Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were clearly the victims of multiple missed or botched calls on Sunday in their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Each one seemed to make a major difference in New England’s 23-16 loss to Kansas City in Week 14. But Brady didn’t want to point fingers at the officiating after the game.
“Doesn’t happen very often,” Brady said during a postgame press conference. “So, it happened. We still had a chance and wish we could have scored there at the end.”
In the fourth quarter, officials whistled a clear fumble dead as an incompletion, so the Patriots couldn’t return it. The refs ultimately gave the Patriots the ball upon review, but New England lost the chance to advance the ball on a recovery where Stephon Gilmore might have scored. On the ensuing drive, the officials also called a clear touchdown down at the 3-yard line on N’Keal Harry’s lone reception of the evening. Finally, the refs missed a blatant pass interference call on receiver Phillip Dorsett in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
On Monday morning in an appearance on WEEI sports radio, Brady continued to avoid pointing fingers when asked about the blown calls.
“When you play sports long enough, I think sometimes you’re the recipient of things that go your way,” Brady said on WEEI sports radio on Monday morning. “And you’re on the other side of it, too. For me, I don’t think too much about it. I wish it would go our way. Unfortunately they didn’t. It doesn’t take away from — when you watch the game, all the different things we had in our control that I wish we could have done a little bit better.”
The blown call on Harry’s non-touchdown came on first down. New England tried and failed two more times to get into the end zone, before settling for a field goal. On the ensuing drive — when the officials seemed to miss the defensive pass interference on Dorsett — they drove downfield past the point where Dorsett appeared to get fouled. But at the 3-yard line, the Patriots couldn’t get the ball into the end zone.
“We were just trying to keep grinding them out, and just put ourselves in a position there at the end with four plays in the red area, and just didn’t produce well enough to get the job done,” Brady said. “I don’t ever make any excuses, and I certainly never blame the referees. I just look at what we got to do and how we have to go out there and and try to get back to work this week and find a way to go to Cincinnati and get a win.”
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