The (12-5) New England Patriots are on the road to play the (13-4) Kansas City Chiefs for the right to play in Super Bowl 53. Can Tom Brady and company advance to their third-straight Super Bowl and fourth in the past five seasons? Or will the powerhouse Chiefs offense carry Kansas City to the big game?
Everything you need for to know about this game is below!
Game Details
Date: Sunday, January 20, 2019
Kickoff: 6:40 p.m. ET
Location: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City MO
SB Nation affiliate: Arrowhead Pride
The Patriots provide an in-depth breakdown on their website.
TV: CBS, with Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Tony Romo (color commentary), Tracy Wolfson (sideline) and Jay Feely (sideline)
Pregame Show
Live Updates
Pregame
Patriots-Chiefs inactives: Deatrich Wise Jr. and Danny Sheltron are inactive as the Patriots prepare to defend against the pass.
The Chiefs won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half, while the Patriots will get the ball to start the game.
Q1
Cordarelle Patterson returned the opening kickoff to the 20-yard line and Sony Michel picked up ten yards on the ground to start the offensive drive. Rob Gronkowski looked quick as he picked up a first down off the play action and Tom Brady found Gronk again to get past midfield. James White converted consecutive third down runs to get into field goal range. Brady missed White on a screen play that could have gained a ton of yards to set up a third-and-seven and Brady found Julian Edelman to convert and move into the red zone. Michel picked up another ten yards to set up first-and-goal, ran the ball to the 1-yard line, and then punched it in on the next play for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The Patriots used an incredible 8:05 of the clock over 15 plays.
The Patriots defense did an incredible job stifling the Chiefs offense, forcing a third down that would have led to a three-and-out if not for a defensive holding penalty by Jonathan Jones (covering Tyreek Hill). The defense stepped up again with Stephon Gilmore forcing two-straight incomplete passes before Kyle Van Noy sacked Patrick Mahomes for -14 yards. Edelman returned the punt to the Chiefs’ 44-yard line. Gilmore is shadowing Sammy Watkins, J.C. Jackson is shadowing Travis Kelce, and Jones is on Hill with safety help over the top.
Brady missed Edelman on first down, but Rex Burkhead and James White combined to pick up a first down and Patterson picked up 15 yards to get into the red zone. Michel picked up 8 yards on the next two plays before Brady connected with Edelman for 5 yards to set up first-and-goal and the end of the first quarter.
The Patriots have 119 net yards. The Chiefs have -11. That’s not a typo.
Q2
That was a waste. Michel ran the ball to the goal line, but then Brady threw an interception on a play action pass to Rob Gronkowski. Brady missed a linebacker dropping into coverage and threw it right into his chest.
Kyle Van Noy came up big with a huge third down stop! The Patriots forced the Chiefs to go three-and-out and Edelman returned the punt to the New England 26-yard line.
Brady almost threw another interception as he was wide of Gronkowski, but the offense responded well with 9 yards to James White to convert on third down, 9 yards to Gronkowski, and 9 yards by Michel. The Chiefs stuffed Michel on third-and-1 from the Chiefs 42-yard line and the Patriots had to punt back to Kansas City. Allen punted and the Chiefs will start on their 15-yard line.
The Patriots forced the Chiefs into another third down situation, but Mahomes scrambled and found Watkins for 12 yards. Keion Crossen replaced Jones to cover Hill (for some reason?) and Mahomes found Hill for 42 yards to get to the New England 23-yard line. Mahomes missed a wide open Damien Williams on a wheel route that would have been good for a touchdown and Lawrence Guy tackled Williams for a 1-yard gain on second down. Trey Flowers sacked Mahomes for a 13-yard sack to knock the Chiefs out of field goal range. Jones came back on the field to replace Crossen to finish the drive. Kansas City punted back to the Patriots to start their next drive on the 10-yard line with 3:08 left in the half. New England is going to try and use up the rest of the clock and score before the break.
James White converted another third down and then picked up 30 yards and then 9 more to get into field goal range before Tom Brady connected with Phillip Dorsett for a 29-yard touchdown pass and a 14-0 lead.
The Patriots kicked a squib kick that allowed the Chiefs to actually consider adding points before the half, but Kyle Van Noy strip sacked Mahomes and the Chiefs opted to run out the clock and try again next half.
Brady has completed 12 of 17 (70.6%) for 146 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. Michel has 75 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, while White has 64 yards from scrimmage. Van Noy has been an animal on defense, while the defense has obviously been great to blank the Chiefs incredible offense.
New England should be up 21-0 had Brady not thrown that bad interception, but we’ll have to be happy with this 14-0 lead. The Chiefs get the ball to start the second half.
Q3
That’s not how the Patriots wanted to start the second half. Sammy Watkins beat Gilmore for 54 yards to get into the red zone and Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce for a 12-yard touchdown and closed the score to 14-7.
The Patriots and Chiefs exchanged punts, with New England winning the field position battle, with Edelman returning a punt to the Chiefs’ 37-yard line, putting the Patriots in field goal range. The Patriots gained just 8 yards, thanks to penalties, and Stephen Gostkowski knocked home a 47-yard field goal to extend the Patriots’ lead to 17-7.
The New England defense did a good job of covering the Chiefs receivers, but Mahomes scrambled for a first down to extend the drive. Mahomes connected with Sammy Watkins on a ridiculous sidearm throw for 10 yards to convert another third down before finding Damien Williams for 33 yards on a wheel route to get into the red zone.
Chiefs have 129 yards on three plays, and 47 yards on their other 30 plays
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) January 21, 2019
Chiefs have second-and-10 from the Patriots’ 14-yard line to end the quarter.
Q4
J.C. Jackson was flagged for defensive pass interference on Travis Kelce to set the Chiefs up on the goal line. Mahomes connected with Damien Williams on a roll out with Dont’a Hightower in coverage to bring the score to 17-14.
Brady found Edelman for 19 yards to start the drive and Michel gained the next 14 yards on 3 carries. James Develin caught a pass for 9 yards and a first down, and the Patriots found themselves in a fourth-and-1 situation on the Chiefs 25-yard line. The Patriots went with Rex Burkhead, who was stuffed for no gain and a turnover on downs. The decision to go for the first down was correct, but I would not have gone with Burkhead, who hasn’t been effective as a runner this year. I would have handed the ball to Develin as the up-back, or rode with Sony Michel, or had Tom Brady sneak it, or used Cordarrelle Patterson on an end-around. But not Burkhead. This feels like it could be a turning point for the game.
Oh no. The Patriots forced a three-and-out, but then Julian Edelman touched the bouncing punt and the Chiefs recovered it, giving Kansas City the ball on the New England 26-yard line. Wow! They overturned the call on the field after it missed Edelman on a lucky bounce.
Oh no (for real this time). Edelman had a pass glance off his hands and into the arms of a Chiefs defender, setting up Kansas City in great field position on the New England 23-yard line. Mahomes threw a touchdown to Williams for a touchdown and a 21-17 lead.
That’s an incredible response by the Patriots! New England benefit from a weak roughing the passer penalty for a free 15 yards, while Brady converted on third-and-8 with a one-handed grab by Chris Hogan, both Rex Burkhead and Rob Gronkowski picked up first downs on their next plays, and Michel scampered 10 yards on fourth-and-1 for a touchdown to take back a 24-21 lead.
Well that was some pretty difficult officiating. Gilmore forced a fumble on Travis Kelce that Hightower recovered, but a defensive holding penalty against J.C. Jackson gave the Chiefs a new set of downs. Then Jackson was flagged for defensive pass interference and Van Noy was flagged for roughing the passer to get the Chiefs in Patriots territory. And then the officials didn’t flag a pretty obvious offensive pass interference call that allowed Sammy Watkins to gain 38 yards to the goal line. The Chiefs punched it in for a score and a 28-24 lead.
Unbelievable! Patterson started the drive with an incredible return to the 35-yard line. Brady hit Edelman for 20 yards, Hogan for 11 yards, and then Gronkowski for a ridiculous 25-yard completion over Eric Berry to the 4-yard line. Burkhead punched in the next play for a touchdown and a 31-28 lead with 39 seconds left in the game. Kansas City has one more timeout.
The Chiefs responded with a 21-yard completion to Spencer Ware and then a 27-yard completion to Demarcus Robinson to get to the Patriots’ 21-yard line with 16 seconds left in the game. Mahomes threw an incomplete pass into the end zone and the Chiefs opted to kick a field goal with 11 seconds left in the game. Bill Belichick wanted to ice Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who struggled in pregame warmups, by calling a time out, but Butker connected on the 39-yard attempt to tie the game at 31-31 with 8 seconds left in the game.
The Patriots decided to kneel down and play for overtime.
OT
The Patriots won the coin toss and elected to receive.
OH MY GOODNESS. WOW. OH MY GOODNESS. What a dominant drive by Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and Rex Burkhead. Edelman converted two third downs, picking up 35 yards; Gronkowski converted another third down to get in the red zone; and Burkhead carried the ball the final 15 yards and the touchdown.
The New England Patriots defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime with a final score of 37-31. What an incredible ending. The Patriots will go to their third-straight Super Bowl and fourth in five years. This run is unbelievable.
Brady finished the game completing 30 of 46 (65.2%) for 348 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. Michel gained 113 yards and scored two touchdowns, Edelman gained 96 yards, Gronkowski looked great as he gained 79 yards, White picked up 72 yards from scrimmage, and Burkhead gained 64 yards from scrimmage and scored two touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, the Patriots did a great job defending the Chiefs’ rushing attack, holding Damien Williams to 30 yards on 10 carries. The Patriots did an outstanding job against the pass, too, holding Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce to a combined 4 catches for 65 yards and a touchdown.
Congratulations to the 2018 New England Patriots. They will face the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta in two weeks.
Postgame Show
Welcome to the Pats Pulpit Live Postgame Show: AFC Championship Edition The Patriots win a wild one and are headed to Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta!
Posted by Pats Pulpit: For New England Patriots News on Sunday, January 20, 2019