5 takeaways from Patriots loss to Chiefs

FOXBOROUGH — In front of a Gillette Stadium crowd filled with Mahomes jerseys and musicians, the Patriots fell to the Chiefs, 27-17.

Taylor Swift and Jon Bon Jovi saw both offenses struggle to run the football — they didn’t reach 100 combined yards on the ground — but ultimately, Patrick Mahomes made more plays with his arm than Bailey Zappe, and the Patriots are now one step closer to a Top 3 NFL Draft pick.

Here are five takeaways from a loss that saw Bill Belichick’s team fall to 3-11:

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1. Zappe cools in second half (again)

For the second week in a row, Bailey Zappe’s game followed the same script. The second-year quarterback had a strong first half — 17-of-19 for 141 yards and a touchdown — but cooled off after halftime. Zappe threw a momentum-killing interception that led to a Chiefs touchdown, and New England’s offense didn’t have a single drive of more than five plays in the second half.

“Threw an interception on the first play of the second half, which is terrible on my part,” Zappe said. “You take away that, you take away seven points, it’s a whole different game. I mean, they got the ball on whatever yard line it was, and two plays later they scored so I mean, that’s on me. You take away that play, it’s a different game. Not good enough, there’s things that I’m going to clean up going into next week and get ready for the Broncos.

2. No J.C — at all

Though active for Sunday’s game, J.C. Jackson was nowhere to be found during warmups and then didn’t play a single snap. Multiple defensive players said they were expecting Jackson to play, but it never happened.

“He wasn’t available,” Belichick said. “Just leave it at that.”

With Shaun Wade as a healthy scratch, the Patriots burned an active roster spot on Jackson, and multiple Patriots defenders said they’d expected the cornerback to play. In Jackson’s place, Alex Austin got his first career start, albeit, not with much notice.

“I found out right when the game started,” Austin said.

3. Bizarre clock management

Trailing by 17 points for much of the fourth quarter, the Patriots didn’t play with any urgency. Bill Belichick punted in multiple fourth-and-short situations and they never flipped into a two-minute offense to make up the significant deficit.

“I think we could have went a little faster, definitely being down three scores in that last quarter,” veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “I don’t know. It’s not up to me.”

With 4:00 remaining, the Patriots had cut the deficit to 10. With the ball near their own goal line, Zappe and the offense bled 76 seconds off the clock with a pair of running plays, and stunningly huddling after each of the runs.

“I mean, we could have gone quicker,” Belichick said.

4. Ryland misses again

Fourth-round rookie Chad Ryland missed another field goal that simply needs to be made.

Kicking to the lighthouse end of Gillette Stadium in the first quarter, Ryland yanked a 41-yarder wide left. It was his seventh missed field goal of the season, and fifth from inside of 50 yards. After Nick Folk was nearly automatic from that range, Ryland has been anything but.

5. Good day for the draft pick

With Sunday’s loss, the Patriots are still slated to pick No. 2 overall in next spring’s 2024 NFL Draft. They actually picked up a game on the No. 1 overall pick too, as the Panthers upset the Falcons to improve to 2-12 on the season.