Give credit where it is due, the Kansas City Chiefs came to the thunderous crowd of Foxboro and shocked the NFL community by delivering a knockout punch win to start the 2017-18 NFL season against Tom Brady and the Patriots on a historic Thursday night showcasing the latest Super Bowl banner for Beantown.
For the underdog Chiefs, you could not of scripted a better performance for Alex Smith, a former #1 overall pick out of Utah, who is known to be a conservative passer and quick toss kind of guy. Accumulating 368 yards passing for the 13 year veteran is a rare sight to behold, but also striking for 4 touchdowns (no interceptions) was something that took his performance above and beyond today. Not to mention, Smith’s completions were 28/35, that’s a 80% completion rate… 80%!! Unreal..
Smith’s backfield consisted of rookie Kareem Hunt, a rookie from Toldeo. Hunt fumbled on his very first possession of his NFL career but did not let that moment overtake his performance. Chugging out 148 yards receiving and catching a 75 yd touchdown pass along with rushing for 98 yards and 2 more touchdowns to his name, the 22 year old Hunt made a name for himself at Gillette. Fellow teammate Tyreek Hill was the other top performer for the Chiefs, catching 7 of Smith’s passes for 133 yards and a score.
On the other side, the host Patriots had a meltdown and never recovered. Injuries derailed the already short handed squad, but big contributors for the reigning champs fell down today. WR Danny Amendola suffered what appeared to be a head injury, nothing released about a concussion, but more will follow on Amendola. Linebacker Dont’a Hightower suffered a lower leg injury and did not return to the rest of the game when he was injured about halfway through.
The big story line is the performance from the ageless wonder Tom Brady. You win some and you lose some is the nature of the NFL, and Brady unfortunately endured a rough patch. Going 16/36 on completions with 267 yards thrown, a decent amount, but no touchdowns recorded nor interceptions, was a surprise from the stat filler Brady, but the bigger picture was that the team is not where it was last year in terms of durability and health.
The Chiefs defense swallowed Brady multiple times, as veteran linebacker Justin Houston recorded 2 sacks on Brady o start what could be many more quarterbacks being the target of Houston. Chiefs defensive tackle Allen Bailey also recorded one sack on Brady to make a grand total of 3.
New England had a similar layout to KC regarding sacks. Super Bowl clutch edge rusher Trey Flowers racked up a pair of sacks while rookie defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr, former Arkansas Razorback, tallied a sack to his list, while having that sack be the first of his career.
A tough loss here for the Patriots, as the season opener definitely tuned some heads of the NFL.
Next game- Sunday September 17th @ N.O. Saints
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