Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs went toe-to-toe with Tom Brady, but committed the cardinal sin: Never leave the GOAT time on the clock.
After the only punt of the game led to a New England field goal to put the Patriots up seven points, K.C. got the ball back with 3:15 on the clock. It took the Chiefs one play, and 12 seconds, to go 75 yards on a bomb from Mahomes to speedy wideout Tyreek Hill. Boom! Tie game, 40-40.
Brady, however, had 3:03 left to do what Brady does: Lead a game-winning score.
TB12 was rooting for Hill to score quickly on the big pass play.
"I think, I'm glad when he was running -- Tyreek was running to score -- I said, 'Good, score quick.' Because then we had enough time," Brady said after the 43-40 win, via the team's transcript. "They had one timeout left, and it gave us a little time to go down and kick the field goal. So, I don't know if we punted tonight. Did we punt? So, no punts. You know, I still think we missed some opportunities out there, but made some situational plays when we needed it, the short-yardages -- you know, we really lost the game last year on some short yardages, and I thought we were pretty good in it tonight. So, that was a real positive."
No, Brady and the Pats didn't punt in the game. New England moved into field goal range on Rob Gronkowski's biggest play of the day, a 39-yard heave down the right side. There's a legitimate thought that the Chiefs should have let Gronk score once he caught the pass and was galloping down the sideline. Instead one kneel and a Stephen Gostkowski chip-shot field goal sealed the win.
Unlike Hill's score, the Pats left Mahomes no time for another answer.
"That was great," Brady said of killing the clock at the end. "I was happy we made the third-and-1. You know, that gave us a great opportunity, and then we hit some other plays. James [White] made some great catch-and-runs, then the big play to Gronk -- he got a matchup and made a big play. He's been making a lot of those in his career. I'll keep throwing to him in the biggest moments."
