KANSAS CITY \u2013 It was perhaps the most wonderful d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu in\nPatriot history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Routine? Matthew\nSlater called heads. Coin came up\nheads. Ballgame. Seen this before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots took command of the AFC Championship Game early,\ndominating the Kansas City Chiefs early on on Sunday night at Arrowhead\nStadium. But a foolish end zone interception\nby Tom Brady kept the Chiefs in the game, and in the end the teams had a fourth\nquarter for the ages. Young Patrick\nMahomes and Brady acted like gunslingers, and the game predictably went to overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Slater called the coin toss right, just like in Super Bowl LI. Brady took the Patriots down the field, like\ntwo seasons ago in Houston. With some\nincredible third down conversions along the way, Rex Burkhead (not James White)\nran it in from two yards out four minutes and fifty seconds into overtime,\ngiving the Patriots a 37-31 win and the right to face the Los Angeles Rams in\nSuper Bowl LIII in two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots head to their third straight Super Bowl, and fourth\nin the last five years. Despite losing\nthe turnover battle, you the Patriot fan never really thought the game was lost. Your pulse might have quickened during the\nfourth quarter and overtime, but you never lost faith. That is because you have seen this before,\nmany times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brady is the type of player who can shake off two\ninterceptions and still have enough to deliver a garrison finish. Brady led the Patriots to touchdowns on their\nlast three drives that didn\u2019t include a kneeldown. He was able to find his receivers with regularity,\nand despite some bumps along the way, was able to defeat a tough home opponent in\none of the hardest places for a road team to win in the NFL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we go any further, major props have to go out to the\nnext great star of the NFL, Patrick Mahomes. \nTen to fifteen years from now, one might be talking about Mahomes like\nthey talk about Brady now, or at least somewhat in that context. Despite completing less than 50% of his\npasses at the end of the game, he did manage to rally his team from down 14-0\nand 17-7 to make the game a classic in the fourth quarter. He ended up with three touchdown passes, two\nmore than Brady, and the only reason he didn\u2019t wind up in the winner\u2019s circle\nis that he never got to touch the ball in overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots broke out of the box and dominated early. They took the opening kickoff and did exactly\nwhat they had to do. Brady led the\nPatriots on a 15-play, 80-yard drive that consumed nearly seven minutes, with\nSony Michel finishing it off with a one-yard touchdown run. The Patriots got the ball back six plays\nlater and once again made with the ball control, driving from the Chiefs 44 to\nthe one-yard line, and we\u2019re now into the second quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the verge of putting the Chiefs down and shutting up the\ncrowd early, Brady made an uncharacteristic mistake. On the third play of the second quarter,\nfacing third down and goal at the Kansas City one, Brady play faked to Michel\nand tried to hit Rob Gronkowski with a lob pass in the end zone. He underthrew the ball and it went right to\nlinebacker Reggie Ragland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Give the Patriots credit. \nThe interception wound up being benign other than holding down the\nscore. Following a 29-yard touchdown\npass from Brady to Philip Dorsett in the final minute of the first half, the\nPatriots went into intermission up 14-0. \nThis was the first time a Chiefs team coached by Andy Reid was shut out\nat home in the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mahomes started right in on the Patriots just after halftime. On the third play of the third quarter,\nMahomes hit Sammy Watkins for a 54-yard bomb after he ran by Stephon\nGilmore. One play later, Mahomes hit\nTravis Kelce on a slant route to make it 14-7. \nThe Patriots were able to notch a 47-yard field goal by Stephen\nGostkowski to end the third quarter up 17-7, but Mahomes was full of confidence\nand seemed primed to stand toe to toe with Brady the rest of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fourth quarter will go down as one of the most exciting\nquarters in recent NFL postseason memory. \nOn the second play of the quarter, following a 33-yard dump pass from\nMahomes to Damien Williams (the replacement for the disgraced Kareem Hunt),\nMahomes found Williams from one yard out to make it 17-14 Patriots. The Patriots got the ball back and drove from\ntheir 24 to the Kansas City 25, and faced fourth down and less than a\nfoot. Rather than kick a safe field\ngoal, Bill Belichick went for it and Burkhead was stuffed for no gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots held the Chiefs three and out, and Dustin\nColquitt punted to Julian Edelman. The\nball bounced in front of Edelman, then he went to pick it up and appeared to\nmuff the punt. The Chiefs recovered the muff,\nbut after replay referee Clete Blakeman ruled that Edelman didn\u2019t touch the\nball as it skipped by him, something Edelman contended immediately. The Patriots received a lucky break as they\nkept the ball at their own 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But two plays later, the Patriots gave the ball back. Brady tried to hit Edelman in the left flat,\nand the high pass deflected off Edelman\u2019s fingertips and into the arms of\nlinebacker Daniel Sorensen. On second\ndown, Mahomes hit Williams with a screen pass to the left, the entire Patriot\ndefense bit right, and Williams had a 23-yard touchdown pass and the Chiefs led\nfor the first time, 21-17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But back came the Patriots. \n75 yards and ten plays later, Michel ran it in from ten yards out to put\nthe visitors up again, 24-21. But\nMahomes led the Chiefs back on the next drive, parlaying two iffy penalties on\nJ.C. Jackson and a 38-yard bomb to Watkins into a two-yard run by Williams to\nmake it 28-24 Chiefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots likely let Williams score. They got the ball back with 2:04 left, and\nBrady had all three timeouts. He used up\nall but 39 seconds, hitting Edelman and Gronkowski for 25 yards each, and\nBurkhead finished it with a 4-yard touchdown to put the Patriots back up,\n31-28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
39 seconds was enough for Mahomes, even with one\ntimeout. He hit Spencer Ware for 21\nyards, then Demarcus Robinson for 27 yards, the first catch of the night for\nboth men. On second down and ten at the\nPatriot 21, with 11 seconds left, Reid opted right then to go for the tying field\ngoal. Harrison Butker nailed the 39-yard\nfield goal to send the game to overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you liked the overtime of Super Bowl LI, this one was\nmuch more difficult and much more stressful to watch. Three times Brady faced third and ten, and\nthree times he converted. At the Patriot\n35, he hit Edelman over the middle for 20 yards. At the Kansas City 45, he hit Edelman again\non a crossing route for 15 yards. At the\nKansas City 30, he hit Gronkowski for 15 yards. \nPerched at the Chiefs\u2019 15, Burkhead covered the final 15 yards on three\ncarries, for ten, three and two yards for the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brady finished 30 of 46 for 348 yards, one touchdown and two\npicks. Edelman led the team with 96\nyards on seven catches. Despite Burkhead\nhaving the fourth quarter of his life, Michel finished with 113 yards rushing\nand two touchdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots now get a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI with the\nRams, who beat the New Orleans Saints in overtime at the Superdome, 23-20 on a\nwalkoff 57-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein. \nThe Saints were victimized by a horrid non-call of either pass\ninterference or a personal foul on Nickell Robey-Coleman, after he slammed into\nNew Orleans wideout Tommylee Lewis before the ball arrived late in regulation. Sean Payton fumed in his postgame presser\nafter the NFL admitted the official blew the call. But it\u2019s still the Rams and the Patriots in\ntwo weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots opened as one-point dogs, but shortly thereafter\nthey went up to 1 \u00bd-point favorites. It\nshould be a great game, perhaps as thrilling as their first matchup 17 years\nago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots won only for the second time ever at Arrowhead Stadium,\nand it took overtime and a gargantuan effort by Brady to pull it off. It is a well-deserved AFC Championship for\nthe Patriots, albeit \u201cstill another one\u201d for the dominant NFL franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the Patriots should always keep a roster spot for\nSlater, even after he cannot play anymore. \nOh, those correct coin toss calls. \nMoney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was perhaps the most wonderful d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu in Patriot history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":21611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n