MORSE: Observations from Another Loss to the Chiefs

The Patriots put in another mediocre effort in their 27-17 loss. Penalties, mistakes and poor decisions killed the team again.

Bailey Zappe played well in the 1^st half. He was 17 of 19 for 141 yards and a TD. Zappe was under constant pressure as the Kansas City Defense sold out to stop the run. I charted the 1^st two offensive series by the Patriots and the Chiefs loaded the box with 7 to 9 players in box. They blitzed often (nearly 50% of the time) and played press man coverage on the outside. They forced Zappe to beat them and in the first half he did. His TD pass to Hunter Henry on 4^th and 2 was a thing of beauty. He had perfect touch over the extended arm of Nick Bolton.

The 2^nd half was a disaster. The Patriots gave up the double-up scores (TD at the end of 1st half and Field Goal on 1st Ddribe of 2nd half). On the Patriots 1st offensive play of the 2^nd half, Zappe throws an Interception. He gets flushed out of the pocket and avoids a sack only to throw into triple coverage targeting Hunter Henry on sideline, who was not open. Throw it away, don’t force it, and just DO YOUR JOB. In the 2^nd half Zappe completed 8 of 14 passes for 42 yards and was sacked 3 times.

Zappe had two passes battered down and nearly had two others knocked away. Because of Zappe’s lack of arm strength, Zappe must get all his body weight into the throw and takes a long stride forward. The second year QB is only 6’1”. He is an inch shorter than Patrick Mahomes. When he takes that long stride, it lowers his release point, and he becomes shorter. Zappe doesn’t have the arm strength and when he is forced out of the pocket and on the run, he isn’t strong enough to complete those sideline passes. His weak arm gives the defense enough time to make a play on the ball.

The penalties started right on the opening kickoff with Brenden Schooler clearly holding to open a hole for Jalen Reagor’s big return. This nullified a 47-yard return by Reagor. This is a very disturbing trend for Schooler who has been called for a penalty on Special Team for three straight weeks.

Connor McDermott was called for holding that nullified a TD pass to Henry. McDermott prevented a sack with the holding penalty. He was legitimately called for the foul. McDermott wouldn’t finish the game as he went down in the second half with a concussion. McDermott was playing in place of Trent Brown, who didn’t practice all week.

Going into the game they knew the officiating crew under Shawn Hochuli throws a lot of flags. They call 18 penalties per game. I didn’t like the ticky-tac penalties called against the Patriots. The facemask flag on Demario Douglas, 1^st and 10 at the 12-yard line on the Patriots 2^nd drive was a horrible call. That 15-yard penalty pushed the Patriots back to the 25, giving them 1^st and 25. Then Chad Ryland misses a 41-yard Field Goal. The illegal contact call on Jonathan Jones was another bogus call. That penalty wiped out an intentional grounding by Mahomes. On the next play the Patriots gave up a 48-yard screen pass by Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Alex Austin’s illegal contact, wiping out a big turnover was another bad call. Funny isn’t it? The Chiefs are one of the most penalized teams in the league and they hardly had a call go against them after Mahomes and Reid were fined $150,000 last week for criticizing the officials.

JC Jackson didn’t play and was not seen on the sideline during the game. Alex Austin got the surprise start with Shaun Wade being inactive. Jackson was not among the inactive list released by the team before the game at 11:30. Per Adam Schefter, Jackson’s agent told him that he was dealing with mental health issues. Wade was a healthy scratch.

Hunter Henry played a terrific game with 7 catches on 9 targets with a TD and another called back. He took some shots during the game and was eventually knocked out of the game. The Patriots attacked the weakness of the Chiefs defense, the safeties. Pharoah Brown had a catch, but Mike Gesicki wasn’t targeted once. What a huge disappointment he has been. Henry is a team captain and a Free Agent at the end of the year. I would like to see the Patriots re-sign him.

Cole Strange went down with an apparent knee injury was carted off the field. The loss of Brown, Strange and eventually McDermott limited what the Patriots could do on Offense and contributed to Belichick’s decision not to go for it on 4^th down in the second half.

The Defense played well again and kept the team in the game. Christian Barmore was a beast again. He had 6 tackles and 2 of those were TFL. One of those was a sack. The Defense held the anemic Chiefs running attack to 43 yards and a 2.2 average. Credit must go to Deitrich Wise and Davon Godchaux. However, the secondary allowed 305 yards passing on 27 of 37 passes. Alex Austin started in place of JC Jackson and was picked on. Myles Bryant was the nickel corner and was not good. He was also beaten when he was late in reacting to a post corner route. Bryant does not have the makeup speed to play Free Safety, and that was his position when he was beaten for a 30-yard pass. They held Travis Kelce to 5 catches and 28 yards. Kelce also dropped a TD pass. Unfortunately, they were burned by rookie Rashee Rice for 9 catches on 9 targets for 91 yards and a TD.

Kyle Dugger played one of his worst games. Dugger gave up on a catch and run of a screen pass to Clyde Edwards-Helaire, instead of finishing a tackle. That gave CEH another 20 yards on the play.

Chad Ryland should be cut. His misses are totally unacceptable. Matthew Wright is on the Practice Squad and should be elevated. If they like Ryland and want to keep him around, then re-sign him to the Practice Squad.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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