Opinion: Patriots can't blame loss to Chiefs on officiating mistakes

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – If you’re inclined to shed a tear for the New England Patriots, save it.

There’s no need for a pity party to ruin the significance of the 23-16 verdict that allowed the Kansas City Chiefs to clinch the AFC West crown on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

Sure, the Patriots got hosed.

How often has that sentiment been expressed? Usually, it’s the Patriots opponents and their fans left stewing over some controversial call that benefited Bill Belichick’s team.

Not this time.

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New England was robbed of an apparent touchdown-in-the-making late in the third quarter, when Stephon Gilmore scooped up a Travis Kelce fumble forced by Devin McCourty, headed about 50 yards to the end zone when someone (or multiple ones) from referee Jerome Boger’s crew whistled the play dead. Tough luck.

McCourty knew it was a legit fumble the moment he punched the ball from Kelce’s hand before they crashed to the turf. Gilmore saw the end zone, but unfortunately heard the whistle.

This happened to the Saints in September, the Bucs in October and now the Patriots in December – whistle-happy zebra blowing the bang-bang plays dead because they think they’re right but are proven dead wrong by instant replay.

“We hear a lot of stuff, what’s supposed to happen,” McCourty said, alluding to the expectation that officials will let the plays progress without such quick whistles. “Once you get out there in the game, you hope it’s like that. But it wasn’t this time. In games, that’s going to come up. Calls you think should go your way don’t go your way. You’ve just got to play through it.”

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To make matters worse, New England – which could have sure used a quick, well-earned defensive touchdown while trying to rally from a 23-7 deficit – was robbed a second time a few minutes after the muffed call on the fumble when rookie receiver N’Keal Harry launched to the pylon from the 3-yard line for an apparent 15-yard TD.

But…

Officials ruled that Harry’s left foot touched out of bounds – and they were wrong again.

The Patriots (10-3) – who still lead the AFC East but have lost matchups against the AFC’s other three division leaders – deserve our sympathy for being on the wrong side of egregious officiating in a season of controversial blown calls.

Just don’t cry for New England.

Even with the blunders from the zebras, the blame for a second consecutive loss deserves to be placed squarely on the shoulders of the Patriots themselves. Four reasons why:

• After the ruling wiped out the Harry TD – Belichick couldn’t challenge the play after exhausting his final challenge to overturn the Kelce fumble – the Patriots had it first-and-goal from the 3-yard line. After two negative plays, they settled for a chip-shot field goal.

• New England’s best passes of the game came on trick plays. Tom Brady’s 37-yard TD pass to Julian Edelman to cap the opening drive was set up by a flea-flicker that helped the receiver slip past Bashaud Breeland as he went deep. The next-longest completion, 35 yards, came off the arm of running back James White, on a gadget pass to Jakobi Meyers. This says something about Brady’s struggles, with his 169 yards and 63.3 passer rating both representing his second-lowest marks of the season.

• The Patriots picked off Patrick Mahomes to snuff out Kansas City’s opening drive and set up at the Chiefs 40-yard line, then got zilch. They went three-and-out, part of a larger pattern for a sputtering offense that was reflected with a 3-for-12 clip on third downs. That blown opportunity was compounded later in the first quarter when Nick Folk’s 41-yard field goal try was blocked.

• When the Patriots had a chance to tie the game in the final two minutes, positioned at the KC 12 after Brady’s 17-yard gallop on fourth-and-6, the offense that used to be so clutch in such situations had no answers. Brady was under the type of extreme pressure that came with the loss (3 sacks, 6 QB hits) and underscored his shaky O-line protection, but beyond that there was little separation and few windows. The fourth-down throw to Edelman on a corner route from the 5-yard line that sealed the outcome was batted down by Breeland, who also had an interception that set up a touchdown as he clearly bounced back from giving up the first TD.

The Patriots had their chances, which is why despite the blown calls, this one can’t be hung on the officials.

Brady knows. And yes, he heard the boos expressed as they went to the locker room at halftime.

“Disappointing,” he said, “but not going to feel sorry for ourselves.”

Besides, they won’t have much company in that regard. You can believe there’s a legion out there that’s just full of glee that New England had the key calls go against it this time. After all, the Patriots, with six Super Bowl trophies, are still the team that detractors love to hate.

Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.

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