With Another Trip To Super Bowl On The Line, Tom Brady Ready For Return To Kansas City
BOSTON (CBS) -- It's been just over four years since Tom Brady and the Patriots suffered an embarrassing loss in Kansas City, one that stoked up talk of the demise of Brady and the New England dynasty.
After that game, talking heads screamed that Brady and the Patriots weren't any good anymore. They were toast after a 2-2 start to the season, and some even wondered if Bill Belichick would hand over the keys to Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. That 41-14 loss made people around the country go a little nuts.
It just made it more gratifying when that walloping in Arrowhead Stadium served as the springboard to another Super Bowl title, one of two that Brady and the Patriots have won since that disappointing evening in Missouri. And with yet another trip to the Super Bowl on the line when Brady and the Patriots invade Arrowhead this weekend for an AFC Championship tilt with the Chiefs, Brady is itching for another crack in KC.
"That was a pretty crappy loss that night," Brady reminisced after New England's 41-28 thumping of the Chargers in the divisional round on Sunday. "We've had some other ones. I think we showed a lot of perseverance, a lot of toughness. This team is showing it. We've had some tough losses this year too but you just keep fighting. That's what football is all about. It's a season. It's not one game or four games or eight games. It's 16 games and you get a chance to be in this position.
"We played good today. That's why we won. And Kansas City's had a hell of a year. They gave us everything we could handle in [October]," Brady said of New England's 43-40 win over the Chiefs at Gillette in Week 6. "I'm sure it'll be the same [this weekend]. It'll be a tough game. They're well-coached. They've got a good offense. They played well defensively against the Colts. It's going to be a lot of fun to go back there and play in a championship game and try to advance."
Brady is 1-2 overall in his trips to Kansas City, tossing three touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 60 percent of his passes. But he was on point Sunday against Los Angeles, putting together one of his finest games of the 2018 season. The 41-year-old completed 34 of his 44 passes for 343 yards, hooking up with Phillip Dorsett for a 15-yard strike in the second quarter for his only touchdown pass of the game. Back in October, he threw for 340 yards and a touchdown against the Kansas City defense, hitting seven different receivers in the New England win.
Following Sunday's win, Brady sent a clear message to Patriots haters out there. Those doubters will likely spend all week picking against the Patriots again, with Kansas City early three-point favorites for the AFC Championship.
Brady has always had a chip on his shoulder, and the constant doubting of the Patriots only adds more fuel to his fire.
"They can pick whoever they want," Brady told WEEI during his Monday morning radio appearance. "Kansas City is a great football team. They really are. We played them at home. They are having an incredible season. Even the games they have lost they have been right in them until the end. Any less than our best won't make it this week. It's a tough place to play and we just have to be as mentally and as physically prepared and be as mentally and physically tough, and go in there and try and beat a great football team."
Tune in to Sunday's Patriots-Chiefs AFC Championship Game on WBZ-TV -- the flagship station of the New England Patriots!
