OK, I watched all the postgame shows. Later I lay in bed and read all the comments from various internet sources, and now it's 1:30am and I can't fall asleep. So I guess I'll start to put some of them down on paper the myriad thoughts I have running through my mind and hopefully I'll put it away soon since I have to be up by 7am for a doctor's appointment at 8am. No structure, or format, truly just some "idle thoughts". I'll try and finish it while I'm inevitably stuck in the waiting room.
What a game regardless of the outcome. I couldn't be more impressed with the play of Pat Mahomes. The Pats pitched a shutout in the first half, and for the first time in his career made him look like a first year starter. Not only did he have the mental toughness to overcome what the Pats did to him, he managed to put up 31 second half points, despite the fact the Pats were still playing pretty good defense for the most part.
On the biggest stage, the kid was knocked around and didn't flinch a bit. You don't teach that kind of mental toughness. That is Brady-like mental toughness. 32 seconds to put your team into FG range. No problem. Roll out and throw a perfect pass over 60 yds downfield. No problem. It was a good thing that KC didn't get a shot at the ball in that OT. I know I didn't want to see that kid with the ball in his hands again. I don't know about you, but there were about a half dozen plays Mahomes made that I had to say, "WOW!". 23 years old? OMG. He's the MVP. He's the new face of the NFL, and I'm not a bit upset at that prospect. (not that I think our run will be over after next year, because Brady climbed back up the cliff these last 2 games. Sorry Max.)
I hope none of the narrative will dwell on the missed roughing the passer call. It was a very bad call, and I can understand why KC fans would be upset about it. But the fact remains the Pats had over twice the penalty yards KC got in this game and imho, KC got by far the better of the calls and non-calls in this game. Honest KC fans should have complaints about the refs tonight
The fact that Eric Berry didn't get a single holding call in a game where he held and grabbed Gronk on every play he covered him was a travesty. By the end of the game, to me, it seemed like the refs were calling it tight on the Pats, while "letting them play" for KC. I was amazed that there was no flag on Dorsett's TD. He was mugged and caught it anyway. It would have been a brutal non-call if he hadn't made the catch. Dorsett's OPI MIGHT have been legit (which cost the Pats a drive), but when you compare it the "pick" on that last TD pass, what Dorsett did was benign. If Edelman didn't have a concussion it was only through the grace of God, given the number of times KC db's targeted his head.
In the end, the ONLY call that went against the Chiefs was that RPI. I think it was pretty clear that Edelman didn't touch the ball, though it was amazing that he didn't. Besides, Julian gifted it right back to them 2 plays later. That didn't effect the game. I understand why Andy challenged the Hogan catch, but he DID catch it (though not the 2nd one). Just because KC lost the Watkins drop challenge doesn't justify haters to blame the refs on the Hogan play.
BTW- Close to 80 passes in this game and only ONE holding call. I actually like that stat.
Great game plans by both Flores and McDaniels. KC didn;'t have the greatest defensive stats, but ONE area where they did shine was rushing the passer. They tied for the lead in the league this year in sacks. So you would think that on passing downs, KC would have the advantage. Brady threw 46 passes in this game, and if he was hurried 10 times, I'd be surprised. Another truly AWESOME job by the OL. The challenge only gets tougher next week.
Think about this - Julian Edelman now has added over 250 yds in receptions to his playoff total. Imagine what his total would be if he hadn't missed those 3 games last season. Isn't it time he start to get some "Canton mentions". Remember he put up these impressive playoff numbers even though he didn't get starter's reps until Welker left in 2013.
I'm still not thrilled the Pats spent a first round pick on a RB, but I'm starting to appreciate what Michel brings to the table. He has excellent vision and gets to the best hole available on every play. THAT (imho) is his "first round" talent. It's not his speed, or his explosiveness, nor his ability to move the pile. But what he DOES do is hit the right hole decisively. It's not a skill that makes you go "oooh", but we shouldn't underestimate it, especially in THIS offense. He looks like he's going to a very DEPENDABLE RB for the next few years. That might not impress a lot of people, but Bill values dependability more than any other quality in his players. So does Tom, and perhaps so should we.
You know what I loved about this game was that we rushed for 177 yds and DIDN'T have a rusher who averaged over 4ypc. That kind of EFFECTIVENESS made me think of the old Antwain Smith days, who provided a the Pats with a very effective rushing game while never averaging 4ypc on 2 superbowl winning teams. What he DID do was rarely have a negative play, and make almost all of his SY and GL plays.
The Pats got that from their running backs today (except for 2 plays). It wasn't spectacular, but it was very EFFECTIVE. BTW- the reason we didn't see Michel much in the 4th quarter was that he had taken 29 attempts (19 in the first half) and was pretty much done at that point. 29 rushes is a lot for a back his size.
I loved that we went for it on 4th down at that point. I hated that we ran it right up the middle. Later in the half when we had short yardage plays we ran them out to the tackles and had much more success, especially when we started to run to the weak side, as Romo pointed out.
Brady has to take full blame for the first pick. He should have either eaten the ball or thrown it where only Gronk (who was pretty well covered) had a shot at it. Brady usually errs on the side of safety inn the red zone so that pick was doubly perplexing. Until Burkhead finally made it across the GL in overtime, I felt for sure that pick was going to cost us the game. We had played such a dominating first half and to have only a 2 score lead with KC getting the ball to start the half, seemed like a wasted effort.
But outside of that, He played the perfect Brady game. He was good for most of the game, but MAGNIFICENT in the last 2 minutes of the game and the OT. I mean he hit THREE 3rd and 10's to keep that OT drive alive, and every one of those passes had to be perfect. It was Brady at his best.....AGAIN.
Nice to see Hogan get a few looks...and come through. His catch on that 3rd and long was a highlight play and so clutch. Same for Dorsett. Another TD catch. He's been very dependable and needs to targeted more. We need our passing attack to be more than Edelman and White.
I was hoping that we'd see the "old Gronk" for this game. Well, I don't think we'll ever see that guy again, but the Gronk who DID show up was certainly good enough. I did think Brady targeted him too much (11 times) Maybe he saw him being mugged and thought, well if I throw to him, he'll get the flag. Well that never happened. But in the end, when we HAD to have a play, Gronk made that play, and it should have been the game winner. (without Mahomes 32 second heroics)
At what point is someone going to point out just how impressive KVN has been this ENTIRE season. He took his game to a new level tonight. He led the team with 10 tackles. More impressive when you note KC only had 47 plays. Van Noy made the tackle on about 20% of KC's plays, beyond all the hurries and QB hits he had. What a mid season pick up he has turned out to be.
13-19, 94, and 2. There are a lot of impressive stats in this game, but these are the 3 numbers that stood out to me.
13-19 was the Pats 3rd down conversion rate. Think about that for a second. 50% against the Jets, at home, in September is a good day. 70%, on the road, in the AFCCG is down right otherworldly.
94, was the number of offensive plays the Pats had in this game. That was exactly TWICE the plays KC had, and only further demonstrated just how dominant the Pats were and how sad it would have been to have lost this game that really shouldn't have been this close. Especially when you consider the last number
2, or rather -2. That was the Pats' TO number. It's a number that you don't often win games with when you get it. In fact, some consider it a TO when you fail on 4th down, so it was even worse than -2, and I believe was the only reason KC was able to stay in this game. That and the fact the refs aided them with some very weak calls on JC Jackson and a half dozen non-calls on KC.
Once again the Pats will be facing another all star laden roster in 2 weeks. Much like this game, it will be a game we CAN win, and if we do it will be because of the 2 real strengths of this team. The OL, and the secondary. That was the ultimate reason we won this game (that and the QB of course). But the OL and secondary are 2 of the strengths of the Rams as well (along with that DL)
What the OL had done these last 2 weeks has been nothing short of awesome. KC had 3 strong individual rushers (Ford, Jones, and Houston) SD also had a very strong pass rush it was thought going in. BOTH were essentially erased by our OL of virtual no names. Thuney is the only guy who was picked as high as the 3rd round. IIRC, Mason was a 4th rounder, Cannon in the 5th, Brown 6th, and Andrews wasn't picked at all. Amazing what Dante turns out every year. Think about it. He made Trent Brown into a player who can play 94 snaps and look as good on the last one as he did at the start. A year with Dante is going to make that young man a TON of money next season. And if Wynn is even close to what he's reported to be, the OL will be even stronger next year.
Same goes with the secondary. While we are getting long in the tooth at S, our CB situation seems to keep getting better and better. Jackson, JJones, Crossen, and dare I say Dawson all will make our secondary strong for the foreseeable future. They off a great combination of skill, speed and youth to go along with a true shutdown CB in Gilmore.
Watching this defense come together so well makes me more sad that we couldn't hold on to Fl0res for another season. While I'm sure BB formulated the basic concepts he wanted to see for this game, it was Flores to put it all together. He's a true overnight success....13 years in the making. I think that Miami is getting a better HC than they deserve. I wish Romo had mentioned him more.
