Tuesday, November 23, 2004
PATS WIN THEIR FIRST EVER IN ARROWHEAD
It's hard to beleive that the Patriots have never won a game in Kansas City since 1964, and had never won at Arrowhead. What a great way to start my birthday.
The Patriots came out with a blast. The offense seemingly knew that with a depleted defensive secondary going against the best passing offense in the league, they'd need to score early and often. Brady recovered from a sack and passed the ball to Pass out of the backfield for a solid 7 yards that made the 3rd down more manageable. Brady then hit Graham for a nice 27 yard pass and a 1st down. After an incomplete pass intended for Givens, Dillon got 7 yards on the ground and 14 more on the next play for another big 3rd down conversion. The Pats seemed to stall with the ball in the KC red zone with a Dillon run that was stuffed and an incomplete pass followed by a false start penalty. Brady then found his favorite target, Deion Branch, fresh off the injured list for 17 yards and a 1st and goal on the 5. Dillon then took it in for 6.
Dante Hall had a solid return and gave KC great field position to start their first possesion. He got the ball to the 44. Green hit Gonzalez for 22 yards. Blaylock got stopped for no gain and then Green got sacked by Ty Warren. They were able to get into field goal range with a 17 yard pass to Morton. Tynes hit a 44 yarder to put the Chiefs on the board.
The Pats went 3 and out in their second posession. Josh Miller had a very nice punt to the sidelines that Dante Hall was unable to do anything with. Blaylock ran for 3 up the middle, then Green hit Dunn for 3 more. Gonzalez got the first down with a 12 yard reception up to the 34. Blaylock was stuffed but Green threw to Kennison for a 65 yard touchdown.
Tynes had a terrible kickoff that linebacker Tully Banta-Cain fielded at the 26 yard line and returned all the way to the 47. The Pats were unable to capitalize on the fantastic field position mostly due to a penalty. On 1st down, Gorin got called for holding. Graham got 8 of the yards back with a reception but Dillon lost 2 on the next play. Brady, under pressure, was only able to hit Brown as an outlet for a 5 yard gain. Miller again punted the ball quite well, kicking it out of bounds at the Kansas City 13.
Blaylock got 2 up the middle and then Green passed to Kennison for 8 more and a 1st down. Gonzalez then caught a ball for 15 more yards. Blaylock began the 2nd quarter (or period as Al Michaels would call it) with a 3 yard run. He then caught a pass but lost a yard on the play. On 3rd and 8, Green was able to evade Jarvis Green but was eventually taken down by Roosevelt Colvin for a loss of 3. The Cheifs punted.
Brady threw incomplete to Branch but then hit him on 2nd down for 17 yards. Dillon got 7 on an off tackle run and was followed by Faulk who got the ball to midfield with a 1 yard run. Brady then hit Brown for 22 yards. Branch then caught a 14 yard pass to get the ball to the 14. Dillon ran to the right for 5 then ran to the left for 8, bringing the ball within a yard of the goal line. The power formation came onto the field with 3 TEs (including Vrabel) and Seymour as the blocking full back. On his second try, Dillon got in behind Seymour.
The Cheifs responded with a poor drive that began at their 34 and ended on their 30. They punted once and the Pats were going to start with the ball at the 18 but there was a personal foul and KC was forced to re-kick. The second punt resulted in the Patriots getting the ball at the 44. Dillon got stuffed up the middle for a loss but Brady then hit Graham for a 48 yard pass (most of which was after the catch) down the right sideline.
The Cheifs defense stiffened thoguh as Dillon was forced out of bounds for a 5 yard loss which was followed by a false start penalty. Brady then threw incomplete to Givens twice. Vinaterri, who leads the NFL in points and FG%, kicked a 37 yarder.
The Chiefs responded with a very nice drive. Green hit Morton for 26 yards on 2nd down to get the ball to the Patriot's 32 yard line. Green threw to Kennison and the play was called complete but was overturned. Blaylock caught a 9 yard pass to set up a 4th and 1. I felt that they probably should have taken the near guaranteed 3 points but that's just me. Blaylock was barely able to get across the 1st down plane but he got across. Green was able to avoid potential sackers and got 6 yards on a run before being enveloped by Ty Warren. He then hit Blaylock for 7 yards to set up a 1st and goal on the 9 yard line. Green threw a pair of incompletions and then attempted to hit Gonzalez in the end zone even though he was being covered tightly by McGinist and disturbingly not-so-tightly by Rodney Harrison. I say disturbingly because it was almost as if Rodney was trying to set-up Trent Green and trap him. If so, it worked. Harrison picked the ball off and assured the Pats would go into the locker room with a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs began the 2nd half with a drive totalling 8:15. Green hit Gonzalez for 9, then Blaylock got the ball to the 40 with a 4 yard run. After a false start penalty and a 2 yard run by Blaylock, Green threw to Morton for 17 yards. After a holding penalty and another short run by Blaylock, Ty Warren blocked a pass at the line of scrimmage. Green was able to hit Morton on 3rd and 17 for 19 yards. Blaylock got 6 more rushing yards on a pair of plays before Green hit Gonzalez for 15. With 1st and 10 on the Patriot 13, Blaylock ran for a yard, Green then hit Gonzalez for 8 but Blaylock was stuffed on 3rd and 1 and actually lost a yard. It was the first time all season that Kansas City hadn't converted on 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1. Tynes hit a 24 yarder to bring the Chiefs within 4.
The Patriots responded with a drive that was one fourth as long but twice as effective. On 3rd and 7 from his own 28, Brady hit Patten for 26 yards. He tried the same play on 1st down but slightly underthrew the ball making it harder for Patten, who has beat his man, to make the catch. Brady then hit Branch for 26 yards, most of which were thanks to Deion's feet and the downfield blocking of offsive linemen. He dove into the end zone to make the score 24-13.
The Chiefs next drive was mostly short yardage plays except for a 19 yard pass to Hall. They were able to get the ball into New England territory but did not advance beyond the 42. Brady threw to Dillon for a 20 yard gain on 1st down from the 15. Brady threw an incomplete pass but the Chiefs were offside. Dillon got 3 more and then 18 more to end the quarter. It was clear the Pats were trying to run out the clock with Dillon. Brady opened up the 4th quarter with an incomplete pass followed by a Dillon run for no gain. Brady then hit Branch for 22 yards. New England was deep into KC territory Dillon then ran for 2 and then for 0. Pass caught a pass on 3rd and 8 for 10 yards. It was 1st and goal on the 5. Dillon got the handoff but fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Kansas City.
Trent Green led his offense 97 yards down the field in just under 6 minutes. He finally hit Kennison for a 26 yard TD. They attempted the 2 point conversion but Eugene Wilson batted the ball out of bounds. Had they converted, they could have tied the game with a field goal. Instead, they needed a touchdown to win with the score at 24-19.
The Patriots got the ball with 6:07 left and took 4 and a half of those minutes off the clock. Furthermore, they added 3 points to their lead which forced KC to score a TD and get a 2 point conversion just to tie. Green threw an incomplete pass to Kennison. Samuel, the top healthy CB on the roster for the game, hit the ball but came down awkwardly on his wrist.
The Patriots defensive seocndary was now crippled to the point of rediculousness. Law and Poole did not start. Samuel was now gone. Harrison seemed hurt. Gay and Mooreland had each spent some time on the bench being looked at by the trainers. Bellicheck had a backup LB lined up as a safety and Troy Brown was now the 2nd/3rd CB. Green was unable to capitalize, however. Blaylock dropped a ball and then Hall caught a pass for 6 but was unable to get out-of-bounds. The Cheifs had no timeouts and about a minute left on the clock. It was 4th and 4. Each of the Chiefs receivers went on routes that were about 6 or 7 yards long even though most of the night they were able to beat Mooreland and Gay deep. McGinist came off the end and was able to sack Green to effectively end the game.
In the end, the Pats acocmplished several goals.
1. Take Tony Gonzalez out of the game:
TG88 has a pretty good game with 7 receptions and 88 yards, but none of those were near the end zone. In fact, the closest he got to a ball in the end zone was when Harrison ran in front of him and grabbed it.
2. Don't allow Blaylock to run:
Blaylock ran for 58 yards, which is not alot at all compared to the monster day he had last week or the monster games Holmes has on a wekely basis. He was able to consistently get 2 or 3 yards most of the time but he really only broke one good run and that was about 12 or 13 yards.
3. Bend, don't break:
Green had 381 passing yards. Blaylock had 58 rushing yards. The Chiefs amassed over 400 yards of total offense. However, they only got into the end zone twice. Two times at the end of pretty good drives, they were forced to settle for field goals.
4. Don't let Hall beat you:
Hall really only affected the game with his one good return. Miller was able to punt away from him and the coverage teams on kickoffs and punts were able to keep him from breaking big runs.
5. Run and Pass well:
315 yards passing by Brady and 98 yards rushing from Dillon.
6. Give the ball to Branch:
6 receptions and 105 yards and a TD in his return off the injured list. You can tell he's one of Brady's favorite receivers.
The Man of the Game has to be Deion Branch. He was huge today. In all the talk about the injured secondary, people seemed to forget that the Patriots were playing without one of their top receivers.
It's hard to beleive that the Patriots have never won a game in Kansas City since 1964, and had never won at Arrowhead. What a great way to start my birthday.
The Patriots came out with a blast. The offense seemingly knew that with a depleted defensive secondary going against the best passing offense in the league, they'd need to score early and often. Brady recovered from a sack and passed the ball to Pass out of the backfield for a solid 7 yards that made the 3rd down more manageable. Brady then hit Graham for a nice 27 yard pass and a 1st down. After an incomplete pass intended for Givens, Dillon got 7 yards on the ground and 14 more on the next play for another big 3rd down conversion. The Pats seemed to stall with the ball in the KC red zone with a Dillon run that was stuffed and an incomplete pass followed by a false start penalty. Brady then found his favorite target, Deion Branch, fresh off the injured list for 17 yards and a 1st and goal on the 5. Dillon then took it in for 6.
Dante Hall had a solid return and gave KC great field position to start their first possesion. He got the ball to the 44. Green hit Gonzalez for 22 yards. Blaylock got stopped for no gain and then Green got sacked by Ty Warren. They were able to get into field goal range with a 17 yard pass to Morton. Tynes hit a 44 yarder to put the Chiefs on the board.
The Pats went 3 and out in their second posession. Josh Miller had a very nice punt to the sidelines that Dante Hall was unable to do anything with. Blaylock ran for 3 up the middle, then Green hit Dunn for 3 more. Gonzalez got the first down with a 12 yard reception up to the 34. Blaylock was stuffed but Green threw to Kennison for a 65 yard touchdown.
Tynes had a terrible kickoff that linebacker Tully Banta-Cain fielded at the 26 yard line and returned all the way to the 47. The Pats were unable to capitalize on the fantastic field position mostly due to a penalty. On 1st down, Gorin got called for holding. Graham got 8 of the yards back with a reception but Dillon lost 2 on the next play. Brady, under pressure, was only able to hit Brown as an outlet for a 5 yard gain. Miller again punted the ball quite well, kicking it out of bounds at the Kansas City 13.
Blaylock got 2 up the middle and then Green passed to Kennison for 8 more and a 1st down. Gonzalez then caught a ball for 15 more yards. Blaylock began the 2nd quarter (or period as Al Michaels would call it) with a 3 yard run. He then caught a pass but lost a yard on the play. On 3rd and 8, Green was able to evade Jarvis Green but was eventually taken down by Roosevelt Colvin for a loss of 3. The Cheifs punted.
Brady threw incomplete to Branch but then hit him on 2nd down for 17 yards. Dillon got 7 on an off tackle run and was followed by Faulk who got the ball to midfield with a 1 yard run. Brady then hit Brown for 22 yards. Branch then caught a 14 yard pass to get the ball to the 14. Dillon ran to the right for 5 then ran to the left for 8, bringing the ball within a yard of the goal line. The power formation came onto the field with 3 TEs (including Vrabel) and Seymour as the blocking full back. On his second try, Dillon got in behind Seymour.
The Cheifs responded with a poor drive that began at their 34 and ended on their 30. They punted once and the Pats were going to start with the ball at the 18 but there was a personal foul and KC was forced to re-kick. The second punt resulted in the Patriots getting the ball at the 44. Dillon got stuffed up the middle for a loss but Brady then hit Graham for a 48 yard pass (most of which was after the catch) down the right sideline.
The Cheifs defense stiffened thoguh as Dillon was forced out of bounds for a 5 yard loss which was followed by a false start penalty. Brady then threw incomplete to Givens twice. Vinaterri, who leads the NFL in points and FG%, kicked a 37 yarder.
The Chiefs responded with a very nice drive. Green hit Morton for 26 yards on 2nd down to get the ball to the Patriot's 32 yard line. Green threw to Kennison and the play was called complete but was overturned. Blaylock caught a 9 yard pass to set up a 4th and 1. I felt that they probably should have taken the near guaranteed 3 points but that's just me. Blaylock was barely able to get across the 1st down plane but he got across. Green was able to avoid potential sackers and got 6 yards on a run before being enveloped by Ty Warren. He then hit Blaylock for 7 yards to set up a 1st and goal on the 9 yard line. Green threw a pair of incompletions and then attempted to hit Gonzalez in the end zone even though he was being covered tightly by McGinist and disturbingly not-so-tightly by Rodney Harrison. I say disturbingly because it was almost as if Rodney was trying to set-up Trent Green and trap him. If so, it worked. Harrison picked the ball off and assured the Pats would go into the locker room with a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs began the 2nd half with a drive totalling 8:15. Green hit Gonzalez for 9, then Blaylock got the ball to the 40 with a 4 yard run. After a false start penalty and a 2 yard run by Blaylock, Green threw to Morton for 17 yards. After a holding penalty and another short run by Blaylock, Ty Warren blocked a pass at the line of scrimmage. Green was able to hit Morton on 3rd and 17 for 19 yards. Blaylock got 6 more rushing yards on a pair of plays before Green hit Gonzalez for 15. With 1st and 10 on the Patriot 13, Blaylock ran for a yard, Green then hit Gonzalez for 8 but Blaylock was stuffed on 3rd and 1 and actually lost a yard. It was the first time all season that Kansas City hadn't converted on 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1. Tynes hit a 24 yarder to bring the Chiefs within 4.
The Patriots responded with a drive that was one fourth as long but twice as effective. On 3rd and 7 from his own 28, Brady hit Patten for 26 yards. He tried the same play on 1st down but slightly underthrew the ball making it harder for Patten, who has beat his man, to make the catch. Brady then hit Branch for 26 yards, most of which were thanks to Deion's feet and the downfield blocking of offsive linemen. He dove into the end zone to make the score 24-13.
The Chiefs next drive was mostly short yardage plays except for a 19 yard pass to Hall. They were able to get the ball into New England territory but did not advance beyond the 42. Brady threw to Dillon for a 20 yard gain on 1st down from the 15. Brady threw an incomplete pass but the Chiefs were offside. Dillon got 3 more and then 18 more to end the quarter. It was clear the Pats were trying to run out the clock with Dillon. Brady opened up the 4th quarter with an incomplete pass followed by a Dillon run for no gain. Brady then hit Branch for 22 yards. New England was deep into KC territory Dillon then ran for 2 and then for 0. Pass caught a pass on 3rd and 8 for 10 yards. It was 1st and goal on the 5. Dillon got the handoff but fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Kansas City.
Trent Green led his offense 97 yards down the field in just under 6 minutes. He finally hit Kennison for a 26 yard TD. They attempted the 2 point conversion but Eugene Wilson batted the ball out of bounds. Had they converted, they could have tied the game with a field goal. Instead, they needed a touchdown to win with the score at 24-19.
The Patriots got the ball with 6:07 left and took 4 and a half of those minutes off the clock. Furthermore, they added 3 points to their lead which forced KC to score a TD and get a 2 point conversion just to tie. Green threw an incomplete pass to Kennison. Samuel, the top healthy CB on the roster for the game, hit the ball but came down awkwardly on his wrist.
The Patriots defensive seocndary was now crippled to the point of rediculousness. Law and Poole did not start. Samuel was now gone. Harrison seemed hurt. Gay and Mooreland had each spent some time on the bench being looked at by the trainers. Bellicheck had a backup LB lined up as a safety and Troy Brown was now the 2nd/3rd CB. Green was unable to capitalize, however. Blaylock dropped a ball and then Hall caught a pass for 6 but was unable to get out-of-bounds. The Cheifs had no timeouts and about a minute left on the clock. It was 4th and 4. Each of the Chiefs receivers went on routes that were about 6 or 7 yards long even though most of the night they were able to beat Mooreland and Gay deep. McGinist came off the end and was able to sack Green to effectively end the game.
In the end, the Pats acocmplished several goals.
1. Take Tony Gonzalez out of the game:
TG88 has a pretty good game with 7 receptions and 88 yards, but none of those were near the end zone. In fact, the closest he got to a ball in the end zone was when Harrison ran in front of him and grabbed it.
2. Don't allow Blaylock to run:
Blaylock ran for 58 yards, which is not alot at all compared to the monster day he had last week or the monster games Holmes has on a wekely basis. He was able to consistently get 2 or 3 yards most of the time but he really only broke one good run and that was about 12 or 13 yards.
3. Bend, don't break:
Green had 381 passing yards. Blaylock had 58 rushing yards. The Chiefs amassed over 400 yards of total offense. However, they only got into the end zone twice. Two times at the end of pretty good drives, they were forced to settle for field goals.
4. Don't let Hall beat you:
Hall really only affected the game with his one good return. Miller was able to punt away from him and the coverage teams on kickoffs and punts were able to keep him from breaking big runs.
5. Run and Pass well:
315 yards passing by Brady and 98 yards rushing from Dillon.
6. Give the ball to Branch:
6 receptions and 105 yards and a TD in his return off the injured list. You can tell he's one of Brady's favorite receivers.
The Man of the Game has to be Deion Branch. He was huge today. In all the talk about the injured secondary, people seemed to forget that the Patriots were playing without one of their top receivers.
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