When the New England Patriots fell to a 27-10 hole in the second half of their 27-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, they notably took their time in between plays, playing without a notable sense of urgency.
Ezekiel Elliott also felt that was the case. Following the Patriots' loss to the Chiefs on Sunday, the running back expressed his frustrations about the pace of the offense when he spoke with reporters.
“I think we could have went a little faster, just definitely being down three scores in that last quarter,” Elliott said. “But I don’t know. It’s not up to me.”
There were plenty of reasons to be disappointed with the Patriots offense's performance in the second half. Bailey Zappe threw an interception on the offense's first play of the frame, giving the Chiefs prime field position as they took a 27-10 lead just two plays later. They only picked up one first down on their next four possessions, going three-and-out three times as they looked lifeless.
Second half Zappe is back pic.twitter.com/F2JY6lbNk7
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) December 17, 2023
New England finally caught a break after Kadarious Toney dropped the ball which led to an interception, leading to a touchdown run two plays later. But as the Patriots trailed by 10 late in the fourth quarter, they played lethargically again, going turning the ball over on downs after four quick plays.
Bill Belichick explained why Patriots didn't go for it on fourth down too much against Chiefs
Throughout all the times they punted, the Patriots had a pair of fourth-down opportunities where they only had a handful of yards to reach the first-down marker. But facing a fourth-and-3 and a fourth-and-4 in the fourth quarter, Belichick opted to punt the ball both times despite trailing by three scores.
Belichick tried to explain the rationale behind the confusing decisions after the game.
“At that point, we’d lost three starters,” Belichick said, referring to the injuries to left guard Cole Strange, tight end Hunter Henry and left tackle Conor McDermott. “We were worried about the pass protection, worried about whether we’d be able to execute in that situation. It felt like we were playing good defense. Get the ball back on a turnover or three-and-out, get the ball back with better field position.”
The Patriots were in their own territory on both of those fourth-down plays, but they were at their own 42-yard line for one of them and their own 33-yard line at the other.
New England ended up with just 206 total yards of offense in Sunday's game, adding to the list of several lackluster performances this season.
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