Chiefs-Patriots: three big takeaways from Week 4

The Kansas City Chiefs are the first organization to have four straight season starts of 4-0 or better as they defeat the New England Patriots in a very ugly game at home on a rescheduled Monday night. We covered the 26-10 win on the Arrowhead Pride Laboratory post-game show.

Here are three big takeaways from a big win against a good football team:

The defense was opportunistic

On a night in which the offense struggled to sustain drives and put points on the board, the defense showed out — especially in the turnover department. The Chiefense forced four turnovers on the night — including three interceptions (and one for a touchdown by Tyrann Mathieu). If teams give you opportunities, you have to capitalize. Both Brian Hoyer and Jarrett Stidham threw up some balls that the defense didn’t miss on.

Young defensive backs had a night

Two of those interceptions came from a pair of second-year defensive backs — safety Juan Thornhill and cornerback Rashad Fenton. In perhaps his best game of the young season coming back from an ACL injury, Thornhill had his first interception of the year from a middle-field alignment on an overthrown vertical by Hoyer. He was active in the run game and a sure tackler, making plays at and behind the line of scrimmage. Fenton’s sample size as an outside corner continues to grow — and the results so far have been promising. The former sixth-round pick came away with an important interception late — undercutting a throw from Stidham that would have potentially made it a one-possession game had the Patriots scored.

The offense lacked rhythm

The three lowest first-half scoring outputs for a Patrick Mahomes-led offense have come at the hands of Bill Belichick. You can always expect that the reigning Super Bowl MVP will see something new when the Patriots defense takes the field. New England primarily rushed three, dropped outside backers into the flats in a contain, flat defender, spy role and it kept Mahomes in check for big stretches of the game. The offensive timing was non-existent for almost the entirety of the Monday battle, but it ultimately scored enough to pull away. It’s not always pretty, and this was definitely the case tonight.

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