At 19, the Patriots are responsible for crushing my hopes and dreams as a cautiously optimistic die-hard Jets fan. My father, who used to be a Jets season ticket holder is responsible for my fandom, and while we often come to blows over the state of our disappointing football team, we share a common and mutual bond of hating the Patriots.
Hating the Patriots is as American as Apple Pie and Baseball. My first memory as a Jets fan was seeing a lifeless Eric Mangini led team blown out in the Wild Card round by the Patriots, 37-16. The next season, the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season, Spygate, and we know the rest, right?
Yesterday in the mix of seeing what has become all too familiar, I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
Now that I am at Temple University, I am a ways away from my home in Charlotte, North Carolina, but the bond between my dad and I over the hatred of the Patriots continues through texts and miserable phone calls after the game's commencement.
Here are some texts I received:
- "This is disgusting."
- "What the f*uck, you don't hit Brady, this is what the f*uck happens."
- "Lol."
- "F*ck the Patriots."
- "KC has no f*ucking defense."
-"You knew this was going to happen the only way you beat Tom Brady is you knock him down and Kansas City didn't even do that once."
- "Lmao."
- "They [Kansas City] look like the New York f*cking Jets on defense pathetic. You know where the ball is going."
I'd have to agree with my dad's assessment. You know where the ball is going, Tony Romo knew where the ball was going, everybody in the Stadium knew where the ball was going, but the Chiefs just did not have the personnel to stop a Hall of Fame quarterback.
I am not going to sit here and argue over Tom Brady's greatness. He is the greatest quarterback in the modern era in football, but yesterday, he was not good, if anything he was not the Tom Brady that we've grown accustomed to seeing.
Brady threw three interceptions, including a season-ending one, where he overthrew Rob Gronkowski, but he was bailed out by Dee Ford's hand being in the neutral zone. The Patriots got their expected break and carried that over into winning the game, as improbable as that seemed.
I have to say, the reaction from the sports media over the outcome of this game is frankly quite embarrassing. Brady was not sacked, barely touched, and not a single ounce of credit has been given to the Patriots OL coach Dante Scarnecchia or the five players on the offensive line, who neutralized the NFL's most feared pass-rush, led by Ford, Justin Houston, and Chris Jones. Kansas City was tied for the lead in sacks in the regular season with 52 sacks in 16 games, which is just about 3.5 sacks per game.
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| Patrick Mahomes (15) lays on the ground after being knocked down all night. The NFL MVP was hit hard and often, while Tom Brady (not pictured) was not sacked once. | JAY BIGGERSTAFF / USA TODAY |
The Patriots are brilliantly coached. They schemed to get the ball out quickly and protect Brady, that is the way to beat the Chiefs. If anyone has watched the Chiefs all season, they won because Patrick Mahomes played at an MVP level and they had an elite pass-rush, their secondary oftentimes held them back. Eric Berry was injured for the majority of the season, and they did not correctly replace the departures of Marcus Peters or Terrance Mitchell.
The glaring issues of the defense have been personnel based and Bob Sutton's outdated schemes have been getting exposed for a while now. Watching the game, Julian Edelman ran the same route on almost every play, a crossing route to the middle, where he was wide open every single time.
The Chiefs knew what was coming, they just did not have the personnel to stop it, which was ever so evident when they allowed the Patriots to convert three third-and-longs on a 13 play-75 yard drive to take them to Atlanta.
The Patriots play a simple brand of football. They get the ball out quickly, they protect the quarterback, and they run the football. It's not hard to defend, but opposing coaches continuously see their own shadows, overthink, overcompensate, and get outcoached every single time. Mike Tomlin and Anthony Lynn for example, who played zone defense against the Patriots when the literal unwritten rule is to play man-to-man.
I've seen my team lose to the Patriots 45-3, 38-3, so forth and so on. I've also seen my beloved Jets beat them in the divisional round of the playoffs after playing a perfect brand of football and what is known as an anti-Patriots repellent. Getting Brady on the ground and forcing turnovers.
There are too many what if's obviously, what could have been, but the Patriots were not a good team this season. They won due to their coaching and that is as clear as day. Nobody has discounted them, nobody has treated them as underdogs, nobody thinks Brady is too old, etc. The notion that people not wanting them to win equated to them being bet against and counted out is laughable. The Chiefs were the best team in the AFC this season, they were the No. 1 overall seed playing at home behind their MVP quarterback, while the Patriots went 3-5 on the road in the regular season. Of course, the Chiefs were favorited, that's not surprising, that's how betting lines and Las Vegas works.
The Patriots have caused me much angst in my life. I felt that loss hard like I was a Chiefs fan. I experienced the pain of the die-hards because I have made myself into a die-hard Patriots hater. I emotionally invest myself and while I was not surprised, the same feeling of being disappointed and just utter state of shock hit me like a tractor trailer.
For now, I have to root for the Los Angeles Rams in two weeks. I don't think the Patriots are losing and I may have to go into a self-induced hibernation to avoid the ridiculous pre-game storylines for the next two weeks.
Myself, along with the rest of America will be rooting for the Patriots demise, but we know how this ends. It'll all come to down to whether a Wade Phillips coached defense will be able to get pressure on Brady, regardless of what Sean McVay has up his sleeve.
For now, I am the biggest Los Angeles Rams fan you know.
