Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Monster Mad? Patriots-Chiefs Recap - 12/9/19

Episode Date: December 9, 2019

After the Kansas City Chiefs built a 23-7 lead, the New England Patriots nearly capitalized on a series of mistakes by their opponents and stood strong in the face of questionable officiating in a 23-16 loss on Sunday in Foxboro. Thomas Murphy joins host Mike D’Abate to recap the action and frustration from Gillette Stadium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all you Foxborough faithful and welcome to your Mad as Hell Monday episode of Locked On Patriots, your daily home for news, notes, analysis, and the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Today's episode is brought to you in part by Casper. The original Casper mattress combines multiple supportive memory foams for a quality sleep surface with the right amounts of both sink and bounce. Get $100 towards select mattresses by visiting casper.com slash locked NFL. memory foams for a quality sleep surface with the right amounts of both sink and bounce. Get $100 towards select mattresses by visiting casper.com slash locked NFL and using locked NFL at checkout.

Terms and conditions apply. If you can't visit Casper right now, you can find this and all other offers from Locked On sponsors at lockedonpodcast.com slash offers. My name is Mike DeBate and I am your host of Locked On Patriots, which of course is a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC, and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter at LO underscore Patriots. And if you're a Spotify listener, use Spotify Rep to show us your top Locked On podcasts

for the year. Take a screenshot and tag us at LockedOnLive and at LO underscore Patriots on Twitter, and we will share and retweet. Their opponents had built a 20-7 lead on their home turf, but yet the New England Patriots nearly capitalized on a series of mistakes by those Kansas City Chiefs and stood strong in the face of questionable officiating. Yeah, folks, we're going to get to that. Don't worry. The Chiefs did held off a late rally by the defending Super Bowl champions.

And unfortunately for the Patriots, they suffered a 23-16 loss to the Chiefs yesterday in Foxborough. The loss ended the Patriots' 21-game home winning streak in the regular season and the playoffs. That was tied for the longest in team history. It's also the third longest string in NFL history. Tom Brady, under pressure all game, finished 19 of 36 for only 169 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The 169 yards, folks, that's Tom's second fewest passing yards this season. But despite the Patriots having difficulty moving the ball once again, and also sputtering

on defense in the second quarter, they still had a chance to win this game. So what happened, and why didn't they? Well, my guest today will help me to answer those very questions, because after all, he holds the keys. That's right, folks, you guessed it. Our main green man here on Locked On Patriots, Thomas Murphy joins me today, and he will help me break down the good, the bad, and the striped ugly that was this game in Foxborough yesterday. But first, we start with a look at yesterday's action, and the Patriots received the game's

opening kickoff. They needed just five plays to drive 83 yards and take a 7-0 lead on a 37-yard leaf licker from Tom Brady to Julian Edelman. Credit the Patriots for capitalizing on two third down pass interference penalties called on Chiefs cornerbacks Jarhabius Ward and Bashad Breeland. And the Patriots look to be clicking on offense right from the get-go in this. Shortly thereafter, the Patriots had a chance to put the Chiefs on their heels early. J.C. Jackson undercut the route of Demarcus Robinson and picked off Patrick Mahomes at

the Kansas City 40. Patriots had followed up their big play on offense with a big play on defense and all looked to be going well. But the Patriots offense would stall and they ended up getting negative one yards on three snaps and they were forced to punt. And at that point, Kansas City would start to take control of this game. They responded with a 48-yard Harrison Butker field goal. That made it 7-3. But in short order, they found the end zone when Nicole Hardman, who if you recall here on Friday, Evan Lazar and I discussed him as a possible X-factor in this game, he got behind Jonathan Jones, and Mahomes withstood pressure, delivered a deep pass off his back foot for a 48-yard touchdown to put the Chiefs in front 10-7.

On the Patriots' ensuing offensive drive, Tom Brady was then intercepted by Breland, and Kansas City went right back to work. Took over at the New England 39, Mahomes found Kelsey in the middle of the field for a 20-yard gain to get the Chiefs inside the 5. Two plays later, Kelsey took a direct snap in the Wildcat formation and ran it in for a 4-yard touchdown. At that point, Kansas City took a 17-7 lead,

and they'd add a Butker field goal before the end of, Kansas City took a 17-7 lead, and they'd add a Butker field goal before the end of the half and take a 20-7 halftime lead. Kansas City would strike first in the second half as well, adding another Butker field goal to make it 23-7 early in the third quarter. That's where Kansas City started to sputter a little bit, and it helped the Patriots be able to close the gap. It started when Patriots special teamer Nate Ebner blocked Dustin Colquitt's punt that rolled out of bounds at the Chiefs' 19. It set up a 10-yard run by Brandon Bolden into the end zone to make it 23-13. The Patriots' try for a two-point conversion was not successful when James White was stopped short of the goal line.

And this, folks, is where the officiating came in, and it was abysmal and embarrassing to say the least. It started with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. Facing 3rd and 4 with their own 35, Mahomes found Sammy Watkins out of the shotgun. Originally it looked like a five-yard gain and a first down. Or was it? Well, Bill Belichick didn't think so because he threw the challenge flag, and ultimately he may not have had to. And that was because the side judge gave Watkins a huge favorable spot at the 40-yard line when the replay clearly showed him catching it at the 39. That was very close to the yard marker. So Belichick threw the challenge flag, not only on the spot,

but he was also asking for an offensive pass interference penalty on Travis Kelsey. And while the spot may have been a first down regardless, the replay also showed that Kelsey clearly interfered with his defender, Stephon Gilmore. He ran around about two or three yards and stopped, and then stuck his backside out, which clearly made contact with Gilmore. That is offensive pass interference by the textbook definition, and I'll get into that with Murph in a little while, but both calls were denied by the replay officials, and that

would come back to haunt the Patriots. So that was officiating blunder number one, folks. But wait, there's more. The Patriots had another opportunity late in the third quarter when Kelsey caught a pass and was hit by Devin McCourty. That forced a fumble which Stephon Gilmore recovered, and he had a clear path to the end zone. But the officials, who are generally taught to hold off on their whistle in plays like that and sort it out after the replay, whistled and blew the play dead.

The officials' initial ruling was that Kelsey was down by contact, but it was clearly obvious that Kelsey had fumbled the football. That prompted an immediate challenge by the Patriots, which resulted in the call being overturned and the ball awarded to New England. But it also left the Patriots without a remaining challenge, and that would loom large. As the Patriots quickly drove to the Kansas City 15, Tom Brady found Nakiel Harry with a short pass. Harry weaved through multiple defenders all while staying in bounds, appeared to stretch the ball over the pylon. But that's not exactly how the officials saw that. He was ruled to have stepped out of bounds at the three, despite the fact that he clearly never stepped out of bounds. Three plays later, Tom Brady was sacked, and the Patriots had to settle

for a field goal to close to within 23-16. But after a key stop by the defense, the Patriots got the ball back trailing by that same score on their own 32-yard line with five minutes and four seconds to play. The Patriots immediately gained 35 yards on a pass from James White to Jacoby Myers. Yes, you heard that correctly, folks. James White dropped back to pass, and that got the Patriots into Kansas City territory. Shortly thereafter, Tom Brady looked poised to connect on a deep pass with Philip Dorsett, but the officiating crew did it again, folks. Officials missed a blatant pass interference call on that deep pass. The non-call forced the Patriots into a 4th and 6th on the Kansas City 29-yard line.

And that's when the old man took matters into his old hands. Tom Brady got free, scrambled 17 yards for a first down, and he was livid, he was animated. You could see it on that run. But the Patriots ultimately couldn't carry that momentum into taking the ball into the end zone. Bashad Breeland truly made a great play by knocking away Tom Brady's fourth down pass attempt to Julian Edelman in the end zone, and the Chiefs would hold on for a 23-16 victory with the Patriots in the rematch of January's

AFC title game in Kansas City. So who deserves the biggest slice of blame pie for this loss? Well, folks, if we're being objective, it has to be the Patriots offense. They just did not have the complete game showing they needed to have to beat a team like Kansas City. But that's not to say that there isn't a big enough slice to be served to referee Jerome Boger and his crew of officials. And there was several bad calls in this game. But Mike Reese of ESPN was the pool reporter after the game for the officials, and he attempted to get some answers for the would-be Harry touchdown, which really was probably the most high-profile and egregious call of the night. And Boger offered a weak

explanation. He stated that the covering official on the Harry play was blocked out by defenders. And these are Boger's exact words. Quote, the downfield official who was on the goal line and looking back toward the field of play had that he stepped out at the three-yard line. So they got And these are Boger's exact words. Quote, Did that answer your question, folks? Don't worry, it didn't answer mine either. Especially when replays and still shots of that play show that the official had much more than an adequate vantage point to be able to make the call that Harry had never stepped out of bounds. But the Patriots were out of challenges and could not challenge the ruling on the field simply because the two challenges they'd used earlier had already depleted their challenge quota for the second half.

And a very strong argument can be made that at least one, if not both of those challenge flags, should not have even been necessary for the Patriots to use. And as a result, the Patriots were deprived of some points they should have had on Sunday. And here in Patriots Nation, we're left with a crumbled puzzle. But Murph and I will attempt to pick up those pieces on this one, and I will be welcoming in my green friend in just a minute. However, before I proceed with that, I wanted to take a minute to address all of you guys

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Blue Chew is the better, cheaper, faster choice, and we thank them for sponsoring the podcast. Okay, Patriots fans, you're angry today. I get it. Angry at the execution and the productivity on the offense. Little bit miffed at some of the coaching decisions and livid at the officiating. And you have questions.

And like Colonel Nathan R. Jessup once said, you want answers? Well, today I bring in the man that has the answers. He is a columnist extraordinaire for DieHardBostonSportsFans.com, and along with another member of the Locked On familia here, Steve Balistrieri, he compiles one half of the hosting tandem of One Patriots Place podcast, which next to Locked On Patriots is my favorite

Pats podcast, and they might just have a special guest this week, so we'll get into that in a little bit as well. He is my main green man, Thomas Murphy. Murph, welcome back on this manic Monday, I guess you can call it. Yeah, that's kind of perfect. It is aic Monday. The sun did come up, Patriots Nation. It may be behind some clouds, but it's out there.

It's out there. But, yeah, not a lot of sleep last night. Kind of restless. A little pissed off. And I'm sure we're going to get into all of that in just a minute. Thank you so much for asking me on here on this Monday. I honestly couldn't think of a better way to spend my Monday than here with you, Bun.

Oh, that means the world to me. And like I said, I mean, when we talk about a loss like this, a game like this, you've got to bring in the man that has the answers, and you always have the answers. And you know what, Murph? We're going to get right into it. Like a Band-Aid, we're going to pull it right off right at the beginning uh blown touchdown calls in this game are getting the lion's share of the attention this morning and of course I'm talking

about the officiating it's understandable that those calls are getting and we're going to go into those folks but Gilmore's scoop should have never been blown dead no question about it Harry's touchdown was a touchdown. But not getting the spot of the Kelsey first down conversion challenge is something that's making me a little bit more, I don't want to say angry, but it's unsettling me a little more with each passing moment that I see a little bit more and I read a little bit more into the rules on this one. First of all, Kelsey was two yards off the line of scrimmage. He backs up to pick up the defensive back,

which technically should have been offensive pass interference. And it cost the Patriots a challenge that really they probably shouldn't have had to use. And a lot of people are questioning whether or not Bill should have thrown the flag there in that situation. But ultimately, when you go back and you take a look at it, I do believe that bill saw exactly what our good friend matt chatham saw who really he's on both of our shows we know chatham to be great when it comes to matters of this type and i trust him implicitly and i took a bit of a deep dive into the rule when you know matt pointed that out on twitter last night and the rule basically outlines the concept of blocking more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage by an offensive player.

That's the text. And the replay does show that Kelsey is beyond one yard. And some are saying that, well, the player being blocked was at the one-yard line, but that's not the rule if it's the position of a blocker, and he can't block beyond one yard. So they're bound by that language. And the officials not only didn't overturn and rule offensive pass interference, which in my opinion they should have, but they also placed the ball at the 40,

which was unbelievably surprising because he really was nowhere near there. They essentially gifted the Kansas City Chiefs a yard in that one. As a Patriots fan, this is the call that really has me most angry today because without it, the challenge, I think, is still available for the Gilmore scoop and the Harry touchdown pass. So, in your opinion, when you look at the egregious calls last night, do you think it started with this play, or do you think really it boils down to the Gilmore scoop and the Harry touchdown that really was what cost them this game in terms of extra points that they should have had?

Well, because of circumstance, it does start with this play. If the circumstance afterwards don't happen, then no. But it did. It started with this. It ended up losing a challenge over it. Losing a challenge over it. And it was just awful. It was awful. On two freaking counts, it was awful. They screwed up two things in the same play. And you can't do that. I mean, it's just impossible to defend this in any way, shape, or form.

This crew last night was awful. It was awful. And I'm telling you now, folks, this is the last time. Well, no, you'll hear it on my show, but I have a rule. You can complain about officiating during a game. You can complain about the officiating 24 hours after the game. After that, you can't. But, no, you're right.

It started right here. Chatham's right. That's why we call him the professor, because it's just unreal, the knowledge that this man has. He's absolutely right. But no, this is where it all started. Yeah, I agree with that. And in that respect, I mean, you can say that the spot of the first down,

whether or not that would have been challenged, I think you definitely have an argument there, and I'm not necessarily blaming the officials for that. But the OPI on the replay really should have been caught, and I don't understand why it wasn't, to be totally honest with you. I thought the officials gave a poor explanation of why they chose to just move forward in that situation and then move forward very quickly almost like covering your tracks maybe and that kind of leads me into my next point and

you and i both i'm sure saw the pool report that uh that was you know issued last night with the officials trying to explain the harry touchdown you know you know ultimately murph i mean you know they said and i'm reading uh you know i'm reading boger's uh comments uh you know ultimately Murph I mean you know they said and I'm reading you know I'm reading Bogert's comments you know verbatim here what led to it was the covering the covering official on the wing was blocked out by defenders the downfield official who was on the goal line looking back toward the field of play had that he stepped out at the three-yard line which any replay any ability any type of review would have showed Harry clearly did not step out of bounds at any point. So they got together, conferred on that.

The final ruling was that he was out of bounds at the three-yard line. He then goes on to say that the two officials who were covering it, they look at it in real time. The case was unique in that the guy, which I think is a little interesting that maybe he doesn't know the guy's names on his officiating crew, but give him the benefit of the doubt. No, no, no, he just didn't want to put the name out there. Exactly.

Who would have ruled the touchdown had him short, so maybe if the ruling official on the goal line had a touchdown, and he goes on from there on in. But the guy that was in, it clearly shows that he was in position. When officials issue a statement like this after the game, I think it only poured gasoline on the fire at this point and shows an egregious lack of ability for these officials to impact the game or really take themselves out of the game and let these guys do what needs to be done.

Do you think this statement really clarified anything? Because I think it only added more murkiness and maybe a little bit more fuel for the fire for Patriots fans this morning. Yeah, no, no, I agree wholeheartedly. You can see still shots of him in perfect position to make the call. There was absolutely nobody in front of him there at the goal line. He was set up perfectly, and they missed it. They guessed. He was watching the game, not watching the play.

And it's unreal. It wasn't even a question on replay, or you could see how this would be a close call i mean harry harry was a good inch and a half inside when they called him you know they called him out how could you do that how can you do you have to let these plays play out and allow replay to make that call. This is coming down to a point where it is the referees against the teams, and you can't have that because they don't want to be overturned. They do it on PI calls constantly.

How many PI calls have you – they've just decided, no, this is our hill. This is where we're standing on. You're not going to change the game. We are a part of this game, and we're going to stay that way. That's what they're saying with all of this. And it's disgusting. It's terrible. These guys are not supposed to be a part of the game. They are not supposed to be the deciding factor in any outcome.

You're out there to do a job, and you're deciding games on guesswork. And in this day and time, it shouldn't be that way. I think the challenges should be stopped altogether. I think there should be an eye-in-the-sky official in every single game. I mean, you can keep the challenges if you want, but I would rather have them not there. And on calls that are questionable like this, I think it should go upstairs to

somebody who has a perfect view, has every angle available to them, and they should be able to overturn what happens on the field. And the refs just don't want to let go of it. They don't want anybody else telling them that, no, you were wrong. They've made it personal, and it's not supposed to be personal. Absolutely. And again, you know, to quote a movie that you and I really love, Murph, it's really a part of both of our hearts. It's not personal. It's strictly business.

And that's not exactly what's happening here when it comes to the officiating. And you know what? We also haven't even touched on a couple of different calls that went negatively. And there were some calls against Kansas City in this game that were a little bit phantom as well. I don't want to make it seem like there was just all on one side. I think that there are cases to be made on both sides.

Obviously, it definitely went against the Patriots without question. Philip Dorsett said after the game, 99% sure he was interfered with. I think everybody can agree that he was interfered with. That call wasn't made. And definitely the Stephon Gilmore scoop that should have been, never should have been whistled dead. I mean, officials are generally taught in a situation like that to swallow their whistle and then they can sort it out on the replay very similar to what happened with harry it did not cost them anything to not be able to

rule it a touchdown and it would have been reviewed you know uh you know but beyond that anyway when it's that close so these are the type of egregious things that the patriots had to deal with last night right and without question i know fans are upset about the officiating but murph you and i are both honest when it comes to our assessment of this team and as e are upset about the officiating but Murph you and I are both honest when it comes to our assessment of this team and as egregious as the officiating was it wasn't the only reason for the loss and Patriots fans even begrudgingly have to admit that the offensive execution it just has to be better and I point to a key sequence where the past inability to capitalize on JC Jackson's interception in the first quarter, that's usually the damaging dagger

that we see the Patriots inflict so often. They're ahead 7-0. They got the ball at the Kansas City 40. They run three plays for negative one yards. That's not Patriots football. And we've seen this happen. It reminded me of a sequence that we saw in the Philadelphia game a couple of weeks ago as well,

where they have a strong defensive player, a special team's player, and they just can't capitalize. Physically, Tom Brady still looks okay to me. His footwork still looks like it's showing signs of him being able to play. His arm strength looks solid. I know that there's probably a little bit of concern now with his elbow being wrapped yesterday, and a lot of people are putting some stock into that. But Brady says he's fine, but he looks okay to me. Is this just a personnel issue, plain and simple? Oh, that's really tough because I like and respect so much of this personnel. I think it is not – I'm not trying to cop out here, people,

but no, it's not just a personnel issue, but it's not a Tom issue. I'm not putting the – Tom Brady is not losing football games, you know, for the New England Patriots. Granted, he did throw a pick last night that resulted in some points there, but, you know, other than that, Tom is not the reason. These guys are young, inexperienced, and quite frankly, they – all right, yeah, it is a personnel. The personnel that is on the field right now is not the personnel that this team might need to run the bastardized Earhart system that they always have. This goes back to the draft when people were asking me, why N'Keal Harry?

He doesn't fit this style of play. And I argued, yes, he does. He's more of a Gordon-type receiver than he is an Edelman Amendola-type guy. And the Patriots see how well Tom has worked with Gordon. And Harry is younger, stronger, and has more of a future than Gordon does. I didn't expect Gordon to be cut at all. It's how they're being used. Yes, it is a matter of trust. Tom needs to start trusting the younger guys a little bit more

and throwing to them maybe when they're not quite as open, but they're not doing a lot for themselves by making plays and making sure that a ball gets batted down and not picked when he puts it to your hands in that situation. Because Tom expects you to keep a ball from being picked off as much as he does himself. Well, maybe not, but almost as much. But no, I'm not going to put it totally on personnel.

You can't really defend 23 unanswered points. You really can't. You can't put that all on personnel. Absolutely, and I think you said that perfectly. And I don't think it was a cop-out at all. I think you definitely articulated exactly what the personnel is doing and what needs to be done, and look, there's shoulder, there's blame pie to be doled out all around in New England this morning.

Tom's interception, definitely an ill-advised throw. I mean, there's no question about it. I think when you look at the replay, you think he's seeing, or I think Tom probably thought he was seeing a little more separation that Lacoste was getting in that. And I think, you know, you've got to give it to Breeland all the way. He read that and was able to see that without any issue. And I thought it was just a brilliant defensive play.

He snuck right in and came and jumped it, and it was perfect. It was everything that you would want from a defensive back in that point. It was probably the best play that Kansas City made all day. It definitely was, because you saw the Patriots start to have some success against the Kansas City offense and the Kansas City defense as well in the second half. They started to move the ball better, and they started to defend the ball better. That really leads me quite nicely into the points that we will be making in just a moment here with Murph. I am joined by Thomas Murphy today, and we are breaking

down the Patriots' 23-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Losses are never good, folks. But defensively, I thought the Patriots showed some great adjustments. Stephon Gilmore, Devin McCourty, proving they are the hot and soul of this secondary, and limited the big plays. And one thing that I was surprised that we didn't see more of was Gilmore covering Kelsey to help shut down the attack. So in just a moment, we will discuss how the news wasn't all that bad at Gillette yesterday.

All is not lost. And Murph and I will discuss the silver linings in the Monday morning New England clouds and why a game like this could be the catalyst for another deep playoff run for your New England Patriots. Once again, I'm joined by Thomas Murphy today. And Murph, we have talked about the officiating. We've talked about some of the offensive woes and the personnel issues

that the New England Patriots have put on the board. But yesterday on the defensive side of the offensive woes and the personnel issues that the New England Patriots have put on the board. But yesterday on the defensive side of the ball, I was very impressed by the adjustments that the Patriots made, particularly in the second half. They had really, if you think about it, a pretty bad quarter in the second quarter. 23 unanswered points, you alluded to it earlier, is something that is unforgivable. But once they clamped down, it really allowed the Patriots to start to play their game. And we saw them be able to take away guys like Tyreek Hill and the big play there. They were able to put the clamps on Nicole Hardman a little bit. I thought they did a fairly decent

job of containing the run. And I thought they also gave Patrick Mahomes some confusion. What specifically did you see in the second half that led you to believe that this Patriots defense was going to be able to control them and give the offense a chance to win the game? They listened to me. That's the answer I was looking for. No, they were...

Yeah, they... In the first quarter, they did well sitting in cover two, and then Mahomes and Andy Reid saw it, and he changed things up. That this is what we're going to do. They're in cover two, so let's go do this. So the Patriots didn't switch out of cover two quickly enough before we knew it, and 17 points were on the court.

Kansas City played between eight and ten good minutes of offense in this entire game, and it was enough to win the game. We're getting past all the other garbage that we just talked about in the first segment. That's what happened. They did what you're supposed to do against cover two, and then the Patriots switched back out of it. They went over to more man. Even what I was talking about, they split the field.

They were playing more man on one side than in kind of a zone on the other. But it was mostly they went to man and it shut things back down. It was really beautiful. On the offensive side of the ball in the second half, I don't know if I'm jumping ahead here or not, the Patriots, again, started doing what I said to do. They got Edelman on the outside. They forced Kansas City to rotate that safety over to him

that they've been using all, you know, people have been doing all year long when he's in the slot. And it opened up the middle of the field, and the Patriots, once again, were able to start moving the ball. Unfortunately, it didn't evolve into enough points in the end. And I don't want to circle back around to all the garbage. But you want to win, score more points. The Patriots, again, did not score enough points.

And it was just they dug themselves too deep of a hole for this offense to dig themselves out of it. Granted, there were some really bad drops in that time frame. There were some times when the Patriots could have moved the chains, but was it 1-for-12 or 2-for-12 on third down conversions? In this game, I'm going to take a quick guess. 2-for-12. They were 2-for for 12 on third down.

Okay. Even if you get to three for 12 or four for 12, the Patriots win this game, you know, 28 to 21 or 28 to 17, 28 to 20. Just three plays. And the Pats offense did not convert on third down. This continues to be the Achilles heel, for lack of a better term, of this team is converting on third down. held one of the best offenses with arguably a top three quarterback and two of the top 10 receivers in the game today. You guys keep talking about how great Travis Kelsey is.

Okay, I'm going to put him in as one of the 10 best receivers in the game today. You were shut down in the second half. You were able to get three points in the second half. And part of it was because on the flip side, the Patriots did hold Kansas City to five of 16, and I think four of those third down conversions happened in the first half, in that second quarter. Yeah, without question.

And I think that so much of the criticism that the Patriots are getting offensively you know this morning and even defensively a little bit but most mostly on offense is that inability to be able to you know put points on the board and then keep some of the weapons that Kansas City has on offense and be able to stifle them and keep them under wraps as well in that you know period of time they were, they were able to score a good amount of points in a short amount of time. That type of short burst, which is what we're typically seeing out of the Kansas City Chiefs offense,

and then they disappear a little bit in the second half. I know I tweeted out yesterday during halftime about the Kansas City Chiefs being one of the best first-half offensive teams in football, and in the second half, they drop off a little bit. People thought it was nuts. They were saying, oh, it's a generous take. That's ridiculous. But if you take a look at the trend that Kansas City has been putting out this year,

it is very much in line. And if the Patriots could have punched in a couple of those, this could be a whole different ballgame. We might be having a whole different conversation this morning. And, Murph, lastly, absolutely, and lastly, you alluded to this a little bit yesterday on your Twitter account, and it's a question that I've been dying to ask you since I saw that, and that is the Patriots typically rebound from losses like this with a vengeance.

In fact, the last time they lost to Kansas City in the regular season and they faced Cincinnati on the following week, well, we all know what happened. They won the Super Bowl. Right. What did you see from the Patriots in this game that would lead you to believe that that type of spark is still there in this team and that they could still make a deep playoff run here?

This game last night was a coming-together moment for this team. At some point in time in almost every Patriots season, there's a coming-together point. There's a pushback point, and this was it. I believe that Tom found a trust in Harry that we are going to see build during this. He saw what hitting him in a certain spot can do, that he is going to make that catch, that he is going to be the guy diving for the end zone. I was surprised that on the last play of the game

that the ball actually didn't go to him, but you dance with the one who brung you. But no, I think this is a coming-together moment for this team. I think this game right here is going to put the chip on the shoulder that, you know, whether talking heads out there like it or not, this happens in sports. You get a chip on your shoulder. Somebody tells you that you're too old to do this anymore, and that drives you to another Super Bowl victory.

The Patriots feel that they should have won this game, that it was taken away from them for any particular reason, and you are going to see Tom Brady become more enamored with the younger guys. They made plays. There wasn't a ton of mistakes on their part, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, not running the right route, not knowing that when a play breaks down

that this is what Brady wants you to do. You watch. This entire team is going to rededicate itself, if you can possibly imagine that. But yes, it's going to rededicate itself. It's going to come together, and you're going to start seeing more, I don't want to say more of a skilled game, but you're going to see more of a diverse game from Tom

and this passing attack than you have up to this point. Last night was a loss. It's really hard to say it was a good loss, but over the next three games, you watch, and going into the playoffs, this is the turning point. I didn't know that it was going to happen until last night, but after what I saw happen last night, after what I saw Tom and this offense do in the second half, this is it. It's going to start clicking.

And I'm so glad that you made the point about this being a part of what you saw last night, and not necessarily just the narrative of what we've seen from the Patriots. Look, I think that factors in here. Until this team is counted out and officially dead and buried, you can never count them out from being able to make a run. We've seen the Patriots do it so many times. It's Bill Belichick's modus operandi and it's Tom's modus operandi.

However, what we saw last night in the second half, defensively, was a team that can still take away what you do best and be able to put the clamps down and limit the big plays when they need to. We also saw an offense that is capable of making plays. You made a good point. Guys made plays last night.

You didn't see wrong route running, guys that were confused, guys that didn't know where they were supposed to be. I know that's the common narrative with this team, and yes, there was a little bit of that in the first half, but second half adjustments were made. I credit Tom, I credit Josh McDaniels for that, and I credit the rookies and the young guys out there that are playing hard, playing their tails off, trying to make something happen.

I agree with you. I think they're on the cusp of something here. Call us maybe over-the-top homers. Fine, we'll take that moniker. If we're a little bit wrong about this at the end of the season, we'll take our lumps like we always do. But at the same time, I thought there was encouraging moments in this game, and I think what happened last night with the officiating

is only fuel to the fire for guys like Brady, Belichick, Edelman, and the young guys on this team to push forward and show you we are still the New England Patriots, we are still the Super Bowl champions, and we're not going down without a fight. Murph, you lend your wisdom and counsel like no other. That's why you always have a reserved seat here at the Lockdown Patriots panel of knowledge. In fact, you run the

show, my friend. Follow the man on Twitter at TMurph207. The columns, including the monster keys each and every week, I always say it's a must-read for game time. It's not game day unless you're reading those keys, folks. Never miss an opportunity to get you an episode of One Patriot's Place with Murph and Steve as well. Thank you so much for joining me today, my friend. Always,

always a pleasure and always an honor to join you and share the microphone with you. Always look forward to this, man. I am always here. I actually turned down an opportunity to be on ESPN Radio in Hawaii to be here today, and I will continue to do that for the rest of my life. But thank you so much for asking me here. It is always fantastic. I love my lockdown time. Absolutely, and we love having you here. And the fact that you are willing to come on as opposed to taking a gig that could lead to something long term in Hawaii

where Murph could be wearing a grass skirt for the rest of his life experiencing trade wins that to me is the ultimate compliment and we do appreciate it as for me I will be back tomorrow with your questions folks on Mailbag Tuesday here on Locked On Patriots I'll

continue to break down Sunday's matchup between the Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs, and you can vent and ask me any question that you'd like, game-related. So stay tuned for that. And as always, make sure to join me each and every day on the Locked On Patriots podcast, and subscribe to Locked On Patriots via your preferred podcast provider. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate.

I thank Thomas Murphy for his time, insight, and wisdom here on his appearance today. But most of all, I thank Mike DeBate. I thank Thomas Murphy for his time, insight, and wisdom here on his appearance today. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Have a great day, everyone.