The Patriots saw their 15-point halftime lead disappear over the course of the second half and the last remnants of it evaporated when Tyreek Hill took a Patrick Mahomes pass 75 yards for a touchdown with just over three minutes to play in Sunday night’s game.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s reaction to that play might not have been what you’d imagine. When Hill busted loose, Brady said that he was happy that the Chiefs weren’t going to use up a lot of clock before getting into the end zone.
“Yeah, you know, we had confidence,” Brady said in his postgame press conference. “I think, I’m glad when he was running – Tyreek was running to score – I said, ‘Good, score quick.’ Because then we had enough time. They had one timeout left, and it gave us a little time to go down and kick the field goal. So, I don’t know if we punted tonight. Did we punt? So, no punts. You know, I still think we missed some opportunities out there, but made some situational plays when we needed it, the short-yardages – you know, we really lost the game last year on some short yardages, and I thought we were pretty good in it tonight. So, that was a real positive.”
In addition to not punting, the Patriots didn’t have a penalty on a night where a fourth down stop and a fumble were the only things that kept them from putting points on the board. The Chiefs had two interceptions and a punt, which adds up to just enough difference to make them losers for the first time in 2018.