BSJ Game Report: Chiefs 26, Patriots 10 - New England plays well enough to win, but not QBs taken at BSJ Headquarters (Patriots)

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BSJ Game Report: Chiefs 26, Patriots 10 - New England plays well enough to win, but not QBs

By Greg A. Bedard

Oct 5, 2020 • 11:08 pm

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FOXBOROUGH — Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ 26-10 loss to the Chiefs in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:


HEADLINES


Defense does enough, Brian Hoyer doesn't: The game, thanks to the unusual circumstances that seemed to affect Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs as much as the Patriots (KC was sleepwalking and looked like it was the team who woke up at 5 a.m. and flew to Missouri), went about as well as the Patriots could have scripted. They took the air out of the football offensively, and never let Mahomes and Co. reach third gear. But Hoyer threw an interception, was sacked as time expired in the first half to take three points off the board, and then allowed himself to be strip-sacked in the red zone again before being lifted for Jarrett Stidham.





Patriots made Mahomes a game manager: The Chiefs only had four explosive pass plays over 20 yards, and only one came in the second and third quarters. The other three included two short passes against zone coverage. The defense did a great job.


Patriots shuffle on the offensive line: Not only did the Patriots deal with the Newton situation and flying and playing in the same day, but they had to make do with a makeshift offensive line when RT Jermaine Eluemunor couldn't play because of a migraine. That forced them to go with an offense line of Isaiah Wynn, Joe Thuney, James Ferentz, Michael Onwenu and Justin Herron. The last two were sixth-round rookies.


Harris, Olszewski, White, Herron, Ferentz make debuts/return to lineup: Damien Harris and Gunner Olszewski were both effective in their first real game action as Patriots. James White didn't skip a beat returning from his family tragedy, and both Herron and Ferentz held their own.



TURNING POINT


Julian Edelman's drop that was returned for a touchdown by Tyrann Mathieu. Patriots were within 19-10 when the drive started with 8:57, but Stidham threw a late and high pass to a covered Edelman who should have caught it, but it slipped through his fingers and that was the end of things at 26-10.


SECOND GUESS


Pretty obvious: not inserting Jarrett Stidham into the game earlier. The rest of the team had played their butts off and stayed within striking distance and deserved more of a chance. Stidham wasn't even great in his stint – the TD toss to N'Keal Harry was money but he was just 3 of 8 for 24 yards and one real INT. But it was clear that for whatever reason — it could have been the unusual situation and flying and playing in the same day for an older player, or it could be Hoyer just isn't good anymore — that Hoyer didn't have it in this game. The change should have been made at halftime after that mental error.





THREE UP


Damien Harris/Rex Burkhead: Looked like a dangerous duo with 145 yards on 28 carries (5.2 average), including a 41-yard burst out of bounds by Harris in his first career start. Harris showed a lot of promise and seemed to play faster as the game went on. It will be interesting to see what he can do after getting a good taste of game action.


Adrian Phillips/Shilique Calhoun: Seems like they both kind of had a heavy hand in keeping Travis Kelce down for much of the game. Even though he finished with three catches for 75 yards, 45 came on one pass and Kelce was largely out of the picture for the Chiefs.


Defensive gameplan: Some of the Chiefs' lack of offensive pop obviously had to do with the weird circumstances — Mahomes looked like he was there to get his flu shot. But some of it had to do with a plan that encouraged the Chiefs to run, and then flooded the passing lanes with defenders. It almost worked. Oh, and Chase Winovich had a good game against a better offensive line. Good sign.


THREE DOWN


QB Brian Hoyer: For whatever reason, whether it was a lack of reps since the season started or the curveball of Newton's positive test, Hoyer was not ready to play this game. His throws were high to start, including an interception. Then, even after stringing a good drive together and settling down in the third quarter, he had two inexcusable mental errors to erase six points that this team desperately needed. I have no doubt that if this was an injury situation and Hoyer had a full week of reps, he might have been better. But he looked like he hadn't played in a long, long time.


WR Julian Edelman: Didn't look like he wanted to be there with a drop early that was caught by Gunner Olszewski, and one late that went to the Chiefs for a TD. He also had another possible diving catch that he couldn't make.


Referee Tony Corrente: I'm not much for complaining about blown calls, and in the grasp was a judgment call, but if the QB is trying to make a play like Mahomes was when being sacked by Chase Winovich, you let it play out a little longer. Should have been Patriots' ball and they might have gotten the defensive score they needed.



INJURIES


RT Jermaine Eluemunor (migraine): Couldn't start and didn't play.


TOP PLAYS















TWO TAKES BEDARD WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER


Patriots need to find out if Jarrett Stidham can be the backup, or they need to go get someone else: So it's now clear that Brian Hoyer isn't a viable backup right now should the worst happen to Cam Newton, but are we sure Stidham is after last night? Maybe he's been out of the offensive loop for so long, relegated to the scout team, that he wasn't very sharp in this game. His first completion was great to N'Keal Harry in the end zone, but the rest was kind of ugly as well. Patriots might need to bring in another body, at least for the practice squad.


This game still shouldn't have been played: No one wanted to be there, and the Patriots wasted a very real chance to knock off the Chiefs on the road. If this game was in Week 18, it could have meant something. Instead, we were force-fed that and were robbed of a real matchup between these two teams. Worse yet, we still don't know much about these Patriots at this point. We all thought they'd be 2-2. Would have been nice to see a real showdown. Mahomes looked like he was at the dentist's office.

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