Key stats show Patriots ineptitude in loss

The New England Patriots Offensive Line and Tom Brady struggled against Kansas City (Photo credit New England Patriots - AP)

If you missed the New England Patriots playing the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday Night Football tonight, you didn’t miss anything. Actually, you know what you missed, the affirmation that the Patriots are far worse in all aspects of the game than anyone thought.

It can be seen is a few easy stats.

Time of possession. Chiefs 36 minutes, 27 seconds. Patriots 23 minutes, 33 seconds. Basically a difference of 13 minutes, meaning the Chiefs held the ball for almost an entire quarter.

First downs. Chiefs 26. Patriots 13. The Chiefs had twice as many first downs as the Pats.

Third down efficiency. The Chiefs converted 7 of 12 third down tries on offense. The Patriots converted only 2 of 9 tries. Offensively that is

Ask any coach and those three stats will tell you a lot about the outcome of a game, but lets add one more.

Turnovers. Chiefs 0. Patriots 3.

In total the Patriots were a disaster on Monday Night Football tonight. The offensive line was terrible, even with a new alignment. This caused Tom Brady to be inefficient and suffer the worst loss of his career. It caused the defense to stay on the field for a miserable amount of time. All of those things allowed the Chiefs to score early and often.

The state of the Patriots is one of woe. While the season is not lost and there are plenty of games left to be played the outlook is bleak. There are a myriad of questions the Patriots need to look in the mirror and ask themselves.

Do they need to bring in offensive line help?

Do they need to adjust the offense to adapt to Brady’s weaknesses or will fixing the offensive line solve all the problems?

Is the defense talented? Are they being used correctly?

Right now after watching that game I have no idea if the Patriots are deserving of a playoff spot. I still think they win the AFC East because Miami has looked both better and worse than the Patriots, the Jets have Geno Smith and the Bill just changed QBs. While I think the Bills changed QBS because they smell blood in the water around the Patriots, I don’t think Kyle Orton is the answer.

So Pats fans shouldn’t completely panic, but wow that sucked, and if it continues Pats fans need to start thinking of this season like Red Sox fans decided to think about their season in about June, its over.

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