I usually re-watch the game before I write this report. \u00a0\u00a0I saw it once, which was enough!<\/p>\n
Who in the NFL\u2019s infinite wisdom pushed this game to be played.\u00a0 I know KC wanted the game to be played minus Cam Newton.\u00a0 I know KC would have lost if Newton was QB\u2019ing the Pats offense.\u00a0 Whoever was responsible or should I say irresponsible within the league should be fired for \u201cconduct detrimental to the league\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 They may be responsible for a superspreader event now that two more players including Stephon Gilmore have tested positive.\u00a0 I wonder how Patrick Mahomes feels now that he had close contact with Gilmore at the end of the game.\u00a0 Does Mahomes have to quarantine for 14 days?<\/p>\n
This was nothing but a money grab by the NFL.\u00a0 That\u2019s all they care about.\u00a0 Player safety, that\u2019s a joke.\u00a0 The NFL and CBS wanted the Premiere game on Monday Night Primetime.\u00a0 The Patriots game vs Denver scheduled for next Sunday should be postponed right now!\u00a0 The Patriots are not practicing today and are already dealing with a short week to prepare for the Broncos.<\/p>\n
Lets talk about the game played Monday.\u00a0 Positives first!\u00a0 The Patriots Defense is legitimate.\u00a0 They held the high powered Chiefs to 20 points in their house!\u00a0 That should be enough to win!\u00a0 The run defense was terrific especially Adam Butler and Lawrence Guy.\u00a0 \u00a0They held Travis Kelce without a catch through nearly three quarters.\u00a0 The Defensive gameplan installed by Bill Belichick was brilliant.\u00a0 Through 4 games, this may be the finest coaching job so far of his career.<\/p>\n
Damien Harris ran the ball very well (Sony who?).\u00a0 His 100 yds of offense showed what he can do.\u00a0 We have heard all pre-season that Harris had been performing well catching and running.\u00a0 I said before the game that KC was suspect against the run giving up 5.3 YPC last season and the Patriots (#1 rushing team in the NFL) ran for 5.3 YPC and 185 yds (Avg 178 per game coming in).\u00a0 James White made nice return with 7 catches on 8 targets.\u00a0 The O line performed very well considering they were starting two 6th<\/sup> round rookies and a street Free Agent that nobody wanted and the Pats plug him in at C, his 2nd<\/sup> career start (curiously both against (KC).\u00a0 Mike Owenu is playing like a Pro Bowl OG.\u00a0 He was given a 91.3 rating by Pro Football Focus.\u00a0 That is the second highest rating given to any O lineman this season.\u00a0 He had zero QB pressures in 42 pass blocking snaps.\u00a0 He has been great at run blocking.\u00a0 Surprisingly nimble for 340 lbs, he pulls very well as evident by the big 41 yard run by Damien Harris.\u00a0 Owenu led through the hole and destroyed the LB and Harris cut back across the grain and had the big run.\u00a0 Owenu is the leading rookie overall, by far according to PFF, regardless of position.<\/p>\n Now for the ugly \u2026 Stidham and Hoyer were absolutely atrocious.\u00a0 I was so disappointed in the decisions that Hoyer made especially at the end of the 1st<\/sup> half.\u00a0 Everyone knows that you can\u2019t take a sack there.\u00a0 Throw the ball away.\u00a0 You\u2019re a 12 year veteran.\u00a0 Then to not know that you had used all your timeouts.\u00a0 I think Belichick made a serious mistake by not sitting Hoyer after that blunder and start the 2nd<\/sup> half fresh with Stidham.\u00a0\u00a0 Many of Hoyer’s passes were high including the INT.\u00a0 Rizzo was targeted 3 times and had zero catches.\u00a0 At least two of those passes were not catchable by the TE.<\/p>\n Stidham was worse.\u00a0 His blatant underthrow to a wide open Damiere Byrd was late.\u00a0 I am not sure Stidham has the arm strength for the long pass.\u00a0 Now onto Julian Edelman.\u00a0 He looks old.\u00a0 Father time is catching up to him.\u00a0 His 50% catch rate is very bad.\u00a0 That pick six went right through his hands, the 2nd<\/sup> time this year.\u00a0 He could have had the game winning TD in Seattle, but the ball went through his hands.\u00a0 He is a shell of himself.<\/p>\n The secondary cannot be dropping interceptions, and did it twice on Monday.\u00a0 I believe that led to 10 points for KC.\u00a0 The most egregious play of the night was the Interception by Shilique Calhoun.\u00a0 The replay with sound, clearly shows that Calhoun had the interception and had already broken a tackle before the whistle blows.\u00a0 Tony Corrente and his crew hid behind the ruling of \u201cin the grasp\u201d when in fact no one blew the whistle to stop play until Calhoun had already broken a tackle. \u00a0Corrente knew that call couldn\u2019t be challenged.\u00a0 Rather they should have ruled it\u00a0 a fumble or INT and then automatic review takes place.\u00a0 If they were wrong they could correct the damage.\u00a0 Here they were wrong and hid behind the rules.\u00a0 That play was a gamechanger that was denied to the Patriots.\u00a0 Further there was a unnecessary roughing call on Deitrich Wise going out of bounds with Mahomes.\u00a0 Mahomes was caught \u201cacting\u201d on another OOB play with Devin McCourty who clearly was holding up.\u00a0 Mahomes should have received a 15 yd Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty against him for bad acting and trying to deceive the refs.<\/p>\n The Patriots are exactly where I expected them to be at 2-2.\u00a0 The silver lining is that they could have won both games.\u00a0 They have growing pains and that was expected.\u00a0\u00a0 However they are far ahead of what I expected \u2026 I\u2019m excited to see what the next stretch of 4 games holds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I usually re-watch the game before I write this report. \u00a0\u00a0I saw it once, which was enough!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":32631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_pfeai_meta_description":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22204,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2020-patriots-season","category-patriots-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n