Patriots Film Review: Four Bad Plays

As I wrote in my Posits, 28 of Kansas City’s second-half points came directly as a result of four bad Patriots plays. Overall, the Patriots did a pretty solid job for most of the night containing what is one of the best offenses in the NFL. An offense that on paper looked like it should have its way with a defense that has had second-level athleticism problems for a couple seasons now.

But overall the Patriots overcame those shortcomings with great downfield coverage and consistent disruption that muddied Patrick Mahomes‘ reads and threw his timing off. Having done these film reviews for going on five years now, I’ve had a close eye on the defense and this week’s film review only reinforced for me that I just like this defense a lot better than any of the recent editions.

I don’t want to put all the blame on Matt Patricia but things just simply look more coordinated between the front and bad. The pressure is better without heavy blitzing and the secondary seems almost always in sync. Maybe they’re just thinking less and executing faster? It looks that way to me, especially in these last three games despite some problem plays.

That said, and I hate to focus on the negative, but here’s a look at those four plays — two defensive, one offensive and one special teams that marred the Patriots victory and ultimately made it a last possession game when it didn’t even really have to be. Not to say the Pats were that much clearly better than the Chiefs, but these were the anomalies to near-perfect gameplan execution.

1. Kareem Hunt 67-yard TD Catch

This is one of those plays that illustrates why the Chiefs offense is so good. The Patriots are in a Cover 2 zone defense for a 3rd and 2. It works immediately off the snap. Mahomes goes through three reads and has nothing, but once Mahomes breaks the pocket things get dicey. Hunt is on a wheel route and never breaks stride, running right by Jason McCourty, who was settling into a short zone. Meanwhile Devin McCourty takes the receiver who settles into the middle flat, leaving no safety over the top of Jason. So there’s a couple different things here — one is that if this is not Cover 2, Jason needs better awareness that he has no help over the top, especially late in the down. He gets caught flat footed. If it is Cover 2, Devin can’t bite on the middle. We can’t know for sure who’s fault exactly it is, but it’s just an illustration of how good Mahomes is outside the pocket. The throw he makes to Hunt is money and it only takes one little miscue and a 67-yard touchdown happens.

2. Tom Brady WTF Fumble

We haven’t gotten too many WTF plays from Brady over the last 18 years but this was one and it cost the Patriots. We pick it up in the GIF above late in the down. Really, it’s just a simple “eat it, Tom!” play. Usually Brady has no qualms about taking a sack and living to fight another possession, but in this case he just tries to do too much. As Brady said on the radio yesterday, this kind of mental error won’t happen again and I believe him.

3. 97-Yard Kickoff Return

This is one of those rare big game special team screw ups that really killed the Patriots at this point in the game and was exactly what they didn’t know. The endzone camera really shows it well. Three Patriots — Slater, King and D-Mac — all have a shot at the returner but just can’t wrap him up. Patrick Chung also gets himself blocked out of his lane, right where the returner come running up. Take a look at the players named there, all veteran leaders two of whom are solely special teams studs. So yeah, let’s give them a kind-of-early-season pass here. Additional problems from this group of guys is unlikely, just a bad time to have a rare turd.

4. Tyreek Hill 75-Yard TD Catch

This is what happens when Mahomes has a clean pocket, can survey the field, and get the ball to Tyreek Hill, maybe the fastest man in football. Pats are in prevent mode, only rushing three on first down and Mahomes seems to know exactly where he’s going with the ball from the snap. Ultimately Duron Harmon has to make this tackle. Yeah, Hill is fast but they knew that coming in and Harmon gets caught up just a half step and that’s all it took. He couldn’t even get a hand on Hill. Again, this is an example of just how explosive the Chiefs can be and how little a mess up it takes for the ball to end up in the end zone.

---

None of the long touchdowns were all that glaring of mistakes. Could’ve been better of course, but they were also displays of why the Chiefs offense is so good. They’re dripping with speed and when you add in Mahomes ability to make late-play throws on the move and it’s where the Chiefs did most of their damage.

In a potential rematch, the Pats must have the same kind of gameplan. Limiting the big plays. Forcing long drives. Getting red zone stops. It was executed to near perfection in the first half, but the Chiefs got loose in the second half, showing how quickly they can strike and how no lead is safe. Mahomes will have a better sense of what the Pats defense is doing a second time around, but their execution can certainly be better.

As for the kickoff and Brady fumble, those are rare mistakes from reliable guys. Let’s just expect we don’t see any more of that kind of crap.