As the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the New England Patriots 23-16 on Sunday afternoon, boos were clearly audible from Patriots fans watching in Gillette Stadium.
Since then, some Patriots fans have claimed that their boos were directed at the officiating crew. But we’re not buying that spin — and as it turns out, neither is Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy.
“Too much booing for me,” Van Noy said in an interview for NBC Sports in Boston. “I thought it was disrespectful.”
“Obviously it sucks when it doesn’t go the way we want, but know that we’re all trying,” said Van Noy. “We’re trying to put the best product on the field. We’re not trying to disappoint anyone. Just imagine as a fan or a media person that our feelings are probably 100 times more. Our livelihoods are on the line and we want to win.”
But Patriots quarterback Tom Brady expressed a different view.
“There’s been plenty of times where they’ve been cheering us,” Brady told Jim Gray in a Westwood One interview on Monday night. “And again, you take the good with the bad. They have every right to boo when we’re not playing the way that we’re capable.
”It won’t be the last time — and that’s OK. It doesn’t hurt our feelings.”
Apparently, Brady hadn’t checked with everyone on the team about their feelings. And that’s OK, too.
Since 2015, the Patriots are now 38-6 at their home field. Two of those losses — along with two of the wins — have now been against the Chiefs. Only the Buffalo Bills — a division rival — have also defeated the Patriots twice at home during that period. Before Sunday, the Patriots had won 21 straight games in Foxborough. The Chiefs were happy to break the streak, as it clinched their fourth consecutive AFC West championship — a franchise record — but also a playoff berth.
If that has ended up hurting the feelings of Patriots fans or players... well, that seems like a small price to pay.