Strange but true: Revamped Chiefs’ defense was pivotal in turnabout against Patriots
Their last meeting in the AFC Championship Game was ultimately decided by the most subtle of margins: the infamous offside call; the coin toss that put the ball in the surgical hands of Tom Brady for overtime; and the absurd NFL rule that allowed no chance for a Chiefs rebuttal after the Patriots mulched their defense for the deciding points in the 37-31 win at Arrowhead Stadium.
But there was nothing nuanced about the ripples of that loss, the closest the Chiefs had come to reaching a Super Bowl since beating Minnesota 23-7 in Super Bowl IV on Jan. 11, 1970.
Brady’s dissection of a defense that allowed more points after halftime in that game (23) than the Chiefs did in their entire postseason run to that Super Bowl (20) was trivial compared to how the organization dismantled it after that.
The purge included defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, his scheme, most of his staff and much of the personnel: When the Chiefs opened the season against Jacksonville, they had seven new starters playing under coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme.
The extreme makeover was about a lot of things. It was a statement about taking advantage of The Patrick Mahomes Phenomenon. It was a message about ending a few years of sand being kicked in their faces by the bruising offensive bullies of the NFL.
Entwined in all that, though, was a punctuating point: contouring this team to be able to beat the Patriots — winners of three of the last five Super Bowls and a dynamic, dynastic roadblock to the rest of the AFC.
So Sunday night at Gillette Stadium wasn’t mission accomplished, exactly, because that can’t be defined until the playoffs.
But the gritty 23-16 victory over the Patriots still was testimony to the inspired spirit and execution of the massive changes, a victory encapsulated in cornerback Bashaud Breeland swatting down Brady’s last-chance pass in the end zone.
“It was a glorious moment,” said Breeland, who intercepted Brady earlier in the game.
One that featured the Chiefs striking back at the empire in more ways than one.
When defensive tackle Chris Jones was asked about jawing with Brady, he said he had great respect for him and called him “one of the greats” but added, “You’ve got to affect him any type of way.” Whether by talking, hitting or whatever other means of “getting him uncomfortable.”
Asked if he thought it worked against Brady, who was sacked three times and finished with just 169 yards passing, Jones paused and said, “I mean, did you see the score?”
With the victory, the Chiefs improved to 9-4 and secured a fourth straight AFC West championship and stayed alive in the hunt for a first-round playoff bye behind the Ravens (11-2) and Patriots (10-3).
“A breath of fresh air,” said defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon, who blocked a field goal. “Big-time,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said, though he was also quick to put it in appropriately relative terms.
“Division champs is not conference champs or Super Bowl champs,” Mathieu said. “I think the goal is to get to where we were last year and to win that game.
“But winning the division … that’s a start.”
Especially because of the defense’s increasingly prominent role. For a third straight game, including victories the previous two weeks amid career-low yardage performances by Mahomes, the defense was pivotal in this one.
Particularly in a crucial first half.
With the Patriots taking a quick 7-0 lead on a lateral to Brady, who hit Julian Edelman for a 37-yard touchdown, the Chiefs appeared in dire straits when Mahomes was intercepted and the Patriots took over at the Chiefs’ 40-yard-line.
Instead of crumpling, though, the Chiefs bristled to force a three-and-out that led to a Harrison Butker field goal and this revelation from Jones.
“We don’t need the offense to win games for us (now),” he said. “I feel like last year, we kind of lingered toward the offense scoring a lot of points to win games.
“We don’t need that (this year). We as a defense can stand up to anyone or any team in this league. So when Pat throws an interception, it’s OK. We’ll get the ball back for you, Pat.”
And so they did, over and over and over in a game in which the Patriots’ two biggest plays came on gadgets: a flea-flicker on the first series and a halfback pass.
The next Patriots drive ended with Kpassagnon’s blocked field goal, a week after he blocked a Raiders point-after attempt.
“It’s routine now,” he said, laughing and adding that Brady is “so used to controlling the game, when we can stop that multiple times, we feel that energy and it just skyrockets.”
The Chiefs promptly took a 10-7 lead on Mahomes’ 48-yard pass to Mecole Hardman. Less than 4 minutes later, it was 17-7 after Breeland’s interception of Brady set the Chiefs up at the New England 35-yard line.
Then the Chiefs held the Patriots on downs and went into the locker room up 20-7. After another Chiefs field goal early in the second half, the Patriots were able to close it to 23-13 ... but only after a blocked Dustin Colquitt punt gave them the ball at the Kansas City 19.
And the Patriots final points came after they were forced to settle for a field goal after an Alex Okafor sack of Brady on third and goal at the 5. Yes, the officials appeared to botch a call a few plays earlier that would have been a Patriots touchdown, but … them’s the breaks, eh?
“We’re starting to click, man,” said Okafor, who like Breeland and Mathieu and Frank Clark and others is a new addition. “We knew this would happen.”
Which was more than could be said for the celebration after that play.
When Okafor made like he was shotgunning a beer, Kpassagnon hurried over there to stamp on that ground and “make sure it was out.” Whatever, right?
They laughed over the disconnect, and why not? It was one of the few things that wasn’t quite aligned on Sunday for a defense that appears to be finding itself just when it’s needed most.
It’s also true that the Patriots’ offense has been struggling and that the Ravens may well be the team to beat now and that the playoffs are a different entity altogether.
Just the same, this was a breakthrough moment for the Chiefs and a proclamation by the defense.
In the fourth quarter, Mathieu said laughing, he could tell one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game was starting to figure out what the Chiefs were doing and “you could see the look in Brady’s eyes.”
Then again …
“I saw the look in my guys’ eyes, as well,” Mathieu said.
And it was no longer the paralyzed gaze that came to define that final game last year.
This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 9:45 PM.