New England Patriots: Five Takeaways From 41-14 Blowout Loss To The Chiefs

Sep 29, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles (25) scores a touchdown during the first half against the New England Patriots at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

1. Defense A Problem As Well

Coming into this game, the Patriots had one of the best defensive units in the entire league. They had given up only 16 points in their last two games, and had the best pass defense in the NFL.

After last night’s performance in Kansas City, all of the talk about how good this defense is can be put to rest.

Everybody was awful on the defensive side, specifically in the first half. New England gave up a whopping 303 total yards of offense in the first two quarters, the most ever given up in a half by a Bill Belichick-coached defense. They couldn’t stop the run, they couldn’t get to Alex Smith, and they didn’t make any plays in the secondary. For some reason, the Pats continue to play a soft, tentative defense, instead of an aggressive one that looks to create turnovers.

This is a very talented group, but they have to be utilized correctly. Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia elected to play Darrelle Revis in a zone for most of the night, and the Chiefs took advantage of that. The tackling at every level was putrid, and aside from maybe Devin McCourty, nobody seemed to really work hard in any quarter. McCourty didn’t have a great game, but at least he worked his butt off from start to finish.

Aside from that, this was a terrible outing for Patricia’s unit. If Peyton Manning were to play this team tomorrow, I am confident in saying he would easily put up 50 by the time the third quarter came to a close.

I really hope things change quickly for them, because that was an awful, awful performance.