Five Observations From New England Patriots 27-20 Win Over Kansas City Chiefs
By Hal Bent
WHERE WAS THE PASS RUSH?
In the regular season the Patriots and Chiefs both finished in the top five for sacks. New England was second overall behind Denver with 49 sacks. The Chiefs were not far behind with 47 sacks. With New England’s offensive line struggling all season as they were beset by injuries and the Chiefs down two starters on their offensive line, it appeared to be a game where the quarterbacks on both sides would be under pressure.
Nope.
Alex Smith had 50 pass attempts and was sacked just once. In fact, the one sack came when Smith tripped over his left tackle Eric Fisher’s foot and fell down. Chandler Jones jumped on top of Smith to get a gift sack. Tom Brady had 42 pass attempts and was not sacked at all.
Related Story: Patriots Will Meet Broncos for AFC Championship
However, despite the lack of sacks the Patriots were able to pressure Smith on occasion. Too often, the four man rush failed to get near Smith, other times the pass rushers over-pursued Smith and let him out of the pocket where he could hurt the defense with his legs.
The best pass rush came from linebacker Dont’a Hightower blitzing. One of the best blitzers from the inside linebacker in the NFL, Hightower led the way with two quarterback hits and two pressures (pass rushing stats from tracking by Doug Kyed at NESN.com). Jabaal Sheard continued his strong season with seven hurries. New England finished with just three quarterback hits and a sack, and wasted chances to sack Smith multiple times.
With the much-maligned offensive line in New England, the Chiefs expected to feast on the blockers and get in the backfield and pressure Tom Brady. Instead, the Patriots returned to their quick-hit ways with Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, and Rob Gronkowski all out on the field. Per Doug Kyed at NESN.com, Brady got rid of the ball in 2.13 seconds on average.
The Patriots had Sebastian Vollmer back at left tackle with Josh Kline healthy enough to start at left guard. Rookie Shaq Mason and right tackle Marcus Cannon joined Vollmer and Kline playing every snap up front. Center Bryan Stork was out for a bit at center with an ankle injury while David Andrews jumped in for 16 snaps (Andrews was in with Stork for one goal line play). The offensive line allowed just nine hurries and one quarterback hit (when Brady held the ball far too long in the pocket) with no sacks allowed.
Next: New England Patriots Beat Kansas City Chiefs 27-20
Of course, Kansas City was without explosive outside linebacker Justin Houston much of the game as he played just eight snaps and failed to make any significant impact. Tamba Hali (also playing through injuries), Dee Ford, Dontari Poe, Allen Bailey, and Jaye Howard terrorized the Houston offensive line last week but struggled to get near Brady.
A return to health on the offensive line, the personnel needed to run a high speed quick hit passing attack, some good luck with injuries to Kansas City’s top pass rushers and solid production by that healthy Patriots’ offensive line helped New England slow the fearsome Kansas City pass rush and win their Divisional Round matchup.