Tom Brady looked like a different quarterback in just about every quarter in the New England Patriots’ 24-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14.
In the first quarter, Brady was 6 of 9 for 75 yards and a touchdown. In the second quarter, the quarterback was 4 of 10 for 26 yards. He followed with a third quarter when he was 1 of 2 for five yards. And in the fourth quarter, Brady was 8 of 15 for 63 yards.
Maybe it’s over simplistic to cut a game into quarters, but perhaps the stat lines represent the Patriots’ fluctuations in efficiency on offense throughout the game. That erratic performance seemed to stem from the Patriots’ extensive exploration of their offensive personnel.
It’s clear that, even in Week 14, New England is still learning what they do well and what they don’t — what they can do and what they can’t.
“I think we’re just trying to figure out what works,” Brady said Sunday during a postgame press conference at Gillette Stadium. “I think you have an idea and then you see how the game unfolds and you make some adjustments, so we try to make some adjustments in the second half and they were — they threw a lot of defenses at us. Some, we handled pretty good.”
The Patriots have a track record of exploring and fiddling with their players to find an identity. The defense had things figured out in Week 1. The offense, however, is still very much a work in progress. Every season, New England tends to pull it together, whether in Week 1, Week 5 or in the first round of the playoffs. But perhaps New England’s fanbase takes it for granted that they will show an increased level of competency. The 42-year-old quarterback has looked like he’s struggling to elevate the play of his teammates for weeks.
Will they get the offense right?
“I don’t want to make any predictions,” Brady said. “I don’t think that’s — we come in with a plan each week and try to win every game. And each game takes on a different feel and the situations are a little different. And it’s a different team every year. So I may have different experiences with things, but this team as a whole has been through different situations. … We’ve got pretty big games to go.”
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said on Tuesday the Patriots’ best offensive qualities were their ability to avoid sacks and turnovers. That’s something. It’s not much. There have been a few clear elements to New England’s success. First, there’s Julian Edelman. Second, there’s James White. And that might be about it. So it was odd to see Sony Michel get touches over White in the first half. Later, White got more touches and the offense seemed to improve. Belichick fielded questions about that decision after the game.
“We did what we thought was best,” the coach said. “We didn’t start slow. We scored the first time we had the ball. I don’t know. I might have missed it. Yeah, look, you can second-guess all the play calls you want. That’s fine. That’s your job, go ahead and do it. That’s fine. We did what we thought’s best. That’s all we do.”
New England will get a chance for a get-right game against the Bengals in Cincinnati on Sunday in Week 15. That’s right: we might just get the second round of the “On to Cincinnati” game.
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