Pats Cast Episode 7: Recap of the Patriots' Loss to Mahomes and the Chiefs

New year, new Damien Harris, as the second-year Alabama product hit the century mark in rushing yards on Monday night. (Photo: Steven Ryan/Getty Images)

Due to the status of Cam Newton and the suspension of team activities, the Patriots were forced to travel to Kansas City the morning of their rescheduled Monday night clash with the Chiefs.

All things considered, they played very well – except for one area.

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A few new faces made appearances, especially on offense. Damien Harris stepped into Sony Michel's role, Gunner Olszewski made his season debut, and multiple less familiar faces anchored the offensive line.

The offensive line is especially new, but don't be shocked if it withstands the test of time.

The defense was much more standard. In fact, it very closely resembled what the Chiefs have seen in the past, even in spite of New England's roster turnover.

The result was a 26-10 loss, but two quarterbacks seeing the field has a lot to do with that. Truthfully, there were a lot of very positive takeaways from this game, particularly compared to a similarly-daunting matchup against the Seahawks earlier this season.

Expect to see more experimental personnel groupings this week against the Broncos – they're a worse team, which offers the ability to let some younger players gain larger roles – but these splits will be revisited in future games.

Up next: a preview of the Broncos matchup. You'll see and/or hear the name Jerry Jeudy a few times.