After the Patriots’ 41-14 loss to the Chiefs on Monday, a reporter asked quarterback Tom Brady what happened on an interception.
Brady, looking for clarification, asked, “Which one?”
It was a moment indicative of the Patriots’ 2-2 start, which feels more like 0-4 with the tremendous struggles they have had on offense and defense.
Brady threw two interceptions — one was returned for a touchdown — and was strip-sacked twice — one was recovered by the Chiefs.
“Just forcing it,” he said. “Throwing it where I shouldn’t be throwing it.”
Brady was even taken out in the fourth quarter in favor of rookie Jimmy Garoppolo, who threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski. That meaningless touchdown saved Brady from his worst career loss.
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“It’s just a disappointing night,” said Brady, who finished 14 of 23 for 159 yards and a touchdown. “You never expect these things. We’ve been on the other end of this quite a few times.”
Brady was sacked three times behind an offensive line that hasn’t had consistency or a consistent lineup all season.
“I think it’s not necessarily one position, it’s all positions,” Brady said. “A lot of guys have been rotating, trying to find a combination at every position. It’s a tough night.”
Coach Bill Belichick was prickly with reporters after the game when asked about the shuffling of the offensive line. And he didn’t want to share the specifics of why exactly the Patriots have produced more than 300 yards of offense just once this season (against Miami) and how the Chiefs were able to pick apart his secondary. Alex Smith completed 20 of 26 for 248 yards and three touchdowns — two to running back Jamaal Charles. The Chiefs had twice as many first downs (26) as the Patriots and rushed for more than 200 yards.
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“When you get beat like we did, it’s the whole team,” Belichick said. “We’ve got to all do a better job. We’ve got to coach better, we’ve got to play better, we’ve got to do everything better.
“We need to do everything better offensively. We had like five first downs in the first half or something like that. We did a lot of things wrong. We turned the ball over in the second half. Pretty much, we need to do everything better.”
The Patriots (2-2) host a Bengals team (3-0) coming off a bye week.
Follow Rachel G. Bowers on Twitter @RachelGBowers.