Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Monday Night ‘Mea Culpa?’ - Patriots-Chiefs Recap - 10/6/2020

Episode Date: October 6, 2020

Starting in place of Cam Newton, veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer went 15 of 24 for 130 yards with an interception before getting benched for Jarrett Stidham in the New England Patriots’ 26-10 loss to the defending Super Bowl-Champion Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night. Joining host Mike D’Abate is fan-favorite Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy. The duo discuss New England’s offensive woes, the emergence of running back Damien Harris and the prowess of the defense that nearly helped the Patriots pull off the upset.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get $10 off your first order.MyBookieINVEST IN YOUR INTUITION. USE PROMO CODE LOCKEDON AND DOUBLE YOUR FIRST DEPOSIT. NEW PLAYERS GET UP TO $1,000 IN FREE PLAY - DESIGNED TO ADD MORE EXCITEMENT TO THE SPORTS YOU LOVE AND THE GAMES YOU BET. YOUR WINNING SEASON BEGINS TODAY...ONLY AT MYBOOKIE!NFL Game PassThis season, get football on your time with NFL Game Pass. See all the action from every game with full game replays.Go to nfl.com/gamepass to start your free trial today.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. You are now locked in to the Locked On Patriots podcast. It is a Monday night mea culpa recap here on your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Locked On Patriots is presented today by Pepsi, made for football watching. This football season will be different, and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day,

no matter how you watch the season. Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through game day and become a member of the League of Football Watchers. Because Pepsi isn't made for those who play the game, it's made for those who watch it. Pepsi, made for football watching. Patriots Nation, it is the outcome a lot of us expected, but none of us wanted. And despite the 26-10 loss to the defending Super Bowl champions at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday night, your New England Patriots took a great deal away from that field, and much of it was more positive than negative.

My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked On Patriots Podcast, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback are always welcomed and greatly appreciated. Share that feedback anytime by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And while you're out there doing some Tuesday traveling through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Patriots fans, despite a grueling travel schedule,

their starting quarterback being out on COVID-19 reserve, and also their starting running back being out COVID-19 reserve, and also their starting running back being out now on injured reserve. The New England Patriots put up one hell of a fight against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. They fell 26-10 at Arrowhead, but the Patriots did take some positives away from this one, folks. And despite the circumstances surrounding this one, the New England Patriots will never

use extenuating circumstances as an excuse for a loss. You know it, I know it. Do your job as a fix directly to the wall at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots just go about doing their business regardless of what those circumstances are. In fact, a lot of the Patriots players in post-game statements really echoed the sentiment of we need to be better. So the Patriots accepted the mea culpa nature of this week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. But was it really all their fault? Well, I have my theories on that, and I'll share those with you in just a moment. But a question like this requires some additional wisdom and counsel. And you know what that means.

It's that time again. My good friend, the Green King of Sting himself, Thomas Murphy, is back here on the hot seat, and we will discuss the New England Patriots' performance on offense, or lack thereof. Why Damian Harris is definitely a bright spot for this team, but still requires a little bit of seasoning to be that feature back we're all clamoring for him to be. We'll also talk about the Patriots' amazing performance on defense, and why this unit as a whole should feel pretty proud about the way they played Patrick Mahomes and that high-octane Kansas City defense. Folks, an action-packed agenda on the pod today.

I, for one, can't wait to welcome Murph to the hot seat, and in just a moment, my good buddy and I will continue to break down last night's game and give you our opinion of the way it went down last night in Kansas City. But first, just to recap last night's action, we'll start on the offensive side of the ball, and there were a lot of what-ifs in this game, folks. Starting in place of Cam Newton, who was, again, on COVID-injured reserve, veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer went 15-24 for 130 yards and an interception. Now that stat line is going to do little to endear him to Patriots Nation.

Most of you are up in arms about his performance, and I for one can't say I blame you. I hate to pile on Brian Hoyer, but he was a liability last night. His performance evaluation is negatively compounded by the fact that his biggest problems were in the red zone. He had two possessions, which should have resulted at least in field goals, ending with zero points and a sack. In the first case, Hoyer took a sack that is absolutely inexcusable

from Kansas City Chiefs defender Frank Clark. That ran the clock to the end of the first half. You need to throw the ball away at the very least in that situation. Hoyer showing very bad field awareness, actually got up, looked like he was trying to call timeout at one time, despite the fact that the Patriots did not have timeouts. Bill Belichick pretty much confirmed after the game that there was no misconception of anyone's mind about whether or not the Patriots had timeouts.

Everyone seemed to know, with the exception of Brian Hoyer. The second rent zone turnover is when he fumbled on a strip sack, it was recovered by the Chiefs, and then it was converted into a touchdown. That prompted Bill Belichick and the New England coaching staff to make the switch to Jarrett Stidham. Now, I'd be lying if I said Stidham was perfect. He was far from perfect. But he did exhibit some of the flashes that made him the early choice by consensus to

succeed Tom Brady as New England's top signal caller. Of course, that was before the Patriots signed Cam Newton, and Cam Newton was sorely missed in this game by the Patriots folks without any question. But Stidham stepped in and I think made his case to be the number two quarterback behind Cam Newton this year. Led the Patriots to an early touchdown in the fourth quarter. That closed the gap to 13-10. Beautiful ball placement here by Jarrett Stidham. Nice reception by Nikhil Harry. Smart grab, and the Patriots looked like they were in business. But Stidham also threw two interceptions, and one of them was pretty costly. It was a pick six that went right through the fingertips of

Julian Edelman. I'm sorry to say it, folks. I love Jules as much as the next guy. He needed to have that. That one's on Julian. Went right into the hands of defensive back to Ron Matthew. He ran it back for the pick six, and that really propelled the Chiefs to their fourth straight 4-0 start. Patriots were really never able to recover from that. On the bright side on offense, Damian Harris finished the game with 17 carries for 100 yards. Despite the Chiefs knowing that the Patriots wanted to run the ball early and often especially with Cam Newton out I thought Harris was efficient in this game he was powerful and keep in mind this was essentially his debut as a feature back in a Patriots uniform bright future for this kid ahead and I was really happy to see Damian Harris get his rips including a nice 41 yard run that really showcased his ability to break for big yardage.

But other than that, there really wasn't a whole lot to smile about when it came to the Patriots' offense. Defensively, however, the Patriots had a very strong showing. The Patriots were able to hold Patrick Mahomes to 236 yards passing with two touchdowns. A respectable stat line, but that's largely a shaky performance, especially by Mahomes' standards. The Pats were able to do that by enacting a sound game plan and limiting the effectiveness of Patrick Mahomes by employing what our good friend Evan Lazar of CLNS Media likes to call man-match coverage. And those man-match coverage schemes, folks, are designed to help keep the Patriots' coverage players to stay leveraged on Kansas City receivers.

Even though Mahomes and the Chiefs would connect on a couple of big yardage chunk plays, the Patriots would limit them to only three plays in which they would amass more than 20 yards. That's pretty impressive considering what Kansas City has been able to do to some opposing defenses throughout the season. As for the front seven, I thought they had a strong performance. Yesterday here on the pod, I expressed the belief that I believe the Patriots would employ a five-man rush against Mahomes. They had a pretty good amount of success doing that in their previous matchups. Well, the Patriots committed only four or fewer pass rushers for the majority of this game, and that strategy actually worked to their advantage in a big way. It not only allowed the Patriots to get after the passer,

but it also allowed them an extra body to help limit the run game. My defensive standouts on the front seven, unquestionably, Chase Winovich, huge game getting after the quarterback. We'll get into Chase in just a little bit, folks. Lawrence Guy, again, having a huge game. Dietrich Wise did have the unnecessary roughness call on Mahomes, but I thought he was solid in most of his coverage, and also Adam Butler deserves a lot of credit for the way that he played in the interior of that defensive

line last night. Ultimately, the Patriots were able to set the edge and control Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Hilaire, who did get off to a pretty strong start. All in all, the Patriots were able to put a fair amount of pressure on Mahomes while holding the Chiefs to only 3.8 yards per rush. As for the defensive backs, the Pats continued to show why this unit is still among the elite secondaries in the NFL. Stephon Gilmore, I thought, had a bit of a return to prominence in this game. He helped out in the Wingland zone for much of the game.

When it did switch to man-to-man coverage, he virtually shut down Sammy Watkins. I thought most of the secondary played a pretty good game last night. Obviously, Devin McCourty good game last night. Obviously, Devin McCourty, JC Jackson, both dropping surefire interceptions. These guys had very good games besides those drops, but on a night in which New England was going to need points from turnovers, missing the opportunity to intercept Mahomes not just once but twice did prove to be costly. As for my most costly moment of the game, this was actually one that wasn't the Patriots' fault, and call me a homer all you want to, but I think this one was a game-changer,

and it took place late in the second quarter. Chase Winovich, who again continues to shine, folks, was able to beat Chiefs left tackle Eric Fisher with an excellent move for a strip sack on Mahomes. Shaliqua Calhoun comes in, snags the ball before it hits the ground, and that seemingly handed Patrick Mahomes his first interception of the 2020 season. Not so fast. I thought it was clearly an interception by Calhoun forced by Winovich, but the play was blown dead by the officials. And in a post-game pool report, referee Tony Carrente said that the ruling on the field

was, quote, forward progress. He said Mahomes was, again, quote, in the grasp. And a lot of people in the moment criticized Bill Belichick for not throwing the red challenge flag in this case. It is important to remember, however, that forward progress rulings cannot be challenged. So that likely factored into Bill's decision not to throw the flag. Because of that, the Chiefs were able to flip field position with a punt, and I want to give credit where credit is due, very heads-up move. The Chiefs got into position very quickly, punted the ball before any second guessing could occur,

and while the Patriots did get the ball, it was in much worse field position than they would have had it if Calhoun's interception had been allowed to stand. This was a drive on which Hoyer would lead the team down the field pretty effectively, but it was also the same drive where he would take the sack in the backfield from Frank Clark and effectively ending the first half. Might it have been a little different if the Patriots got the ball where Calhoun had been downed and maybe even advanced to a point where they could put significant points on

the board? Not just three, I'm talking six. Well, folks, ultimately, we'll never know, but I think it's at least worth asking the question. And just like that, the New England Patriots fall to 2-2 on the season. Offensively, this team struggled. You knew they would without Cam Newton in the lineup. Defensively, save for the couple of dropped interceptions, I thought the Patriots played nearly flawless on that side of the ball.

And those are the types of areas that they can build upon as they move into the subsequent weeks of the season. And in just a moment, the Count of Murphy Fisto himself will join me here on the hot seat where we'll take a deeper dive into the Patriots' performance both on offense and on defense. What does it mean for the present? What could it mean for the future? Murph and I discuss that and more when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues.

But first, we are more than one quarter through the season when it comes to the NFL in 2020 and this season. Get football on your time with NFL Game Pass. You can catch every snap from every game with full game replays and see all of the plays in just 45 minutes with condensed games. You can relive all the gutsy calls, all the crazy catches, the wild comebacks, and the breakout stars from every game every week. It's all the action, all the football you can handle, all in one place.

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Go to NFL.com slash Game Pass to start access to the entire NFL Films archive. Go to nfl.com slash game pass to start your free trial today. NFL Game Pass, where football never stops. Patriots fans, we continue to break down the Patriots 26-10 loss to the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. And a loss like this requires some green wisdom and counsel to help it become more palatable. And lucky for us, that type of wisdom and counsel graces the airwaves here on Locked On Patriots each and every week. That's right. It's that time again. Your favorite and mine, my benefactor in this business, the Count of Murphy, Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy, is back for his weekly appearance here on Locked On Patriots.

Thank you for coming to me in friendship and for joining me today, Don Murphy. A day late, hopefully not a dollar short. Thank you so much for having me. A day late to do the recaps, but you know what? Never a dollar short, my friend. You're always here to lend optimal wisdom and counsel, and I know you'll be able to do the recaps, but you know what? Never a dollar short, my friend. You're always here to lend optimal wisdom and counsel, and I know you'll be able to do that. And Murph, I said today to open the pod, too many missed opportunities,

too many points left on the field. Turnovers were the story in this one. And we saw something very rare last night, and that is the Patriots committing multiple self-inflicted mistakes to really cost them dearly and ultimately cost them the game. So let's start with the bad news. You know Murph, we have to start with the bad news first. We'll try that Jerry Seinfeld method, the Band-Aid theory, one motion, right off!

And we'll start by saying, for the first time in nearly 20 years, I can honestly say that the biggest problem for the New England Patriots last night on the field was quarterback play. I don't want to pile on Brian Hoyer, but he did not give the Patriots a chance. Poor decision-making, erratic ball placement. There's no sugarcoating it. He was a liability on Monday night. Murph, I had argued before the game that going with Hoyer here was the right move.

The veteran presence over throwing your young quarterback to the Lions then, which the Patriots had to do in the second half anyway. But in your opinion, and one thing I wanted to ask you about this game last night is, do you believe this was just bad execution on Brian Hoyer's part? Meaning that the Patriots did make the right on Brian Hoyer's part, meaning that the Patriots did make the right call, Hoyer, however, just didn't deliver? Or should the Patriots have been a little more mindful of Hoyer's previous struggles and maybe given the ball to Jarrett Stidham in this game? Yeah, we found out that Brian Hoyer is still not good at quarterbacking at all. It was terrible. Anybody who thought that it was the right move to start him,

including Bill Belichick, was wrong. One of the problems is the fact that Stidham has not been active, has been on the depth chart as the number three guy, and was not getting the work that he needed to get before this entire situation came up. And I think that's why he went with Hoyer over him, because simply he has a better knowledge of what he needs, what needed to be done. He just does not have the arm to get that job done anymore. I'm not really sure if he ever did, but no, it was a terrible decision, a terrible choice. We saw in the second half with that

drive that Stidham did put together and the touchdown that he did throw, that that would have been the right call. And you know me, I have no problem second-gu genius coaches because most of the time you're usually on the right side of that second guess my friend and I don't say that tongue-in-cheek I say that accurately you have a knack for being able to pick up on things like this and I completely agree with you I will eat crow I will give the mea culpa which is actually the title of today's show, believe it or not, because I believe that the Patriots' losses were self-inflicted, or the wounds, I should say, were self-inflicted in this loss. But I agree with you. Hoyers,

to me, it was really an eye-opener to see the mismanagement of the clock, just the poor decision-making. That's something you expect more out of in a veteran quarterback. It's not even the decision-making. It's the play. It was the play. I actually got up to go get a beer as Hoyer was dropping back to throw a pass. The ball was in the air, and I went. I got the beer. I came back, sat down, poured it in a glass before it got to the receiver. He has no arm strength. He is hands down the worst play action quarterback that I have ever seen in my life. His play action moves are awful. He could not get anybody to bite on play action the entire game. And that actually led to one of his interceptions. Yeah, it truly did. And speaking of interceptions, you mentioned Jarrett Stidham earlier,

and he did throw a couple, one of them which is on him, one of them I don't think was on him. He was clearly not perfect last night, and his stat line will not exactly endear him to a lot of Patriots nation. But at the same time, I also thought he gave the Patriots a spark offensively. I thought he challenged coverage down the field. That's two things that Hoyer did not do. I didn't see a spark from Hoyer when they needed it most, and I didn't see him challenging coverage down the field the way Jarrett did. Murph, were there glimmers in Jarrett Stidham's performance last night,

or is this really just the case of the Patriots have to ride out the string until Cam Newton comes back? No, there were glimmers. I like the way the confidence that he showed in the pocket. There were a couple of bad decisions, that second interception, sure, but you can't put the first one on him. That's all on Mr. Dropsy's Edelman. Good point.

It's, you know, the talent's there. What I saw from him in college when I went back after the draft to take a closer look, it's there. He is able to do this. I'm not sure why Bill is shuffling things around the way he is. Is it to make Cam feel comfortable? The only person who should probably be the only person who feels comfortable this morning in Patriot Nation is Cam Newton, because right now they should be drafting up a contract extension for him saying, please stay. But other than that, no, I did see glimmers. I was enthusiastic from what I saw out of him.

What he was able to do, we even saw in the running game, I was a little upset because we needed the tempo to be a little bit quicker and we were still running the ball down there. But even his play calls and what he was doing for the running backs is something that we should look forward to in the future if that is the future. Yeah, good points on this weekend or next year. Yeah, absolutely. And again, I think in a lot of ways, Patriots Nation is looking toward Cam Newton to return without any question. Interesting report

by Mike Reese this morning. Cam still appears to be asymptomatic, meaning that he could be activated within five days of his first testing positive if he has two 24-hour negative tests and he's cleared by the team physician. So whether or not he gets the go on Sunday's game will be interesting to see. But if not, I think the Patriots are definitely have seen more in Jarrett than they saw in Brian. And if for any reason Cam can't give it a go on Sunday,

I think you see Jarrett Stidham in that spot. But Murph, we have to end on a high note with the offense. Anyway, folks, we will talk defense in the second segment. But ending on a high note, as Joey Zaza says, that is our nature. You know, we make more of a bella figura than we do anything else so Damian Harris bright light in this game as far as I was concerned 100 yards on 17 carries including a 41 yard rip this was his full game debut and not a bad one for a player that was pretty highly touted throughout training camp Murph you and I love some Sonny Michelle and

I'm not ready to quite give up on this kid just yet. When he returns from IR, because he will be out for the next three weeks, are we looking at a serious competition of the number one back spot on this team, or is Harris really making the case to take the number one spot? Is he on the verge of making this one his own?

I want to say yes, I really do. But I don't think so, not in the way that Bill runs this ship. I do think that we will still see a split in the backfield, a bigger split, if you will. I think, I screamed for it last night, I wanted more two-back sets back there. We'll see more of that. But I'm not sure that we will ever see a bell cow again in a Patriots backfield. It's just not in Bill's nature anymore. Yeah, good point. And I think the way that you saw

this team emerge and the running attack that they are utilizing, I agree with you. There probably won't be that bell cow back. Harris looked good last night, a good debut for him, and hopefully we continue to see more out of him. He did. He looked good. He didn't look great. Okay, let's not forget. It's nice to see a running back with that next gear,

that fifth gear that he can hit, actually a fourth gear that he can he can downshift into and get a little more power out of um but if you take away that that 41 yard run it's uh it's 60 yards on 16 carries it's not you know 100 yards on 17 uh you you need to keep that in mind people that um it it wasn't as beautiful as the box score is never as beautiful or as ugly as you think it is. Good point. Very good point. And again, moving forward, maybe we will see that type of burst out of Damian on a regular

basis. Maybe we won't. Maybe it's not something he contributes regularly, meaning every single game. So definitely something to keep a sharp eye on, and the Patriots' offense is going to need improvements without any question as they look to face the Denver Broncos this weekend. And even though that offense largely sputtered Murph, the defense performed very well for the Patriots on Monday night,

enacting a solid game plan against Patrick Mahomes and that high-octane Chiefs offense. Who stood out in this one? Did this game tell us something about the future of these two teams? Murph and I answer this question and more when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, even in this era of social distancing, getting from point A to point B is essential. And to do so, you need a vehicle that is running and looking at its absolute best

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and using promo code LOCKED, L-O-C-K-E-D for 30% off at BiltGo.com. Let's go! Fans, Thomas Murphy is here today for his weekly appearance on Locked on Patriots. A hashtag Locked on Murph Tuesday here on the pod. Breaking down the Patriots 26-10 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs. And Murph, when you're holding the Chiefs offense to field goals and lamenting over dropped interceptions as near certain game changers, you know your defense is performing well. And I thought the Patriots defense was very good on Monday night.

There's not a lot to criticize here in terms of the defensive performance, at least in my opinion. But we want to end on a high note. So we'll start on a sour note, much like we did with the offense earlier. And this one wasn't the Pat's fault, but it was the sour note on the defense for the night, save for a couple of dropped interceptions that you need to have those back. There's no question about it, but I think you know what I'm referring to here. Winovich who continues to shine beats Chiefs left tackle Eric Fisher with an excellent rip move for a strip sack Fisher goes to recover

Chase rips through his hands turns the corner gets to Patrick Mahomes Shaliqua Calhoun snags the ball before it hits the ground although it was clearly an interception by Shaliqua Calhoun forced by Winovich, the play was blown dead. The Chiefs were able to flip field position with a punt. Murph, first of all, what was your take on this play? And do you believe, as I do, that this could have been a game changer? The Patriots did get the ball. Hoyer drove the field. That ended in a sack by Frank Clark. Terrible field awareness at that point by Brian Hoyer. But am I crazy for thinking that this field position really could have done a lot to put the Patriots

in the end zone and maybe put the Chiefs on their heels a little bit here? Yeah, it was definitely a game changer. It was a momentum shifter. It was one of the worst calls that I've seen this year, maybe in the past five years, but it shows you how this game has evolved because Patrick Mahomes was less in the grasp last night than Eli Manning was during the Super Bowl when we all hit that. I don't even want to go there anymore. But my blood is boiling right now. That's exactly what I was thinking of. I'm glad you brought it up. It really was.

I mean, you have to let a play work its way out. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear that he was blown down. No whistle, no nothing happened until Shalit Calhoun was running

past the referee with the ball in his hand, headed for a fat guy moment that we all dream of, getting to the end zone. Absolutely. And really, I think he had the clarity to be able to do it. I think he might have been able to put it in, or at least put the Patriots in very deep field position to be able to put significant points on the board. Not even just the three.

I'm just talking like a round person over here. Oh, absolutely, and you've got to love it. What did John Madden say in the replacements? I love seeing a fat guy score. You love seeing a guy like that being able to get in there. But I thought Calhoun was in great position, and again a testament to just how great Chase Winovich has been throughout the first three games of the season.

Murph, staying on that pass rush for just a moment. Schematically, I think the Patriots let their defensive front a little exposed on several occasions. They committed four or fewer to the pass rush for most of the night. But that was sort of eclipsed by the fact that they got great efforts from Chase Winovich. From Lawrence Guy, who had three tackles, a tackle for a loss. Despite of the roughing the passer call or the unnecessary roughness call, I thought Dietrich Wise was pretty solid in this game as well. Three hurries, he had the run stop.

And I thought Adam Butler was also very effective as well. The Patriots still got to Patrick Mahomes despite some of that lack of personnel in the pass rush, and they held the Chiefs to 3.8 yards per rush. As we've said before several times here on Locked on Patriots and on numerous different appearances, when you set the edge, you help to control the run. Murph, what was your take on the run defense last night in tandem with the pass rush, and is this an encouraging sign for a defense that's had its ups and downs in this area throughout the four-game season so far? Yeah, I thought the run defense was amazing.

I said in my keys that you wanted Kansas City to rush the ball, you want to beg them to rush the ball, and they did. That's exactly the game plan that Bill set up, and everybody in that front came up and did their job. They did it well. They held their gaps. They set edges. They did not let this team do anything.

They held one of the best running backs in the NFL to 3.8 yards per rush for a reason. I mean, one of the best offenses in the NFL to 3.8 yards per rush for a reason, because they did their job. They knew what they had to do and they went out there and did it. It was a beautiful defensive game plan and everybody showed up on that side of the ball. We just could have used a little Jerry Rice stick them on people's hands. Yeah. And unfortunately, I mean, yeah, those are going to go down. I know DMACC would love to have that one back. I know JC Jackson would love to have that one back. You have one of arguably the best quarterback in the league on the ropes,

and you have him throwing passes that are easily interceptable. You have to snag those. But ultimately, I mean, I think the performance of the defense in this one was great. And that leads me quite nicely, buddy, into my last question for you. And one of the more eye-popping stats for me last night is that the Chiefs managed only three plays that were over 20 yards in the win. That's kind of an anomaly for this Chiefs defense that is so predicated on the big chunk play, or as our good friend Ian Glendon put here yesterday, the pick play.

But, you know, we'll give the benefit of the doubt and call them chunk plays. I think that was a testament to the Patriots' excellent coverage. And our good friend Evan Lazar pointed out to me last night, eloquently as always, as Evan usually is, that everything New England did was designed to help their coverage players stay leveraged on the Kansas City receivers. What that means, folks, is that instead of chasing them around the field, the Patriots forced the Kansas City receivers to run into their own defenders last night. That's a brilliant game plan when it comes to what you need to do to contain Patrick Mahomes. Their most successful coverage was their man-match coverage schemes.

And the Patriots have done this quite well against Mahomes in the past. So my question to you, my good friend, is do you think the Patriots have found some Mahomey and kryptonite here, or is this just the case of Bill always being ahead of the curve defensively, reading the offense, knowing what they're doing, and being able to adjust and devise saw last night why Bill has constructed this defense. I mentioned in my keys to the game, there I go again, how important it was to keep these defensive backs fresh, to keep guys moving in and out. Now, if you look at the snap breakdown, there are four or five guys that played every single down. But other than that, they were moving guys in and out to keep them fresh

and to be able to keep up with these speedsters over here. But it was. It was a fantastic game plan. It wasn't innovative. They basically ran quarters. They ran man under. And then they had two high safeties on a lot of plays. It's something that not a lot of other rosters would be able to pull off. Let's put it that way.

Yeah, I think that in a lot of ways you're absolutely correct on that, and I agree with you. I think that it's one thing to be able to devise a system that can work to contain a certain quarterback, but eventually great quarterbacks figure it out. And for all intents and purposes, we're dealing with a great quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. He's someone that will be able to figure that out. He's smart enough and savvy enough to be able to bite onto it. So I agree with you that it is the latter. He figured it out. There was just

nowhere for him to go with the ball. Exactly. He knew what he needed to do. It's just the Patriots were so good on the back end. They passed people off from man to zone in an impeccable way. Nobody made a mistake, as I said, except for the dropped INTs. You can't get away with that. You can't. Yeah, unfortunately, moves like that, and lack of a move like that, I should say, about snagging surefire interceptions,

will come back to beat you, and it did come back to beat the Patriots last night. And hopefully from this mea culpa type loss, they'll learn a little bit of something. They'll grow a little bit. And I still stand by my statement from opening the show. I believe if Cam Newton were in there last night, this definitely could have been a massive outcome difference for this game. And I think the Patriots might've been able to go into Kansas city and maybe

even steal one with the type of defensive effort that they got, assuming that type of effort was the same that they got last night from a very, very young but growing defense. And they showed a lot of metal last night against a very tough offense to stop. Murph, you lend your wisdom and counsel, buddy, like no other. That's why you are family here at Locked On Patriots. I thank you for joining me each and every week to help break down exactly what we saw on the field, making me look a little bit smarter.

And, of course, I can never, ever tell you enough to plug the monster keys because, folks, it's not only my favorite read of the week, it's also one of the most accurate reads of the week. I highly, highly recommend them. Point, click, learn material as I like to say, and it makes you a smarter football fan. Proudly found on DieHardBostonSportsFans.com each and every week. Do not miss

them. Follow my good friend, the count of Murphy Fisto on Twitter at TMurph207. Never miss an opportunity to listen to one of the great Patriots podcasts out there, One Patriots Place with Murph207. Never miss an opportunity to listen to one of the great Patriots podcasts out there, One Patriot's Place with Murph and our great mutual friend, Steve Balistrieri. Buddy, what can I say? Thank you. I'm always honored, always humbled by your presence. Oh, no, my pleasure, bud. Always happy to be here.

We probably should have done this last night when I was a little more pissed off. You know what? We got enough angry Murph, but we got some level-headed Murph along with it. And I like that. I like that. Because that is a good blend of the wisdom and counsel that you're able to provide. So, you know what? The football gods wanted us to talk in the morning when we both had a little bit of a chance to cool down. I was a little heated last night as well, so we might have gotten a different side of Mike on this one.

But all kidding aside, these always some of my favorite conversations to have. I thank you for the great information you always provide and for coming on whenever I need you. You're always there and often I couldn't thank you enough for that. So until next week, buddy, we look forward to hopefully a healthy week for the New England Patriots. Still very much a concern on a lot of people's minds. Good news continues to trickle in, but we're still not out of the woods on that one yet, folks. But hopefully things will continue to trend in the right direction. But until next week, my friend, stay safe, stay well,

and we look forward to doing this again. All right, man. Thanks for having me. And so, Patriots fans, it may only be one day past game day, but we're already nearly at the midway point of your work week. And while our eyes are slowly starting to turn toward the Denver Broncos and the Patriots match up against them this week at Gillette Stadium, there is still plenty more to break down when it comes to the Pats 26-10

loss to the Chiefs on Monday night. So to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action, be sure to download Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Spotify. Subscribe to us on Google Podcasts. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe to us on

Apple Podcasts. No matter what you do, make sure that you're staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend Thomas Murphy for his time, his insight, and his appearance on today's pod. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening

and for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, stay safe, stay well, always be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.