Patriots not perfect, but in a flawed AFC, win over Chiefs proves they're best of the bunch

FOXBOROUGH — As Sunday night turned to Monday morning in the Patriots’ locker room, the players allowed themselves a few, brief moments to enjoy what had happened. The 43-40 win over the previously undefeated Chiefs was providing a nice buzz … at least until defensive back Jason McCourty looked at the clock.

“We got a win tonight. We’ll enjoy it,” he said of the third-straight victory, which upped their record to 4-2.

“Monday will be here…” he paused to look up at the clock, which showed it was after midnight. “Well, it’s here now.”

McCourty laughed, but he wasn’t the only one enjoying himself. The offensive linemen were making jokes about the Red Sox' win over Houston. The linebackers were chuckling in their corner of the room. And the special teamers were enjoying the fact the Patriots didn’t punt the ball all night.

“That’s pretty impressive,” said special teams captain Matthew Slater with a smile. “Any time you don’t punt, things are probably going well for you offensively. Give Ryan (Allen) the night off.”

“If you can play like that,” said center David Andrews, “it’s a pretty good day.”

Of course, the laughs didn’t come so easy a few weeks ago when the Patriots were 1-2, and coming off a loss to the Lions in Detroit. Now, New England has won three straight, knocked off the last undefeated team in the AFC, and returned to the top of the division.

In truth, it’s hard not to suddenly be optimistic about things if you are a New England fan. Sure, there were some dicey moments on Sunday. Pat Mahomes proved himself to be an electric performer capable of getting it done in Gillette Stadium, a place where under-25 quarterbacks have struggled over the years. The fact that he did it on the road against a (relatively healthy) team like New England that had 10 days to prepare? And had a bunch of teammates dinged up as well? That made it all the more impressive.

But ultimately, it was easy to view Sunday's game as a prelude to a New England-Kansas City AFC title contest, especially when you consider the rest of the conference: Since they won the biggest regular-season game in franchise history (The September Super Bowl) over the Patriots, the Jaguars have lost three of four and been outscored 91-58. The Steelers’ management is openly feuding with one of their best players, and have been up-and-down all season long. You never know what sort of performance you’re going to get on a week-to-week basis from the rest of the AFC North. The Chargers are crazy talented, but eminently unreliable.

So the idea of Patriots-Chiefs in January? No one in the New England locker room wanted to come right out and say it, but the dramatic back-and-forth that took place Sunday night certainly made a rematch in three months a feasible idea.

“It’s still early in the season. It’s only Week 6,” cautioned cornerback Stephon Gilmore. “We’ve got a lot of football left, so we’re prepared for them in the future if we see them.”

Let’s make one thing really clear: None of this is to suggest the Patriots are a great team in all three phases. While the offense is hitting its stride, the defense still needs work. (This may be the best place to start when thinking about a midseason trade.) And there were some ill-timed breakdowns when it came to kick coverage. The simple truth? Six games in, their offense — with Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, James White and Sony Michel — makes them the best of a profoundly mediocre bunch in the AFC.

But the biggest takeaway from Sunday night? The 2018 Patriots now appear to be poised to erase the early-season obituary that was written for them, especially when you consider just how well Brady and the offense is operating: New England has averaged 40 points a game in the last three contests, Michel is on pace to rush for 1,000-plus yards. And White, Edelman, and Gronkowski are capable of papering over any sort of offensive deficiencies that may crop up from time to time.

“We definitely feel better,” said Andrews. “We’re running the ball better. We’re pass blocking better. We just have to keep rolling.”

Asked how they’ve been able to turn things around as a team, Jason McCourty said it’s been a simple process.

“When (things aren’t going your way), all you can do is work,” he said, recalling the defeats to the Jaguars and Lions. “We talked about that, coming off losses: ‘It’s going to be a long way of practice.’ We had to make sure we’re getting back to our fundamentals. Focus on the opponent. Putting this one behind us, and moving forward.

“We have to keep that same mindset as we’re stacking wins. Continuing to do the same thing. Going through the same process. Giving everything we have on that practice field. And preparing mentally and watching film and doing everything we can to prepare ourselves for our best come Sunday.”

“We’ve just continued to try and trust our process and go about our business the only way we know how,” Slater said. “With hard work and good preparation and going out and trying to compete and execute.”

Again, Sunday was by no means perfect. But it erases the bitter taste of the first three games, and has them well-positioned for the looming challenge of the next month-plus, which includes games against the Bears, Packers and Vikings.

“We’ll come in tomorrow, dissect that film and see where we need to improve,” said Jason McCourty. “This game has no carryover into the next. We have Chicago next, and they don’t care what happened in this game.”

Ultimately, in a locker room that always takes a long view, the answers will always be the same: We need to watch the film. We need to focus on our next opponent. We need to work on getting better every day.

But on Sunday night, it was easy to see the New England offense operate and hear the postgame laughs in the locker room and realize that suddenly, it’s an awfully long way from 1-2.