So I know there has been enough Pats-related #content here over the last few days, weeks, and months to last a lifetime, but this has been kind of sticking on my mind. It’s one of those things where I figure that if it has stayed with me this long, maybe it is worth putting out there. Whatever the case I won’t be bashing Oprah or telling the story of the time a kid I loosely knew robbed a 7-11 so I’m guessing Red will publish it and maybe you’ll read it.
Rex Burkhead does not get a lot of ink. It’s fairly understandable why. For the most part, he is a “sum of the parts greater than the whole” type back that can spell Michel when he needs a breather during one of his packages and can do the same for James White in an identical capacity. He has also been hurt a bunch so his name just hasn’t come up a lot. With all of that said, he can do a lot of things and Brady seems to be able to trust him, which one could argue is more important to TB12 than skill, athleticism, etc., so he has become a fairly important part of our offense.
Then came the AFC Championship and the worst fucking 4th down run of all time and I was ready to let Rex Burkhead to be the scapegoat, to let he and he alone hold the L, as the kids say. I mean, sure it was a bad call altogether. One of those 1-2 a game that McDaniels has been guilty of all season, a puzzling abnormality that he seems to of picked up this year. Burkhead didn’t help though. Kevin Sorensen, who the Patriots made look like a cross between Ed Reed and Sean Taylor all fucking game even though he barely belongs on an NFL roster, was shooting the gap Burkhead was supposed to run in. He could have cut back and at least tried to churn behind his O-line and see what he could get. His vision failed him though (I’m not RB savvy enough to tell you if vision is always a problem for Burkhead) and Patrick Willis Sorensen form tackled him for a loss. It stunk to high heavens.
What did Rex Burkhead do? He shook it off. He basically acted like it never happened. He went on to make more than a couple of key plays, including the game-winning touchdown run, to force us to completely forget about that garbage run. He put his head down and “did his job” as the Patriots always require and it paid dividends. To be honest I think even without the win, we would have forgiven him after the way he closed the game out.
So hats off to Rex Burkhead, our favorite ‘Husker. We’ll need him two Sundays from now more than ever. Just cut back next time, ok?
Over an hour after the game I still have a heart rate somewhere near 200 beats per minute because that was the most stressful 4 hours of my life since February 2015 during the Patriots Seahawks Superbowl. My goodness. If I was wearing a Life Alert necklace there would be an ambulance on the way to my house right now because my heart rate is straight up unhealthy. As I said earlier tonight, this is no way to live….but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Rob Gronkowski: Vintage like Merlot
He may not be putting up 9 for 160 and 3 TDs anymore, but this guy is still Tom Brady’s “gotta have it” guy. He is still a 6’6″ mammoth of a man with baby soft hands that can beat anyone one on one. As I mentioned on The 300s Podcast last week, the Patriots would need a vintage game from Gronk and thats exactly what we got with some key catches.
Julian Edelman is Logan
The man must have adamantium in his bones, there is no other explanation for how he can continuously take these massive hits. The guy just throws his back into 250 pound linebackers and gets up faster than I get out of bed after sleeping on my neck wrong. Incredible.
The Muffed Punt
If the Patriots go on to win the Super Bowl, the muffed punt that wasn’t will go down as one of the most insane moments in Patriots playoff history.
A play that likely would have sunk their season was overturned thanks to instant replay, despite the fact that the footage the referees were reviewing looked like found footage from an iPhone 4.
To the Chiefs I tip my cap, that was an absolutely incredible game. The future is yours, but like an older brother with the N64 clicker in hand; it’s still our turn.
Up 14-0 and 30 mins away from their third straight Super Bowl appearance, the Patriots have come out on fire. Aside from being up by 4 touchdowns, I don’t think the Patriots could have come out to start this game any better. Just as they did against the Chargers last week, the Pats got the ball first and set the tone from the get go with a long touchdown drive. As we had discussed on The 300s Podcast the other day, we expected a big day from Sony Michel as the Pats have morphed into more of a running team than they’ve ever been before. Thats not to say there haven’t been some issues though because the Pats have dodged a couple of bullets.
Tom Brady throwing into quadruple coverage like an asshole.
Four defenders dropping back. One receiver running a route. Chuck it in there and see what happens. pic.twitter.com/jyROXdlc2s
Eric Berry barely dropped another pick that would have been an incredible play, but again Brady and the Pats dodged a bullet.
Trey Flowers CAME. TO. PLAY. – Flower has been a monster all game pressuring Patrick Mahomes all day into some bad looks. The one standout play came when Mahomes gave back 3 points by taking an absolutely ugly sack on 3rd down to take the Chiefs out of FG position (again due to Flowers’ monster half).
The defensive front 7 as a whole has been incredible to start this game. Kyle Van Noy may be a bit of a liability in coverage, but he chased down Patrick Mahomes for a strip sack to end the half, nearly snagging another 3 spot for New England.
James White has made some *incredible* catches today (6 first downs on his first 6 touches) just a week after hauling in 15 balls against LA.
The Patriots, despite all the running back-ists on sports talk radio, are establishing the shit out of the run, which is exactly what I said they would need to do in order to win this game. You’re playing one of the most explosive offenses in the league that relies on big plays from their athletic freaks so hold the ball, eat up some clock, let those KC players sit on the sideline and freeze.
PHILLIP DORSETT WITH A HUGE TOUCHDOWN. For a guy that catches just about everything thrown to him, we asked on the podcast why not throw to him more then? Well, TB12 found Dorsett for a absolutely money 29 yard touchdown in the last 30 seconds of the half.
The Chiefs just got shutout in the first half at home for the first time under Andy Reid. The Patriots look excellent as these boys can smell the Super Bowl. It is now officially Neck. Stepping. Time.
The Patriots are back in the AFC Championship game for the EIGHTH straight year and The 300s Podcast Dream Team is back in the studio to break it all down.
Join us at 8:30 pm tonight when we’ll be going LIVE from The 300s Facebook page as the Dream Team returns to the podcast studio to discuss the upcoming AFC Championship game!
In a game that had the fans frothing at the mouth, ready to pounce on the Chiefs, their fans and most of all Roger Goodell, the Patriots couldn’t get the job done and dropped their season opener 42-27. Second year Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill was an absolute monster as was rookie RB Kareem Hunt who had his way with the Pats defense. The Patriots looked excelling out of the gate, scoring less than 3 minutes into the game. But an failed 4th down conversion on their next drive swung momentum, followed by an overturned Gronk touchdown, some key injuries to the Patriots, and then huge plays down the stretch by the KC skill players and all of that was enough to wipe out the 19-0 dream before I even had my first Shipyard pumpkin beer of the season. On to the highlights, the lowlights, and all the rest.
Highlights
Obviously dropping the 5th Super Bowl champs banner at Gillette was a glorious thing to see, albeit awkwardly brief and to the soundtrack of House of Pain, but despite a shitty loss ya can’t take that banner away.
Brandin Cooks looks to come as advertised, fast as all hell and he is going to be a problem for defenses all year. This guy is going to get legitimately 100 hundred PI calls this season.
Robert Kraft unveiling and rocking his own damn shoe, the RKK Air Force 1.
Alex Smith is only the second QB to EVER throw for 300+ yards and 4 TDs on a Belichick defense with the only other being Drew Brees in 2009. That game was also an absolute beatdown in New Orleans that I remember clear as day watching from my college newspaper editors meeting.
The Danny Amendola head injury was devastating because Malcolm Mitchell was put on IR just hours before the game so the Pats were down to just 3 wide receivers in their first game; Brandon Cooks, Chris Hogan, and Philip Dorsett. Amendola is nails, but he needs to be managed because he does get hurt a lot. So naturally the Patriots ran him into the ground, return punts, and take absolute buddy passes over the middle from Brady. Huge loss as he put up a sneaky line of 6 catches for 100 yards before exiting the game. Hopefully he’s not out long because this team needs him right now.
The Dont’a Hightower injury could legitimately wreck the season for a team already dangerously thing in the front seven. Hightower got rolled up on by a lineman in the 3rd quarter and missed the rest of the game. He went into the medical tent and could later be seen riding the stationary bike with a hot pack on his knee, which I don’t know what to make of, but certainly looked like an MCL injury. If he is out for an extended period of time then the defense is really in trouble. Update: PFT is reporting its just a “minor” MCL sprain.
The Pats newest addition to the defense Cassius Marsh got a crash course in how to not cover a runningback out of the backfield as he got smoked for a 74-yard TD reception by Kareem Hunt. To be fair, Marsh was more of a defensive end than a coverage linebacker during his time in Seattle, but still not a great look. Especially not when you have your whole face painted like a goddamn juggalo.
The one thing that does concern me is with Julian Edelman out for the season and a brand new shiny toy in burner Brandon Cooks is that I hope Brady doesn’t try and force too many deep balls each game. Thats exactly what the Patriots were doing in the 4th quarter last night. Obviously they needed two scores to win the game at that point, but just forcing seam routes is never a great option. Gave me cold sweats as it was reminiscent of the end of Super Bowl XLII when Brady was just hucking 40 yard bombs in vain to Randy Moss.
Marcus Cannon getting smoked by Justin Houston was like seeing an old high school friend after years. Not exactly a great thing to see, but its exactly how you remember it.
Rob Gronkowski was getting flanked by one of the best safeties in the league last night in Eric Berry (who may have unfortunately torn his achilles), but as the best TE in the league you gotta make something happen. I thought he did just that on his would be TD catch, but the refs disagreed and overturned the call saying it touched the turf. Huge break for the Chiefs that helped turn the momentum of the game.
Kicking a FG on 4th and inches. Especially after going for it on 4th and 1 earlier (and failing). It was very un-Patriots like, but maybe Bill just knew he wasn’t going to get through that D-line last night as they later got stuffed on another 4th down conversion attempt.
Kareem Hunt setting the goddamn record for most yards from scrimmage for a rookie in his first game. After fumbling on his first career carry, the Spencer Ware backup exploded for 148 yards rushing and 1 TD on the ground with 5 catches for 98 yards and another 2 TDs. Savvy fantasy owners everywhere rejoice.
How about Marky Mark being unable to not promote something for 5 fucking minutes? Wahlberg was wearing some branded t-shirt that just seemed so cheesy. My man, just throw on a TB12 jersey for me one time.
Mike Gillislee looked great, rushing for 3 touchdowns, but it was definitely disappointing to see him get stuffed on 4th and short on two separate occasions. For our goal line guy, you gotta have those.
It looked like the Patriots weren’t exactly dying to have Tom Brady smash his head into a wall in Week 1 as they decided against the QB sneak on 4th and inches. Instead electing to go with Gillislee again, who got stuffed. Very odd to see because Brady is essentially automatic from that spot.
The Pats special teams unit frustratingly (and hilariously) refusing to not absolutely smoke the Chiefs punter. Thankfully it was a long 4th down conversion as the Pats ran into the kicker on two consecutive plays to earn a 5 yard penalty each time. Almost seemed intentional, maybe they just don’t like the guy.
Now I gotta listen to shit like this all over again.
No, no he’s not. Lets give him more than one game with a new offensive scheme and see how things go. Brady was far from great last night going 16/36 for 267 yards with 0 TD’s, but if anything I’m putting this L on the defense.
So whats the silver lining?
Its one bad game. This same exact thing happened two years ago against the same exact team and everyone was more than happy to dance on the Patriots graves.
Then what happened? The Pats came back and anihilated the Bengals and then went on to win the Super Bowl. So lets all pump the breaks. Bad games aren’t concerning. Trends are concerning. So if they get trounced next week by the Saints, then we can talk.
Over an hour after the game I still have a heart rate somewhere near 200 beats per minute because that was the most stressful 4 hours of my life since February 2015 during the Patriots Seahawks Superbowl. My goodness. If I was wearing a Life Alert necklace there would be an ambulance on the way to my house right now because my heart rate is straight up unhealthy. As I said earlier tonight, this is no way to live….but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The 300s 