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New England Patriots lost to Chiefs due to arrogance

By Jay Soderberg

FOXBORO, MA - SEPTEMBER 07: Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots walks off the field after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the New England Patriots 42-27 at Gillette Stadium on September 7, 2017 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
FOXBORO, MA - SEPTEMBER 07: Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots walks off the field after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the New England Patriots 42-27 at Gillette Stadium on September 7, 2017 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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The New England Patriots were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs in their home-opener. Why did they lose?

Arrogance.

That’s the reason the New England Patriots lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the season opener. Tom Brady mentioned in his post game press conference that the team needed to work on their attitude. My guess is the overriding attitude of the team was arrogance.

28-3. Arrogance. How many fans actually have the final score of Super Bowl 51 memorized? We all know what 28-3 signifies. Just in case you don’t, it’s the score of the Super Bowl game where the Patriots finally staged their comeback late in the third quarter. It was a pretty awesome thing that was never done before, but it’s a new season. Time to move on.

I’m as much to blame as all of the fan base is. I interviewed Joshua Brisco of Arrowhead Addict on my Next Fan Up podcast. We started the interview ASSUMING the Chiefs were going to lose. We fed right into the narrative that the defending Super Bowl champions were that much better than the Chiefs and there was no other possible outcome. I was totally and embarrassingly arrogant.

Having our injured star wide receiver, Julian Edleman, displaying the Super Bowl trophy during the ceremony is great to see, but it’s arrogant. Towels that feature the NFL commissioner with a clown face is admittedly kind of funny, but it’s arrogant. To continue living in these moments, it’s just arrogance. Have we not learned the lessons of the past? Is this not the team that is “on to Cincinnati”?

There was more arrogance seen on the field of play. I saw a number of deep balls thrown at Rob Gronkowski, Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan and instead of seeing them try to make a play on a catchable ball, they backed into the defender, looking for a penalty. That is arrogance. Going for it on fourth and short and calling the same exact run play is arrogant. It’s also the definition of insanity to attempt the same thing and expect different results. Why would you move away from a fast paced offensive series that is gaining chunks of yards and working rather successfully? Why would you change up the play calling to slow down the pace of the game and grind to a halt? Where were the classic halftime adjustments?

New England Patriots
New England Patriots /

New England Patriots

Oh yeah. The coaches get to own a lot of this arrogance. This team looked woefully unprepared. While key injuries that took Danny Amendola and Dont’a Hightower out of the game can be part of the blame, where was the next man up?  Cassius Marsh and Philip Dorsett have been on the team for less than a week. They’ll be more prepared in future weeks, but it was arrogant to think they could be ready to go in a spot of need right in Week 1.

I’ve been one of the pundits banging on the drum that the defensive front seven was looking very un-Patriot-like.  To be more blunt, it looked bad in the preseason and it looks even worse now. Keeping six running backs on the roster and hiding a Malcolm Mitchell injury all preseason, left the wide receiving corps with a gaping hole on the depth chart that was already hurting with Edleman’s absence. That’s roster mismanagement. Devin Lucien or Austin Carr looked a lot more prepared than Philip Dorsett did. Is Cassius Marsh that much more of an upgrade over Jonathan Freeney? The only acceptable answer to those questions is “maybe”, in the long run. Maybe.

I hope – no I BELIEVE – this was a one time thing. The big guy, Bill Belichick, allowed this team and this fan base to have our celebration. He allowed this team to wear Super Bowl 51 champion patches on their jerseys. He allowed the big to-do before the game so the fan base could enjoy that moment one more time. Now it’s on to New Orleans and the rest of the 2017 season. The Super Bowl win was last season. Continuing to live in that moment is just being arrogant. I don’t want to see any other reference to Super Bowl 51 other than the banner that now hangs at the end of the field.

Next: Looking back at preseason standouts

So in the spirit of arrogance, I’m left wondering only one thing fellow Patriots fans. After being embarrassed on your home field during a Super Bowl celebration, how do you like them apples?

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