Winners and losers from Patriots’ heart-breaking loss to Chiefs in Week 14

Tom Brady and Julian Edelman couldn’t pull off the comeback.

Winner: Stephon Gilmore, CB

As usual, Gilmore provided a bright spot on defense. He shut down Sammy Watkins for the entire night.

It was strange, however, to see Gilmore on Watkins the entire night. He can’t control his matchups (though he has some input). But while Gilmore was on Watkins, the Patriots put a mix of Patrick Chung and J.C. Jackson on Travis Kelce (seven catches, 77 yards). They are good players in coverage — they’re not as good as Gilmore. And in a week after Bill Belichick said Kelce was “one of the best receivers in the game,” the coach might have been wise to deploy one of the best cornerbacks, Gilmore, on Kelce.

Loser: Jonathan Jones, CB

He allowed the Chiefs to score an easy touchdown in the first half with Mecole Hardman blasting past Jones on a flag route. With Hardman wide open, quarterback Patrick Mahomes fired the ball to his receiver. Jones then left his feet in an attempt to knock the ball away from Hardman as he made the catch, but the Chiefs wideout held onto the ball and was free to generate yards after the catch, ultimately dancing past another Patriots defender for a long touchdown. The fact that Jones blew the coverage was rough. But his aggressive play on the ball gave the Chiefs an easy touchdown.

Jones had tough assignments in Hardman and Tyreek Hill. In a sense, he did a nice job considering how explosive they are. Still, he struggled to tackle them after the catch (as so many have before him).

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