A Forgettable Night On Both Fronts For the Patriots
 Tom Brady and Matthew Slater look on during Monday night's loss in Kansas City. (USA TODAY Images) |
Monday night's loss out in Kansas City continued the ongoing theme of a Patriots offense that still can't quite seem to get going after four weeks into the 2014 season.
Tom Brady struggled against the Chiefs, finishing 14-of-23 for 159 yards along with one touchdown and two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. He led an offense that in the first half finished with just five first downs (Kansas City had 17) and crossed midfield on only one drive, getting only as far as the Chiefs' 42 yard line.
 Brandon LaFell was one of the few bright spots for the Patriots Monday night. (USA TODAY Images) |
Kansas City, meanwhile, managed to build a 17 point lead, lead by a ground game that racked up 131-yards against a Patriots' defense that simply couldn't stop them. Ten of the Chiefs 17 first downs in the first half came while rushing the football, and Kansas City put together a balanced attack that saw them rush and pass for exactly 17 attempts on both fronts when the two teams went into the locker room at the half. Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith missed just three passes, finishing the first half 14-of-17 for 180 yards along with a touchdown and had his way against a Patriots secondary that struggled all night. Overall he finished 20-of-26 for 248 yards and three touchdowns.
It didn't get any better when they came back out onto the field in the second half. The Patriots had the ball to start the third quarter but Brady had the ball knocked out of his hands on a 3rd-and-6 that fortunately the Patriots recovered. However, they wouldn't be so lucky on their next possession after he was hit again and this time lost it on a second down play, which gave Kansas City the ball at their own 9 yard line.
Two plays later the Chiefs scored, and with a 24-0 lead were firmly in control of the game.
From there, things went downhill quickly. Brady threw a bad interception after there appeared to be a miscommunication between he and Julian Edelman. His pass sailed right to Kansas City's Husain Abdullah , who returned it 34 yards to the New England 13 and the Chiefs extended their lead to 27-0 with a field goal.
They finally answered on their next possession, largely thanks to a nice catch and run by Brandon LaFell, who caught a 4-yard pass and took off 40 yards for a touchdown, putting the Patriots on the board at 27-7 and giving them what would be their last glimmer of hope of the night.
However, 12-plays and 81 yards later the Chiefs were back in the end zone, extending their lead to 34-7 with just under 12-minutes left in the game.
The nail in the coffin for Brady came on their next drive when he tried to force a ball to LaFell over the middle that was snatched out of the air by Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah who returned it 39 yards for a touchdown, and that would be the final pass of the night by the veteran quarterback.
"I was just forcing it," said Brady on on the play. "Throwing it where I shouldn’t throw it."
Jimmy Garoppolo would come in and finish the game while Brady was left to sit on the bench and wonder how things turned out as badly as they did.
“We’ve got to learn from it," said Brady after the game. "It was just a bad performance by everybody and we want to make sure we never have this feeling again. We’ve all got to figure out what we have to do better. We just couldn’t get started, got behind, turned the ball over in the third quarter and then fought in the fourth quarter, which was good to see. But you’ve got to get ahead of these teams and play from ahead, and play our style. If you get behind to a team that’s a good team on the road, there was a lot of energy, we just couldn’t afford to do that.”
