With time to operate, Patriots’ Tom Brady picks apart Chiefs

Tom Brady added to his amazing resume with the Patriots’ 27-20 victory over the Chiefs in the AFC Divisional playoff on Saturday.

His two touchdown passes extended his NFL postseason record to 55 in his career. His 22 playoff victories also are the most by a quarterback.

The Chiefs helped the cause by rarely getting any pressure on Brady.

Brady wasn’t sacked. On most plays, he had plenty of time to compete 28 of 42 passes for 302 yards.

“The rush wasn’t getting there and the ball was coming out,” Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali said.

Coming out quickly, to Julian Edelman, who finished with 10 receptions for 100 yards, and tight end Rob Gronkowski, who caught both of Brady’s scoring throws.

In 2014, in a 27-point walloping of the Patriots in a regular-season game at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs hounded Brady into a pair of interceptions while sacking him three times.

Saturday was a Brady breeze by comparison. The Patriots’ offense line handled the pressure.

“Those guys could block,” Hali said. “When the ball is coming out in two seconds there’s not much you can do.”

At one point, Brady completed 13 straight passes. New England scored the first time it had the ball, marching 80 yards in 11 plays — all passing — and converted all three third-down attempts.

The game’s tone was set. Brady was on.

“When we took away his first look he did a pretty good job and got the ball out fast,” Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said. “He always has an answer, and he did a great job today.”

Brady felt good about the Patriots’ plan, and he had to feel even better when Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston proved to be ineffective. Houston played sparingly because of a knee injury and the Chiefs were without one of the best pass rushers.

“It was good to get off to a fast start,” Brady said. “We talked about that, and you don’t want to play this team from behind.”

The Patriots never trailed. Their most impressive drive came in the second quarter. A punt and penalty pushed the Patriots to their 2. A stop here — some pressure on Brady — and the Chiefs could restore the field-position edge.

Instead, Brady drove the Patriots 98 yards for a touchdown and capped the possession with a 1-yard touchdown run. He appeared to have scored from the 11 on the previous play but he ruled to have gone out of bounds just before the goal line.

It was about the only time the Chiefs stopped Brady all game.

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 9:24 PM with the headline "With time to operate, Patriots’ Tom Brady picks apart Chiefs."