Week 4 Gets Turned Upside Down
With the win over the Dolphins, a last-second loss to the Seahawks and a grinding win over the Raiders, the Patriots were poised for their biggest test of the season as they prepared to head to Kansas City to take on the defending Super Bowl champs. But suddenly, on Saturday morning prior to Sunday's game, Cam Newton popped up with a positive COVID-19 test that sent the entire 2020 season sideways.
The game was pushed to Monday night, with the team traveling the same day of the game and being forced to start Brian Hoyer at quarterback. We all knew heading into the season that something like this was a distinct possibility, but it was still shocking to see it unfold and put the Patriots in a near-impossible situation against the best team in football.
Surprisingly, the Patriots played the Chiefs tough, holding them to Patrick Mahomes and his speed merchants to their third-lowest yardage total of the season and only six first-half points. Red zone defense was a big plus for the Patriots on the day, as was third-down defense, holding the Chiefs to 4-of-11 on conversions. Both were somewhat out of character for the 2020 Patriots defense, as they finished 27th in red zone defense and 16th in third-down defense.
Of course, turnovers were a key storyline, especially in the first half. After a Brian Hoyer interception set the Chiefs up on the Patriots' 23-yard line while holding a 6-0 lead, Stephon Gilmore forced a fumble and J.C. Jackson recovered it, saving the Patriots from falling behind by two scores. The offense would capitalize, putting together a field-goal-scoring drive to cut the lead to 6-3.
On the next drive, the Patriots almost had a chance to take the lead when Chase Winovich sacked Mahomes and forced a fumble. Officials incorrectly blew the play dead and it should've set the Pats up well inside Chiefs territory. The Pats would still force a punt on the possession and their offense would respond with an excellent end-of-half drive.
But as was often the case in 2020, failure to execute in the waning second before halftime hurt the Patriots, with Brian Hoyer taking a sack with no timeouts left. The Patriots watched helplessly as the clock expired, costing them at least a 6-6 halftime tie.
Still, Hoyer and New England would get another shot to tie the game up. After trading punts to start the third quarter, the Patriots put together another solid offensive drive, making it all the way to the Kansas City 10-yard line. But once again they'd fail to get points as Hoyer would take a sack and fumble on a third-down play. From there the Chiefs pulled away, scoring touchdowns on their next two possessions then tacking on a pick-six.
Considering the circumstances it was one of the better efforts of the year, at least in the first half. But with four turnovers, the Pats could not expect to realistically knock off the Chiefs.
"Review" - Google News
January 15, 2021 at 09:58PM
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After Further Review: Closing out the 2020 Patriots - Patriots.com
"Review" - Google News
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