Chiefs put the hurt on Tom Brady, Patriots offense

New England’s offense is struggling, but the Chiefs made sure Tom Brady and company didn’t get healthy at their expense.

The Patriots, who haven’t finished outside the NFL’s top 11 in total offense since 2004, entered the game ranked 29th in the league this season.

That trend continued Monday as 76,613 watched the Chiefs pitch a shutout for the first 41 minutes, 34 seconds and held New England to a season-low 290 yards of total offense in a 41-14 win.

“We were able to go out there, play mistake-free, play fast and fly around to the ball.” cornerback Sean Smith said.

By the time the Patriots’ Brandon LaFell caught a quick slant, shrugged off a Marcus Cooper tackle and then dashed to the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown, the Chiefs led 27-0 and were well on the way to a dominating victory.

“Tom Brady is still Tom Brady, but when you’ve got guys doing a great job downfield and everybody putting pressure on the quarterback — with everybody on the same page, it’s easy to do,” said outside linebacker Justin Houston, who finished with seven tackles, including two sacks.

Most important, a defense that had yet to create any turnovers through three games came away with two interceptions and a fumble recovery in the second half.

Midway through the third quarter, the defense allowed the Chiefs to salt away the victory with back-to-back takeaways.

Outside linebacker Tamba Hali roared around the right edge, stripped Brady and pounced on the loose ball at the Patriots’ 9.

Two plays later, Jamaal Charles’ 8-yard touchdown reception pumped the lead to 24-0.

Smith then intercepted Brady on the second play of New England’s ensuing drive, setting up a 31-yard field goal by Cairo Santos.

“That was my first interception against Tom Brady, so I’m definitely going to keep that one,” Smith said.

The coup de grace came early in the fourth quarter when safety Husain Abdullah stepped in front of LaFell on a deep seam route and ran 39 yards for a touchdown.

“We’ve been preaching it all week — turnovers, turnovers,” defensive tackle Dontari Poe said. “Not only that, but we (wanted to) try to score on defense, and we did that today.”

For a defense that has been ravaged by injuries to Derrick Johnson, Mike DeVito, Eric Berry and Joe Mays, Monday night’s performance was a massive relief.

“We’re just … understanding the game plan and then just scrapping,” Abdullah said. “… We’ve had a few weeks to kind of jell. You miss a tackle, you blow a coverage — just keep running to the football. We’ll cover each other up.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2014 at 12:22 AM with the headline "Chiefs put the hurt on Tom Brady, Patriots offense."