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Monday, October 15, 2018

Winners and losers from Patriots' thrilling win over Chiefs





By Henry McKenna
October 15, 2018

Here are our winners and losers from the New England Patriots’ 43-40 shootout win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night in Week 6.

Winners

Tom Brady, QB: This wasn’t Brady’s most brilliant or complete performance, with one particularly costly drive when he nearly threw an interception and then got strip-sacked. The Chiefs immediately converted the turnover into a touchdown. But he finished the day with 340 yards, a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown. Most importantly, he led a perfectly executed final drive that chewed the clock with just enough time for a chip-shot Stephen Gostokowski field goal to win the game. The drive included this perfect strike from Brady to Rob Gronkowski.

Sony Michel, RB: Another strong outing with 106 rushing yards and two touchdowns. His short-yardage performances were his most impressive achievement. The rookie had been spotty during the season but seemed to gain confidence against the Chiefs’ porous defense, which allowed Michel to poke in for two touchdowns: one for 4 yards and the other for 1 yard. And Bill Belichick will surely love the pass-protection Michel provided on the Patriots’ first offensive play of the second half, as he took on a Chiefs rusher.

Patriots offensive line: They helped the offense finish with 500 yards with some brilliant moments as a unit, including blocking for screen passes where they sold the run before charging downfield for big gains, and a 17-yard gain on a nice job from Joe Thuney.

Trey Flowers, DE: He was all over the field, finishing with seven tackles, one for loss and a quarterback hit. He managed an enormously important pressure on a pass attempt on third-and-7 during the Chiefs’ second-to-last drive. Patrick Mahomes had Tyreek Hill open, but couldn’t lead the speedster because of Flowers’ penetration into the backfield.

Dont’a Hightower, LB: Hightower turned a set of bad snaps into a remarkable one. The Chiefs had been beating Hightower in 1-on-1 coverage by targeting Travis Kelce and Kareem Hunt in the first quarter. Hightower then disguised coverage by pretending to pick up Hunt before dropping into coverage in the middle of the field where he picked off Mahomes. Hightower’s legs may not be as quick as his rookie year, but his mind is infinitely quicker.

Julian Edelman, WR: Edelman shook cornerback Kendall Fuller with enough separation that Edelman had time to fix his glove before hauling in a touchdown. The receiver finished the night with four catches for 54 yards and the touchdown.

Duron Harmon, S: Harmon logged a second-quarter interception in the final moments of the half. The play erased at least three points with the Chiefs in chip-shot range. It wasn’t a game-ending pick — Harmon’s specialty — but it was still quite meaningful.

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