The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in Chiefs 27-17 Win

One thing that stood out in Sunday’s 27-17 victory over the New England Patriots was that Tom Brady wasn’t playing in this game. It’s still odd to see him not out there after all these years, but thankfully, the Chiefs had Patrick Mahomes on the field, and we can be grateful for that.

As fans, we had concerns about this game, and it didn’t help the announcers started the broadcast by saying the Chiefs’ issues this year were self-inflicted.  We are the 6th worst team in turnovers and the worst in drops.  The league average is a four percent drop rate; the Chiefs are at eight.  The next closest is the Jets at 5.8 percent.  That’s the highest drop rate in the NFL in the past ten years. 

With the win, we can finally move past last week’s offsides, the first under Andy Reid’s career of 25,000-plus plays. This enormous win kept realistic hopes of getting the one seed alive.   

The Good

The first pass of the game to Noah Gray was great.  Still, we need guys to step up when other teams triple-team Travis Kelce.  Rashee Rice looked terrific and is challenging Dwayne Bowe for the most receptions for a Chiefs rookie receiver. That’s saying something when you consider how long it takes a new player to grasp Andy Reid’s complicated offense. 

CEH looked great on his long screen pass, making moves on his long scamper. He doesn’t have blazing speed, but he looked good there.  Still, the Chiefs missed Isiah Pacheco, but he had a fantastic touchdown catch in the third and several nice runs—way to step up, Clyde.

The Chiefs Defense honestly only gave up only 7 points.  Turnovers led to 10 points and set up two easy-scoring opportunities for the Patriots.  I loved the blitzes and the pressure we got all day.

Special teams did a great job downing the ball inside the one in the fourth quarter.  It was odd that the Pats gave up with four minutes to go down by only ten points.

The end of the game was typical of Andy Reid.  It’s so classy not to score; most coaches don’t play that way.  He has such a small ego.

Harrison Butker starting a new streak with his 54 yards was a big kick. If he didn’t make that, the game at the end may have been in doubt.

Patrick had a solid day today.  One interception was not on him, and the other, his receiver, didn’t help.  He made good decisions and kept his composure even with the continued poor play of some receivers around him.

The Bad

I’m unsure why the announcer talked about Pacheco early instead of telling us the penalty.  Stop going by your notes so much, my guy.

On the Patriots’ second drive, they moved down the field quickly.  The Chiefs were getting good pressure and appeared to have their fingertips on a few balls, but thankfully, the drive ended in a missed field goal.

I think Jawaan Taylor has been serviceable, even looking fine most of the time at pass blocking, but he can’t stop the penalties.  The puzzling thing is we are stuck with a large contract for the next few years, so he must come out of his funk at some point.

I needed clarification about the Chiefs’ second-quarter-time management.  You have three timeouts, and you call one from the 15-yard line with the clock moving at 45 seconds.  Why not let that go down further?  We left the Pats with .35 seconds, which we didn’t need to do.  Thankfully, they had no courage and didn’t try to score.  Let that clock go under 30 seconds before you call your first timeout. 

Travis had a horrible sequence on our first drive of the 2nd half.  First, he dropped what is usually a sure catch for him in the end zone, then fell with minimal contact on the next play.  It would have been nice to have four more points there.

Special teams tackling left something to be desired a couple of times. 

The Ugly

It was a lovely play to KT down to the five-yard line, but a Rashee Rice phantom offensive pass interference called it back.  A Patriot ran into Rice as he was running in a straight line on his route. If anything, it was a defensive penalty.  That call likely cost the Chiefs seven points since the steady Butker missed his first field goal of the season. 

Mahomes’ first interception can be mostly blamed on Blake Bell.  You must attack the ball as a receiver.  You had both hands on the ball. Just catch it.

Skyy Moore is so lucky the officials made a call in the Chief’s favor on a phantom hold by New England.  The one time his name was called, he fumbled the ball.  The ball would have belonged to the Patriots if not for the call.

The officiating is not improving, but it evened out in this game.  It’s a mystery why Skyy is on the field in games that matter, but it’s clear his snaps were down once again. 

Watson and Toney had drops on back-to-back plays to end one drive. That is so indicative of our season.  A later drop by KT leading to an interception and Patriots score pretty much seals the deal for me when it comes to keeping this guy around. 

I’ve held out hope for so long due to his talent.  I get he helped us win the Super Bowl last year, and he was worthy of a third-round pick, which was fair compensation, but I’m not sure they can keep him next season. Either way, I’m excited to see how Veach attacks this issue in the offseason, as we had four more drops today.

Summary

A win is a win, and I’m glad we got it.  I wish people would stop saying Mahomes has never played a road playoff game.  Is the Super Bowl not part of the playoffs?  Didn’t Mahomes become the first quarterback ever to have to play a road Super Bowl game in Tampa? 

The Boston Tea Party happened 250 years ago yesterday, and I’m glad we could spill their tea today.  Seeing them lose will never get old.