Over a week after their surprising victory to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night, the New England Patriots took on the Kansas City Chiefs in Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
With music star Taylor Swift looking on from the crowd, the Patriots lost early offensive momentum to let the Chiefs ride a dominant second half to a 27-17 victory.
New England’s offense totaled just over 230 yards, as the team’s running game went virtually silent to parallel an uneventful passing performance. Defensively, the team had little answer to the surgical precision of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Here are five big takeaways from the game.
1
Deja Vu
Sunday’s game felt a whole lot similar to New England’s matchup last week against the Steelers.
In the first half, the offense did its job. Quarterback Bailey Zappe threw for nearly 150 passing yards and a touchdown while helping keep the Patriots in the game against a far more explosive opponent.
But after halftime, the tables completely turned. On his very first pass of the second half, Zappe threw a sure completion – to Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay.
Willie Gay comes up with the @Chiefs INT
📺: #KCvsNE on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/kw7mays4qU pic.twitter.com/gozHs7U20C— NFL (@NFL) December 17, 2023
In total, Zappe notched just 39 passing yards in the second half as New England’s offense again stalled out.
But unlike their victory against the Steelers last week – in which the team successfully held off a Pittsburgh comeback in the second half – the Patriots’ hopes of a victory slipped away on Sunday as the team’s offense sputtered.
Sunday’s loss was again a microcosm of New England’s season – glimmers of promise but ultimately just sour football.
2
Patrick Mahomes complained, and the referees answered
Mahomes had a lot to say on NFL officiating after Kansas City lost to the Buffalo Bills last weekend. After wide receiver Kadarius Toney nullified a go-ahead touchdown late in the game by lining up offsides, Mahomes lambasted the referees for the impactful call.
Patrick Mahomes says that offensive offsides call not only impacted the game but Travis Kelce’s HOF career pic.twitter.com/gONbIdxpqB
— McKenzie Nelson (@McKenzieMNelson) December 11, 2023
And, according to NFL insider Adam Schefter, both Mahomes as well as head coach Andy Reid were fined this week for their comments toward the officiating.
Andy Reid has been fined $100,000 – for violating long-standing league rules prohibiting public criticism of game officials.
Patrick Mahomes has been fined $50,000 – for unsportsmanlike conduct during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against Buffalo and for violating…
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 16, 2023
But in Sunday’s game, Mahomes’ complaining seemed to pay off in the Chiefs’ favor. Throughout the matchup, there were multiple instances of officials throwing flags against the Patriots without much evidence of an infraction.
The first occurrence of this came on New England’s second drive of the game. As the Patriots were driving downfield, Zappe found receiver Demario Douglas for six yards, putting the ball on Kansas City’s 6-yard line for a would-be 2nd-and-4.
But Douglas was called for an offensive facemask penalty, a seldom-called penalty typically used in circumstances where a ball-carrier severely whipped around a defender’s head with a stiff arm.
Demario Douglas was flagged for a facemask on this play pic.twitter.com/U8DvoHy5JX
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) December 17, 2023
The penalty brought the Patriots back 15 yards and wiped out their momentum on the drive. New England missed a 41-yard field goal just a few plays later.
But the most impactful call against New England came later in the game. On the Chiefs’ first drive after halftime, Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones punched the ball from the hands of Kansas City receiver Sky Moore.
New England recovered the ball and returned it to about midfield, but a defensive holding call against cornerback Alex Austin materialized out of thin air to keep the Chiefs’ drive alive.
This was called for defensive holding on Alex Austin, negating a fumble recovery by Jabrill Peppers pic.twitter.com/JdfdUXRZ8O
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) December 17, 2023
Kansas City would score a field goal to end the drive, upping their lead to seven. It was a lead that the team would not relinquish.
3
The defense finally cracked
Even amidst a dreadful season, New England’s defense has remained a formidable unit for opposing teams to face and came into Sunday’s matchup limiting opposing offenses to 20 points or less since Oct. 29.
But against such a high-flying offensive unit as the Chiefs, the Patriots’ battered defense began to finally show its cracks.
Mahomes diced up the unit all game long, completing 27 passes for 305 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. His main target – wide receiver Rashee Rice – collected nine passes for 91 yards and a score, averaging over 10 yards per catch as New England’s defense smothered usual pass-catching target Travis Kelce all game long.
And while running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire only tallied 37 ground yards for Kansas City, he had a significant impact in the passing game, notching 64 yards and a touchdown on four receptions, including 48 yards on this screen pass near the end of the first quarter
Clyde Edwards-Helaire takes a screen 45 yards pic.twitter.com/R34y5MDnkO
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) December 17, 2023
For New England, Peppers led the way with seven total tackles on the afternoon. Defensive lineman Christian Barmore was a beast in the trenches, recording six tackles (two for loss), two QB hits and one sack.
More ceremoniously, rookie third-round pick Marte Mapu recorded his first career interception, undercutting Chiefs tight end Blake Bell to do so.
4
Bailey Zappe was just fine
After lighting up the Steelers for three first half touchdowns a week ago, Zappe had set higher expectations for his play heading into Sunday’s matchup against a tough Chiefs defensive unit.
And while the second-year quarterback flashed the same glimmers of improved play that he did last week, those flashes ultimately remained just that.
Zappe started strong in the first half, leading New England downfield on the team’s second drive of the game to put them in scoring position.
While a missed field goal by kicker Bryce Baringer ended the drive on a sour note, the signal-caller did not stay down. Just two drives later, he connected with tight end Hunter Henry for the Patriots’ first score of the game.
Bailey Zappe is red hot right now.
Playing excellent football. Touchdown to Hunter Henry. pic.twitter.com/RpcEiTIhqN
— Pats Buzz (@PatsBuzz) December 17, 2023
But just like last week, Zappe’s great play ended at halftime. On his first pass of the second half, the second-year quarterback turned the ball right back over.
All in all, Zappe did no more than keep the Patriots hanging around in a game that they likely should have lost by more than 10 points. Maybe after the team (hopefully) drafts a new quarterback this spring, he’ll have played well enough to earn a backup role next season.
5
One loss away from pick No. 1
The Carolina Panthers beat the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, giving them their second win of the season and moving their first-round draft pick (owned by the Chicago Bears) one victory away from falling to the No. 2 selection in the 2024 NFL draft.
With the Patriots currently sitting at No. 2, they just need one more loss along with a Panthers victory to officially put themselves in the driver’s seat to draft star college quarterback Caleb Williams.
But even if New England ends up staying at No. 2, there is a chance their preferred QB candidate could fall to them anyway.
With Chicago owning the current No. 1 overall pick while also building around young quarterback Justin Fields, there would be no reason for them to waste such valuable draft capital on another quarterback.
Rather, the Patriots would have to be concerned about the Bears trading out of the spot to a quarterback-needy team willing to pay what would be a king’s ransom for the opportunity.
Ultimately, only time will tell how New England’s draft fortunes will work out. But as it stands, the team may have no problem losing their three final games of the season.
