FOXBOROUGH — After the final whistle to conclude another Patriots loss (11th in 14 games) and another defeat at home (now 1-6), Bill Belichick went through the customary handshake with Andy Reid.
And then Belichick embraced with Patrick Mahomes along with a few words in his ears. Same with Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones.
Those are three of the best players in the league at their positions — and you could make the argument they are indeed the best.
If you're looking for the biggest reason why the Patriots are only tacitly competitive with the best teams in the conference, this post-game picture said it all.
Three game-changing players. All homegrown. (And Trent McDuffie, Nick Bolton, Creed Humphrey, etc. ain't bad either).
That used to be the Patriots with any assortment of players over the years, but in the latter stages of the dynasty, it was Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Dont'a Hightower (or Logan Mankins or Vince Wilfork or Devin McCourty, etc.).
The Patriots just don't have any players even close to that, especially without Matthew Judon (free agent) and first-round pick Christian Gonzalez. Although Christian Barmore is making a strong push this season to be Chris Jones Light.
The Chiefs didn't have to bottom out to get those players, even Mahomes. Before his arrival in 2017, they had gone 32-16. Kansas City had the No. 27 overall pick in that 2017 draft but identified a special player and traded a third-round pick and 2018 first-round pick to select Mahomes when they had Alex Smith. Mahomes sat for a year before taking the reigns.
Kelce was a third-round pick in '13. Jones was a second-round pick in '16.
That used to be something the Patriots would do. They ceased finding those players in about 2015, and they are now the worst team in the conference by two games.
No big mystery.
"Yeah, well, there were a lot of big plays in the game," Belichick said in his summation. "Yeah, we got a couple turnovers, had one called back, another touchdown called back. There’s a number of key plays in the game that could have helped us a little more than the way they turned out. But it’s competitive. They’re a good football team. They’re well-coached. Obviously got a lot of good players. Can’t give them any extra opportunities."
But what happened on Sunday further illustrated where Belichick has fallen off in recent years: guts, or just flat-out game management if you think the 71-year-old head coach has lost something off his fastball in recent years.
- At the end of the first quarter, the Patriots had 4th and 1 on their own 34 after throwing on third and 1. Belichick punted.
Belichick did go for it on 4th and 2 in the second quarter, which resulted in Bailey Zappe's great touchdown toss to Hunter Henry. You might think that would bring a little more confidence from Belichick, but no...
- Belichick could have used his three timeouts as the Chiefs obviously tried to run out the clock under the two-minute warning. But he didn't use one after a 2-yard gain at about the 1:50 mark. Belichick used one with 50 seconds left. Why?
- When the Patriots did get the ball with 35 seconds remaining and two timeouts left, Belichick elected to run a draw and walk off the field. Couldn't give it at least a good try to get a field goal, trailing 14-10?
- Trailing 24-10 after Zappe's back-breaking interception, the Patriots ran on 2 of the next three plays with little urgency.
- Trailing 27-10, the Patriots ran on the first play.
- Finally, in the waning seconds of the third quarter, the Patriots threw three straight times ... and then punted on 4th and 3 from their own 42-yard line.
I mean, what are we doing here? How do you not go for it there?
"It’s not a question of not wanting to go for it, it’s a question of doing what you feel like is best at that point in time," Belichick said.
"At that point we had lost three starters. Worried about the pass protection. Worried about being able to execute in that situation. Felt like we were playing good defense."
- Still trailing by 17 with 9:28 left, Belichick punted on 4th and 4 from the New England 33. Belichick pointed to the interception the defense got as justification for that.
- Down 10 points and having used two of their timeouts to get the ball back, the Patriots ran the ball twice from their own 1, huddling each time while going 35 and 41 seconds between plays.
"We ended up in a check play there. I mean, we could have gone quicker," Belichick said.
Basically, that's a big 'ol shrug from Belichick: What does it matter, we can't compete anyway?
If you're a player on the Patriots — especially one of the many who went out of the game with an injury — and saw the lack of urgency from the offensive approach in the second half, like the Patriots were (again) just trying not to get blown out, what would you think?
And Belichick's excuse-making about the injuries was just embarrassing.
You lost an average guard in Cole Strange, a fourth-string tackle in Conor McDermott and a good tight end in Hunter Henry, but you should be in two-minute for most of the second half with fast players on the field — and you still have Mike Gesicki (who you signed in the offseason after not drafting a tight end) and Pharoah Brown.
So ... you're just supposed to pack it in and not try to play offense for the rest of the game? If you watched any NFL games, this is par for the course in this league, and other teams keep fighting. This is the roster Belichick constructed. He's one who drafted three interior linemen and signed Reilly Reiff and Calvin Anderson, and traded for Vederian Lowe and Tyrone Wheatley.
So because of Belichick's personnel failings, both in terms of finding difference-makers and just stocking useable offensive pieces, it's OK for the Patriots to just wave the white flag for most of the second half?
This is where the 2023 Patriots are. They can't even play out the string trying to compete for an entire half.