John’s Well-Educated Guesses: Patriots vs. Chiefs – AFC Championship Edition - Recap
Even when the Pats looked firmly in control early, I knew it
was going to come down to a final play.
It just always ends up like that.
I’m not gonna say much of anything that hasn’t been covered ad-nauseum already
(and for the next two weeks), but that was insane.
I’ll keep this brief, but just a few quick thoughts:
The run game was awesome early. Just dominant stuff. We were racking up third down conversions
like crazy. Not sure what adjustments
the Chiefs made later, but they stopped the run very well in the second half. Ball control was obviously a huge part of the
game plan and we executed perfectly.
I’m blown away by the defense. The pressure, the sacks, the coverage. It was all there. At least for as long as we needed it. Trey Flowers getting a sack to knock them out
of field position is the play no one will remember, but should. To beat a team like the Chiefs you need to
steal enough possessions and keep them on the sideline. We got off the field when we needed to.
All that being said, we did enough to lose the game. I even texted my buddy that we “deserved to
lose.” The endzone pick was enraging and I thought would cost us everything. (I was so on-board for the play-call because
the Chiefs should have been selling out for the run. I don’t know how they sniffed it out but they
did.) The other pick after the Edelman non-muff hurt bad and 4th and
1 stuff of Burkhead accounts for 3 turnovers lost. It’s tough to win any game when that happens
and we needed some magic for this one.
At the end of the day, we saw Tom Brady do his thing. I think I read 57 comebacks in 4th
quarter and overtime in his career? That’s
3.5 full seasons of comebacks. I think that’s
longer than the average player’s career.
Tom Brady has more comebacks than a normal player can even stay in the
league.
Chris Hogan with the best catch of his career.
Those 3rd and long plays in overtime were crazy
shit. I knew we were toast if we gave
the ball back. Edelman, Edelman,
Gronk. What more is there than that?
There is nothing wrong with the overtime rules. If the Chiefs had done that, nobody would be
saying shit.
There will be a lot to unpack on the Super Bowl match-up, so
keep checking over the next few weeks. (I’m
just glad we live in a world where the Miami Miracle meant nothing in the
long-run.)
Prediction: Pats
win 43-40. I can’t pick against Tom
Brady even on the road. Same score as
last time because why not? We just need
to stop the broken plays and slow them down.
I think our offense if finally looking good. Let’s cook.
Result: Pats win a thriller 37-31. A few broken plays, a few turnovers and the
best QB ever to do it. Let’s go finish the
job.
