The New England Patriots managed to avoid committing a turnover in their 27-20 win on Saturday, something no team had done against the Kansas City Chiefs since Week 4.
The Chiefs feasted on turnovers in 2015, but the Patriots flipped the script
The Chiefs were a team that thrived on forcing mistakes, but the Patriots avoided turnovers altogether on Saturday.
John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
During a five-game losing streak at the beginning of the season, the Chiefs forced fewer than one turnover per game. During the team’s 10-game winning streak, which reached 11 in the playoffs, it forced 23 turnovers and climbed to the top five in the NFL in turnovers forced.
The ability to force other teams into mistakes continued into the postseason when the Chiefs crushed the Houston Texans, 30-0, thanks to four interceptions thrown and a fumble lost by Brian Hoyer. But the Patriots have been good at avoiding those traps all season and didn't make the crucial mistakes that the Chiefs are so capable of forcing.
Tom Brady threw only seven interceptions all season and the Patriots finished the year with just 14 turnovers, never giving away the ball more than twice in any game.
Last week, Brady talked to WEEI in Boston and said that the Chiefs do a good job of figuring out how to “force you into a lot of bad football.“ One day later, he echoed the same sentiments at a press conference.
"Coach talks about the turnover margin that's been heavily in their favor, especially in their wins down the stretch," Brady said. "When they get turnovers they turn them into points, and when you turn them into points, they're good in the kicking game and when they're good in the kicking game, the defense can tee off.
“Like I said the other day, it kind of creates this snowball effect and the game is out of hand and just what happened last week to Houston. Before you know it, they have a seven-point lead on the opening kickoff and then you already feel like, ‘Man we’ve got to start getting back into this game.’”
Instead, the Patriots led after driving for a touchdown on the first possession and never trailed. While Brady put the ball in jeopardy a few times, the Chiefs' defense couldn't haul in the opportunities it was afforded and the Patriots never fumbled. If even one turnover was created by the Chiefs -- including a Brady pass that bounced off Marcus Peters' hands and turned into a Julian Edelman catch to seal the Patriots' win -- it could have changed the complexion of a game that was decided by one touchdown:
Where the Chiefs excelled most in 2015 was through the creation of chaos. While Tamba Hali and Justin Houston finished with just 14 combined sacks after Houston racked up 22 all on his own in 2014, the Chiefs finished with 47 sacks and 13 different players each recording at least one. Only three teams managed to tally more sacks.
But Brady wasn’t sacked once and he’s as dangerous as any quarterback in the NFL to blitz.
According to Pro Football Focus, Brady threw an NFL-high 15 touchdowns and three interceptions when under pressure in 2015. Aaron Rodgers finished the year with 12 touchdowns under pressure and four quarterbacks had 11, but each had at least four interceptions when defenders were breathing down their neck.
“You’re not going to trick Tom Brady very many times,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said in the week before the game. “You just try to maybe cause a little confusion in his mind and that’s very hard to do because he’s seen every single thing you can do. Unless you guys have got something that we don’t have yet, but he’s a really challenging guy so you just try to make it as difficult for him as you possibly can.”
Saturday was Brady's 30th start in the postseason and he improved his record to 22-8. While he has a 96.4 career passer rating in the regular season with touchdowns on 5.5 percent of his passes and interceptions on 1.9 percent, he has a passer rating of 89.6 in the playoffs with touchdowns on 4.9 percent of his attempts and interceptions on 2.3 percent. During the team's Super Bowl run in 2014, he finished with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions in three playoff games.
With the victory over the Chiefs, the Patriots advanced to the AFC Championship for the fifth straight season.
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