was a tough loss and a loss that now has the team a game behind the Baltimore Ravens for the No. 1 seed and just a game ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs for the No. 2 seed.
They are also just a game ahead of the Buffalo Bills for the AFC East title. Still a lot of work to do for the defending Super Bowl champions just to get a good seeding in the playoffs for a chance to defend their title.
It’s now on to Cincinnati and again, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick like the way his team competed in the loss:
"“Those guys went and battled for 60 minutes. It wasn’t always perfect, there were certainly things we could have done better, but we were competitive right down to the final play and that’ll serve us well going forward,” Belichick said following the game, via Patriots.com. “Obviously, we’ve got to do some things better than we did them tonight. It just wasn’t quite good enough under the circumstances in the game. There’s no point in talking about those, but hopefully we’ve got a lot of football left and see if we can get back on track next week, and that’s really all there is to it.”"
Here are five observations from the New England Patriots loss to the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday afternoon.
5. Tom Brady channeling his inner Lamar Jackson
In the New England Patriots 23-16 loss to Kansas City, Tom Brady did take his hits as the Chiefs got after him with some extreme pressure.
Besides the first drive of the game, Brady and the Patriots offense was again mirrored in frustration through must of the game. There were dropped passes and some bad officiating combined in there, but the offense again couldn’t really get it going until late in the game.
But there is some hope!
In throwing for just 169 yards with a touchdown and interception, Tom Brady obviously didn’t have his best game, but the 42-year-old quarterback showed some fight on that last drive by getting his team in position to tie the game…with is feet.
Yes, Brady looked like Lamar Jackson on this 17-yard run on a fourth downplay that kept the team alive:
That play pumped up the crowd and pumped up Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
The New England Patriots lost, but we may just look back at that one play as the turning point for the offense.
4. Special teams continue to be special
Down 23-7 in the game, the New England Patriots needed plays out of their defense and special teams to give their offense a chance to score points and they got it.
Despite having a field goal blocked earlier in the game, the Patriots blocked a punt in the third quarter to set up a touchdown. The play really did shift momentum in the game and came at a great time for the team.
This time it was Nate Ebner who got to the punter. Check this out:
Special teams ace Matthew Slater was proud of how his unit was able to come through as they have all season long.
"“That’s a huge play by Nate [Ebner],” Slater said following the game, via Patriots.com. “It’s something that we worked on all week. We felt good about it and we took advantage of the matchup and Nate executed it perfectly. You can’t really get too excited about it unfortunately, because we didn’t get the result we wanted. But I think our guys collectively have done a good job of just buying in and believing what we are trying to get done in the kicking game.”"
As a leader, Slater would’ve loved the victory, but proud of how his team played and fought to the very end.
It looks like the Patriots are going to need this outstanding special teams play going forward and into the playoffs to have a chance winning game.
3. James White shows off his passing skills
With few touches, New England Patriots versatile running back James White did some nice things in this game.
He led the team in rushing with 33 yards on 6 carries and he completed the longest passing play of the game with this strike to rookie wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, showcasing that he can really do it all when he is on the field.
The 35-yard pass from James White continued the momentum and if Meyers had a little bit more speed should’ve gone for a touchdown.
It was more trickery out of Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, but whatever it takes to get this offense moving the ball, right?
In all, it was a struggle for the offense to get anything going consistently. James White made a nice pass on that play, but the end results is what matters and he knows his offense needs to get better.
"“I think like I said, everybody needs to be on the same page and finish,” White said of the team’s struggles, via Patriots.com. “It is nothing dramatic, it is just everybody just doing our jobs and doing them a little bit better. We came out in the second [half] and did things a little bit better.”"
Can the New England Patriots finally find a way to continue the momentum they found on offense to the next game?
If they can’t against the Cincinnati Bengals, there really is no hope.
2. Hard to beat the Chiefs and the refs
When New England Patriots haters are saying the team got screwed by the referees, then there is really a problem.
While the Patriots could’ve certainly played better on both sides of the balls, two plays took touchdown scores off the board for the team and ultimately was the reason for the loss.
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Every team in the NFL has had plays go against them that may have cost them a game, but the two blown plays in this game were unbelievable.
On the first, an obvious fumble by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was blown dead as down by contact initially. The originally play was a scoop and possible score by Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
Bill Belichick used his second challenge to protest the call and benefitted, but the score was taken away because the whistle was blown.
To add salt to that wound, the Patriots got hosed again when N’Keal Harry scored a touchdown that was called back due to him stepping out of bounds. Harry clearly did not step out of bounds, but Belichick couldn’t challenge the play because of a lost challenge earlier in the game.
The New England Patriots only put up a field goal on that play, which should’ve actually made the game 23-20 with a successful extra point, rather than 23-16.
While the offense is frustrated enough with their play, it is even more frustrating to have calls not go their way when they do make plays on the field. After the game N’Keal Harry summed it up.
"“It’s definitely frustrating,” Harry said, via Patriots.com. “But at the end of the day, I was always told to control what I can control, and I did that. I felt like my effort was good and that’s all I can give.”"
Despite calls not going their way, the New England Patriots offense must continue the effort.
Eventually, that effort will result in better offense.
1. Defense can limit the Chiefs
If the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs meet up again, and they probably will with the current seeding, then the Pats’ defense has to be encouraged with how they defensed the Chiefs high-powered offense.
Despite giving up the 20 points in the first half, the Patriots did get consistent pressure on Patriots Mahomes II and kept Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce (for the most part) from making big plays.
There was a couple of plays the defense gave up that they would like to have back, like the long bomb to Chiefs rookie wide receiver Mecole Hardman, who beak Jonathan Jones for a 48-yard strike. Kansas City also scored a touchdown on a wild cat play inside the five taken in by Kelce.
Other than allowing a field goal on the first drive of the third quarter, the Patriots defense held Kansas City silent in the second half to give their team a chance to tie the game.
If Tom Brady and the offense found a way to win this game, the defense would’ve been a major reason way.
The biggest observation and takeaway from this game is that the New England Patriots defense can get stops against Andy Reid’s offense.