Chiefs dismantling of Pats: Season opening win no fluke
How ’ bout them Kansas City Chiefs? The New England Patriots found out the hard way that they’re pretty good. In a shocking NFL regularseason curtain- raiser on Thursday night in Foxboro, the visiting Chiefs embarrassed the defending Super Bowl champions to the tune of 42-27.
Understand i t was no fluke. The Chiefs played magnificently. And the Pats?
“Bad defence, bad coaching, bad playing, bad football,” head coach Bill Belichick said.
Four principal take-aways from the first of 256 regularseason NFL games:
1. KAREEM HUNT, BREAKOUT STAR
How’s this for an NFL debut? Rookie running back Kareem Hunt fumbled on the Chiefs first offensive play, then gained 246 scrimmage yards ( 148 rushing for one TD, 98 receiving for two TDs). That’s the most scrimmage yards by an NFLer in his first game in league history, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
The 5- foot-11, 216- pound dynamo from the University of Toledo played as though he expected to dominate. Did the Chiefs coaches? “Well, yeah,” head coach Andy Reid said. “He’s a load and, you know, he is talented and he’s a smart kid, which helps in that position. He can think on his feet and that becomes very important when we are asking you to run the football.”
A native of the East Cleveland suburb of Willoughby, Hunt in the fourth quarter carried six carries for 76 yards and a TD, plus had two receptions for 82 yards and a score. Overall, he averaged 11.2 yards per touch.
It said a lot, and maybe meant everything to Hunt’s confidence, when after his fumble coaches told him on the sideline to calm down, that they were going to go right back to him on K. C.’s next play and did. Hunt burst for nine yards. And away he went. Good gracious, what a start.
2. PATS’ DEFENCE LOOKED CONFUSED
Belichick normally fields a smart, tight defence. Not confused and cavernous. Kansas City ripped up New England for 537 total yards, the most allowed in Belichick’s 18 seasons in Foxboro.
He and defensive co- ordinator Matt Patricia always aim to take away, or at least limit, the thing opposing offences do best. In Kansas City’s case, that’s rushing the ball and throwing often to tight ends, slots and backs. The Patriots failed miserably in all regards.
It was no secret their front- seven would be the team’s weakness this year. No one thought it could look this bad.
New England’s defence had allowed by far an NFLworst 126 points in the preseason.
While much of that probably can be attributed to the usual tinkering and resting of starters Belichick likes to do in August, it clearly meant something.
Pats defensive linemen let themselves be sucked in by K. C. blockers. Linebackers often looked out of position. Defensive backs looked slow and unsure. On one play late, Hunt took a pitchout around left end and sped 58 yards down the sideline before so much as being touched by a New England defender. Awful.
Worst thing? Kansas City mounted five drives of 75 yards or longer, all of which ended in touchdowns and had a 60- yard touchdown drive to boot.
This is largely the same defence that led the NFL in scoring defence a year ago ( 15.6 points per game) and ranked eighth in total defence (326 yards per game).
Little worked Thursday night.
Patriots defenders barely touched Chiefs passer Alex Smith — hitting him just four times as he became only the second QB against a Belichick-coached team to throw for more than 300 yards with four or more TDs and no interceptions. The other was New Orleans’ Drew Brees in 2009.
3. SMITH KEYS FAST, CREATIVE ATTACK
From a lot of four- and five- receiver sets, the Chiefs spread out the Pats, forced them to play six DBs much of the time and exposed t heir slowness and soft zone pass coverages — not only with Hunt flying out of the backfield, but with two lightning- fast, quickfooted receivers off the line: 5-foot-10, 185-pound secondyear Tyreek Hill and 5-foot-9, 200- pound fourth- year Albert Wilson.
Hill and Wilson together caught 12 passes for 170 yards.
It seemed on every pass route they could run three circles around each Pats defender before moving on to the next one. That duo plus Hunt and starting tight end Travis Kelce accounted for all but six of Smith’s 28 completions ( on 35 throws), and 308 of Smith’s 368 yards passing.
4. ERIC BERRY’S INJURY
“Eric Berry has an Achilles tendon potential tear,” Reid said of the 2016 first- team all-pro safety after the game. “I don’t think that it’s positive here. We will see what the MRI shows.”
Alas, Friday’s MRI confirmed it: a ruptured Achilles. Berry’s season is done — a gigantic loss for K. C.’s defence.