How the Chiefs aren’t overlooking bottom-dweller Patriots
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs have lost two out of their last three games, three out of their last four, and four out of their last six.
At 8-5, they are still at the top of the AFC West and in third place in the AFC race.
The recurring theme of penalties, drops and an underperforming offense has been the spotlight of Kansas City’s season, especially since their return from the Week 10 bye week which began their skid.
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After an offensive offsides penalty took the main stage in their recent loss against the Buffalo Bills, the team is hoping to turn the page and get some much-needed wins in the last four games of the season.
That stretch begins with the 3-10 New England Patriots on Sunday in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
“I think once the game was over, and you got to sleep and came back on Monday and Tuesday I think everyone’s mind was in the right spot,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said Wednesday.
“In this league, you have to move past that stuff, and we’re going to play a great football team that plays extremely hard and is playing better football right now than they’ve played all season long. It’s going to be a great test for us and a great challenge, so I think guys’ heads are in the right place.”
“I thought they had a good week of practice, good energy,” head coach Andy Reid said on Friday. “There’s no one that knows better than the people playing, they know what they’ve done or what they’ve got to do, so that’s how that works.”
Fridays in the locker room are always light-hearted after practice. The bulk of the work has been done for the week and all that is left is walk-throughs and travel to the game. Players are usually showering, changing to leave the facility, playing basketball or just hanging out with teammates.
This Friday, with linebacker Willie Gay Jr. as the locker room DJ, was filled with R&B melodies from “Twisted” by Keith Sweat to “In Those Jeans” by Ginuwine to “All The Things” by Joe.
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Players are usually in high spirits on Friday relieved of the stresses of the prior game, whether it’s a win or a loss, and motivated and inspired by the promise that the next game brings.
For a defense that is third in the NFL in points per game allowed and is top 10 in nearly every statistical category that’s not the run game, they are mostly always in good spirits.
Although the Patriots’ days as a top-tier dynasty are over for now, Reid and the Chiefs know better than to overlook a team led by historic head coach Bill Belichick who sits right above Reid on the career wins chart at numbers 3 and 4, respectively.
“Bill Belichick is arguably the greatest coach to have coached the National Football League. He proves it every year,” Reid said. “You can see the improvements that they’ve made this year with a young, young group. The things that they’re doing now, their defense is playing outstanding football right now.”
“They like throwing the football, physical up front,” linebacker Nick Bolton said Thursday. “Control the offense, control the pace of the game.”
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“Slow them down as much as we can possible and give the ball back to Pat.”
With the Pats’ offensive inefficiency with former first-round QB Mac Jones and him being subsequently benched for Bailey Zappe, they have turned their offense into a relic of the past with running back Ezekiel Elliot getting fed 22 carries against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.
Zappe’s 240 yards and three touchdowns led them to a 21-18 win, their first since Week 7 against the Bills.
The Pats rank last in points scored but with Belichick reportedly coaching for his job, they could pull out all stops.
“When teams can be two dimensional it makes it tough on us. We’re always talking about killing the engine,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said.
“The engine to us is the running back. We’ve got to make sure they don’t get him going. They won’t give up on trying to do that, we understand that. Coach Belichick, best in the business, he understands it. Their defense is terrific – I told the guys the other day that we need to match or be better than their defense, to help our team win.
“A lot of that is early in the game because we just don’t want Patrick having to go out in the middle of the second quarter down 14 points. That’s tough on any offense. They’re challenging because they play as a team, they win as a team, they find ways to win. You’re onto something, if we don’t bow up and play a physical game to match their physicality, they will make it tough.”
New England’s defense is in the upper echelon of the league in yards and points allowed and their run defense is stiff ranking third in rushing yards allowed per game.
“I think they do a great job of making everything look very similar but doing little things here and there to change it up. That’s where they get you in trouble at the quarterback position,” Mahomes said.
“[Belichick] knows tendencies. He’s going to really break it down, what you do well and try to take that away. Even if they play a coverage and the rules say you might need to play it this way, he’s going to adjust it just enough to affect where you want to go as a quarterback. It’s a great challenge for you, I think that’s why you see the young quarterbacks especially like I was early in my career you have trouble – even veteran quarterbacks. You think you know where to go with the ball before the snap, but he makes those adjustments week in and week out to take those away and make you get through your progressions and be perfect every play. It will be a great challenge obviously for the offense but for me especially.”
Receiver Justin Watson said the heavily scrutinized receiver room has been doing some extra work this week to try to jumpstart an offense that needs to get rolling before the postseason.
“Everyone in the receiver room has been in a little bit earlier this week,” Watson said. “We’re watching film more with quarterbacks. Just small things like that that you do anyway, just a little bit more of it.”
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Each of the last four games for the Chiefs is against backup QBs: Bailey Zappe for the Pats, rookie Aidan O’Connell for the Las Vegas Raiders, Jake Browning for the Cincinnati Bengals and Easton Stick for the Los Angeles Chargers.
With the two teams ahead of them in the AFC race in the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins with some of the toughest last four games to go, they still have a chance to win the 1-seed and guarantee homefield advantage in the playoffs.
