The Morning Fix: Chiefs News From Around The Net

“We have to do better,” LB Derrick Johnson said. “The Patriots are a team that leaves you with little room for error. You can play a good game and then just the little mistakes – they don’t even have to be big mistakes – they capitalize on them. That’s what type of team they are and we knew that coming into this.”

The Chiefs showed several new wrinkles Monday night that helped stall the Patriots in the early-goings of the game.

“I thought he handled himself great,” RB Thomas Jones said. “He was poised. He ran the offense well. The guys responded to him. I thought he did a pretty great job especially this being his first start. There is a lot of pressure put on a guy like that. He handled it well and I’m very proud of him.”

Coach Todd Haley echoed Jones’ sentiment.

“You know, the interception late, I wasn’t crazy about that decision,” Haley said. “But I thought overall Tyler did a terrific, terrific job with handling the offense, the tempo. We obviously, we were trying to altar the tempo and create some energy for our side and at times we were able to do a good job, but other times we weren’t.

“But I thought, overall, Tyler did a lot of really good things. You know, interceptions are things that can happen, and sacks at inopportune times can happen. But I think it is something to build on and he will get better.”

On Monday night, Tyler Palko’s family watched from the upper deck of Gillette Stadium as their boy made his first NFL start at quarterback for the Chiefs. It will be remembered by most Chiefs fans as a disappointment, and maybe that’s the way his family will remember it, too. It was, after all, a 34-3 loss to the Patriots. But what shouldn’t be lost is that Palko usually was a steady, calm presence — even in extraordinary, adverse circumstances — who was imperfect but hardly was the inexperienced, erratic mess that some outsiders feared.