I’d like to lean toward that being the case but there’s more to it than that. Even without multiple starters Kansas City still could have won that game in New England, the issues were much deeper than just the players.
For starters, Bob Sutton didn’t help himself or the defense with his stubbornness. Sutton prepared all week and developed a game plan for the Patriots that he thought would be successful. The strategy in place was immediately set to flames on New England’s opening drive where Brady carved up Sutton’s defense driving 80 yards for a touchdown in eight plays.
It was a series of recurring events where the Patriots could have scored in the 40s if they didn’t drop so many passes. It wasn’t ever really a story about Kansas City stopping New England but more the Patriots making a mistake to cause a drive to end. Chiefs fans collectively told themselves “Sutton will make an adjustment at halftime” as we all knew his scheme wasn’t working. Even Bart Scott who is on the CBS halftime show was confident that his former defensive coordinator would dial up some different coverage after the half.
We would see next week Wade Philips learning from the Chiefs defensive coordinator’s failures and putting together a game plan that worked. Could the Chiefs have won with Wade Philips running the defense? I think it’s a good question.
Sutton is more tolerable than previous defensive coordinators like Greg Robinson but I am concerned with his lack of adjustments which can be a deal breaker in big games like last week.
Next: Did Andy Reid make a terrible mistake?