When the offense was flopping pretty hard early on Monday night and Kansas City was moving with ease between the 20’s I was thinking holy crap it’s gonna be a long night. This team, a two touchdowns plus favorite on all the sports books, is going to lose and do it in an ugly fashion.
I was having September flashbacks and remembering all the awful baseball we watched or listened to and envisioned the same fate last night for our football team. If the Patriots had lost that game last night as ugly as it was starting to play out I’d have needed something harder than beer and fried chicken.
Then somewhere late in the second quarter they started to “matriculate the ball downfield”. They had that nice wide-open pass to TE Rob Gronkowski that turned into a 52-yard TD reception. They also moved the ball well but failed to get six when the other TE Aaron Hernandez couldn’t hold onto a Tom Brady bullet in the end zone. They settled for a field goal.
In the third quarter the Patriots looked like a better team. They played better on both sides of the ball getting yet another TD out of Gronk and then they put the dagger in the Chiefs when Julian Edelman ran back a punt 72-yards for a TD. It put the game out of reach and the rest was really academic.
While the Patriots continue to play decent and the defense only allowed 3 points, albeit to a bad team, there are still some major questions moving forward. You will see that they are the top rated team in the conference but they really aren’t playing the best.
This team is pretty beat up although they will never, ever use that as an excuse. When you place 17 guys on the injury report during the week there is an injury epidemic. Obviously most of them played but among the missing were 2 starting linebackers, a starting cornerback and a starting safety.
Luckily Bill Belichick does his best at getting the most out of players. All you need to do is look at Edelman who Monday night was playing defensive back in the dime sets. Look at players like S Ross Ventrone, S Sterling Moore, CB Philip Adams, CB Antwaun Molden, LB Jeff Tarpinian and the contributions they make when they’re called upon.
If this team is going to get past the first playoff game this year, they’re going to need to get some players healthy and continue to milk what they can from the no names at the end of the bench.
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Head coach Bill Belichick had his weekly day after the game media meeting about the week ahead.
Even though New England has won 5 of the last 6 meeting between the clubs, Kansas City leads the all-time series 16-13-3.
The last Chiefs victory in Foxboro was on December 2, 1990 when they won 37-7.
If the playoffs were to start today the Patriots would be the #1 seed in the AFC have a bye and home field throughout the playoffs.
LB Dane Fletcher missed his 4th game with a thumb injury, WR Taylor Price (hamstring) was scratched with an injury for the third week. LB Brandon Spikes (MCL) and S Patrick Chung (foot) both missed their second game in a row, LB Jeff Tarpinian was ill and RB Kevin Faulk was a scratch for the second time since coming off the pup with a knee injury. QB Ryan Mallett was a healthy scratch.
In the game Monday night S James Ihedigbo injured his shoulder in first quarter, WR Deion Branch missed some time during the game with a tight hamstring. C Dan Connolly aggravated his groin injury and CB Kyle Arrington suffered an arm injury in the 4th quarter. They all returned to action during the game. LT Matt Light had his leg rolled up on during the 4th quarter, he did not return and was seen leaving after the game in a golf cart with a boot on his foot.
Prior to the game New England released OL Donald Thomas and promoted S Ross Ventrone to the 53-man roster. It was the one-zillionth roster transaction involving Ventrone in two seasons.
With some injuries occurring last night along the offensive line don’t be surprised if Thomas comes back this week once/if he clears waivers.
This is what Tom Brady had to say about the big win, not liking “Red Bull”, his high school freshman football team and never having tried coffee on WEEI AM/FM on Tuesday morning.
Brady’s 118th career win tied him with Johnny Unitas for 6th all-time. Fran Tarkenton is 5th with 124.
Brady’s 2 TD passes give him 25 TD passes on the year and 286 TD passes in his career.
The 25-yard pass to RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis early in 3rd quarter pushed Brady past Boomer Esiason into 15th all-time in passing yards.
TE Rob Gronkowski’s 2 TD catches give him 6 games with 2 or more TD’s in his two-year career. He also set a new NFL standard for TE’s with 20 TD catches in his first 26 games. Mike Ditka was the previous fastest TE to 20 TD’s he did it in 31 games.
For the second week in a row Gronk was the Sox & Dawgs offensive player of the game.
Here is his interview after the game from the ESPN on field set.
WR Wes Welker now has catches in 92 consecutive games including playoffs, 75 as a Patriot. The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.
WR Julian Edelman played DB in the dime package through out the game in 3rd and long situations for Kansas City.
Edelman returned a punt for his second career return TD.
CB Kyle Arrington had two-drive killing INT’s of Kansas City QB Tyler Palko. He now has a league leading 7 INT’s on the season.
Arrington was the Sox & Dawgs defensive player of the game.
CB Phillip Adams had an INT of Chiefs QB Tyler Palko during the 4th quarter in the end zone that killed a Chiefs drive. It was his first career INT.
Rookie RT Marcus Cannon (TCU) made his NFL debut in the 4th quarter. It’s his first action after recovering from cancer. That guy is a tank. The offensive line of the future looks in good hands with Nate Solder and Cannon on it.
The offensive line in 2012 could very well be LT Solder, LG Logan Mankins, C Dan Koppen, RG Cannon and RT Sebastian Vollmer. Those are some bad ass dudes.
Rookie RB Shane Vereen (California) scored his first NFL TD late in the 4th quarter.
Former Patriots OL Stephen Neal will be inducted in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
DT Vince Wilfork and his wife, Bianca, helped carry “Thanksgiving in a Basket” deliveries at Goodwill on Monday.
The special teams core four report.
DE Andre Carter has been resurrected in New England and he leads the team in sacks.
The Best and Worst of the Chiefs vs. Patriots game.
That was Chiefs QB Tyler Palko’s first NFL start and he was sacked 3 times and threw 3 INT’s all in New England territory; one was in the end zone.
Here’s the breakdown of the defensive snaps and the offensive snaps by Mike Reiss.
Pro Bowl voting is open feel free to cast your votes for deserving players.
New England plays the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia PA. Look for the Sox & Dawgs “In The Red Zone Game Preview” available on Friday.
Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem
