Patriot Talk: Week 6 Review and Week 7 Predictions
NEvsKC: 43-40 W (4-2 record)
Heading into this Primetime game, many people were anticipating a shootout. Everything really lined up for this game to go back and forth. The Chiefs have the best offense in the NFL this year, and the Patriots recently got Julian Edelman back, along with Josh Gordon finally getting a grip of the offense and Sony Michel tearing defenses apart. Not to mention these two teams have inconsistent defenses, with the Chiefs being injury riddled and one of the worst in the league. So, let’s get into the action.
People don’t tend to realise how big of a difference Edelman makes per week. After this win, the Pats average 1.8 yards MORE with Edelman per pass, and 1.02 MORE yards per run. He gives the offense an extra weapon, making it even more unpredictable. Edelman finished with 4 catches for 54 yards and a touchdown. That new guy I mentioned earlier, by the name of Josh Gordon, he finished with 5 catches for 42 yards. Not the best performance, but a spike in targets/catches and he was out for more plays. It’s a promising start in the right direction, if you ask me. Brady threw for 24-35 for 340 yards and 1 touchdown, and of those 11 incompletions, two of them were drops. Brady also went 3 for 8 on deep throws, for 98 yards and a score, with Gordon going 0 for 4 deep. He also drew a penalty in the endzone, which brought them right to the goalline, in which Brady ran it in. For rushing, the Sony Michel train kept on moving. He had 24 carries for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns. Granted, the Chiefs run defense isn’t the best, but he has gone three consecutives weeks with over 95 yards rushing. James White and Kenjon Barner added another 39 and 16 yards, respectively, on a combined 9 carries. To break things down, Barner had two broken tackles, while Sony Michel only had one. The offensive line was outstanding in creating holes for Michel, which is why he only had one broken tackle all game. They also allowed 2 sacks, and on one of those sacks, it was a poor play call and it resulted in a Brady fumble (he had 2 of those). Other than that, Shaq Mason and Joe Thuney shined, as neither linemen allowed a single hurried pass.
Defensively, the first half was well executed, as we contained Mahomes and didn’t allow for any big plays. But there are two halves in football, and that second half was not great. Let’s start with the coverage first. Jason McCourty, who has been given high praise as our best corner in the secondary in recent weeks, allowed 5 catches on 8 targets for 112 yards and a touchdown. That’s not good at all. He was beaten badly by Kareem Hunt several times, as well as Tyreek Hill. But the guy that got tormented by Hill was actually his twin, Devin McCourty. Devin had a week to forget last week, as he allowed two touchdowns in coverage. This week, he allowed 3 catches on 4 targets for 23 yards and 2 touchdowns. You’re probably thinking that doesn’t seem so bad. But he was tasked with covering Hill in the redzone, where his speed is very limited, and allowed him to get the two scores. Devin McCourty has now allowed 4 touchdowns over the last two weeks, and he needs to right the ship. Duron Harmon had an interception, but allowed the second most yards in coverage. However, he deserves a little bit of slack, as a big chunk of the 79 yards allowed came off a miscommunication with Hightower, Van Noy and Jason McCourty at the line. Hightower motioned to Van Noy to press Kelce at the line, but instead, he rushed Mahomes. Because he didn’t press Kelce, McCourty then came in tight to cover Kelce, when his initial role was (assumedly) to help Harmon take Hill deep. But it’s behind them now, and they won the game. Hightower recorded the other Mahomes interception. As for pass rush, Adrian Clayborn had 2 QB hits and 2 hurries. He forced two incomplete passes on those hurries as well. Trey Flowers also hurried Mahomes 3 times. For run defense, the Patriots allowed 80 yards on 10 carries to elite running back Kareem Hunt (who shined in the passing attack), with Jason McCourty shining in the run stopping department. Kyle Van Noy struggled mightily in a game where he had miscommunications in coverage and 3 HUGE missed tackles that would’ve been a loss of yardage for the Chiefs.
Next week, we have a tango with Da Bears, in Chicago. Offensively, Mitchell Trubisky finally seems to have found a rhythm, but it’s still too early to tell. The rushing attack has been led mainly by Tarik Cohen as of late, and he has looked decent for the Bears, but they are fully reliant on their defense, which was evident this week after they lost to the Brock Osweiler led Dolphins, after giving up 30 points. Khalil Mack suffered what is said to be a minor injury, but after his first bad game of the season, to also deal with an injury, is pretty major to me. That minor setback, both injury and confidence, could be exploited. Not to mention, our offensive line has been lights out the past couple weeks. The only concern is the injury to right tackle Marcus Cannon, who is replaced by LaAdrian Waddle. Based on the Bears defense, the brunt of the work will be on the arm of Tom Brady. I don’t think Sony Michel will be ineffective, but the Bears have an incredible front that can slow down the red hot rookie rusher. I predict Josh Gordon and Rob Gronkowski to dominate and have some big plays. Defensively, I’m not too worried, as I expect us to stop Tarik Cohen underneath, which will make Trubisky one dimensional. Trubisky hasn’t been tasked often with leading his team to victory this season, as his defense has had him in great field position most of the time. Because I believe that the Bears will lean on Trubisky, along with the big loss and the underperformance of the defense last week, it could very well be a great game for the Pats.
Prediction: 27-17 NE wins
